miamilan blog

"Accorrete! Venite anche voi nel più grande Parco di Guerra Urbano del Mondo! Rapine con le molotov! Clandestini col piccone! Minorenni sui SUV che investono Vigili!"

Ci sono extracomunitari ovunque e ora in tutte le recensioni dei turisti ci sono i "venditori" di braccialetti (ti obbligano a prenderli) che li infastidiscono... e pensano che siano milanesi.

A Milano è vietato il gelato dopo la mezzanotte... ma chi si crede di essere "Pisapirla"... Cenerentola?!
che deve rientrare a casa in tempo?
Il Comune di Milano ha poi rimosso il comunicato...perché dichiarava il divieto del gelato... Dicono che è stato un errore... vorrei ben vedere se fosse il contrario...
Vietato anche mangiare la torta al parco (Solari), multato un bambino.

Chissà come mai "Pisapippa" ormai piace solo a quelli che a Milano non ci abitano... Gli anti-milanesi (e ce ne sono tanti, che rosicano). Oltre ai danni, la beffa: lui dice che Milano è rinata. Sicuro, rinata male.

after Saint Marco day (25 April, national holiday in Italy), “Nederland nationale dag” in Italië (organized with the Consolato Generale dei Paesi Bassi)

Angelo Scola, born near Milan (Lecco lake), current archbishop of Milano.
Other candidates: Francis Arinze (Nigeria, cannot be elected 'cause he just turned 80 years old), Peter Turkson (Ghana, as Balotelli origins, but Mario has never been to Africa), Christoph Schoenborn (Austria), Timothy Dolan (New York), Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Argentina), Marc Ouellet (Québec), Odilo Pedro Scherer (Brazil).

Three expert Vatican watchers list some of their leading "papabile" — Italian word for cardinals who might be elected as the next pope:
1) Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, leads Church historian Matthew Bunson's list as "an Italian with the intellectual chops for the job" who would bring Benedict's enthusiasm for "recapturing Catholic excitement."
Benedict moved him from another high-profile post, Venice, in July 2011, thereby giving this Vatican insider a perch at the WORLD's largest diocese, Milan (more than 1100 churches). Milano and Venezia together have produced five popes in the last 100 years.
A top scholar on Islam and Christian-Muslim dialog, Scola, 71, is "well positioned for dealing with the challenges of secularism and materialism in the West," says Bunson.
Scola once said: "Our job now has to be to help people to remember God. People suffer from a kind of amnesia about God and we have to remind them to reawaken God in their hearts and in their minds."

more to add soon

Milano (already "city with the best internet reputation" the other year) is one of the 20 cities that run for the European Best Destination 2013 title. Click here to vote and choose Milan (without registration).

Nice among the best cities is hilarious... you're lucky if you can come back home from there... criminals everywhere (Marseille the same). france is also the country with the most racist episodes in the whole world... Not to mention the assholes the Paris people are. Also, they have loads of art stolen (by Napoleon, etc.) from Milan, Venice and Italy. Not to mention all the food they copied from other countries and made it as if it was their invention. french wine, french fashion: definitely second rate.

Milan (Celtic foundation) has been interesting and vibrant at least since it was the capital of the western half of the Roman Empire. It was one of the most glorious of the Italian Comuni during the Middle Ages. It housed one of Italy’s most spectacular courts during the Renaissance. And so on. Leonardo da Vinci came from Florence looking for work and ended up staying a long time and achieving quite a lot, like many others have done since. Having always been in the thick of things, Milano is gifted with an impressive part of Italy’s heritage: it is a great city of art.
Have a look at the imposing marble Duomo, at our churches, palaces and museums. You will also be delighted by contemporary art and architecture. There’s so much more to Milan than just Leonardo’s Last Supper, the most famous painting in the world. Countless works of art are waiting for you, and nearly all of them are within walking distance.
While you visit, let the atmosphere of Italy’s most modern and advanced city seep in. You will be captured by the elegance and style; by the energy and the international flair. An incredible shopping experience for all tastes and pockets, in a place where design and fashion have made their home, the world capital.
Milan is the hub of Italian culture and media. If you are a music lover, you can’t miss La Scala. Many other orchestras and venues cater to all musical tastes, from chamber music to jazz. If you are a sports fan, no other city (first in the world) can boast two football powerhouses like AC Milan and Inter Milan, fiercely dividing the residents’ loyalties and supported throughout the world. And a very short trip to Monza will take you to the legendary Formula 1 racing track that has made Ferrari famous.
With so many things to do and see, take the time to simply enjoy yourself – relax and sip an "aperitivo" while you consider your options for dinner. Milan provides an overwhelming dining experience, as all Italian regional cuisines are richly represented, along with many others from the rest of the world.
Don’t forget that parks, green fields, canals and old farmhouses beckon a visit and will make you feel a lot more distant from the city centre than you really are. You will want to come back.

Carnival, this and next week.
The traditional "Carnevale ambrosiano" in Milan, with some things reminding of the Brazilian Carnival.

Meneghino is the main Milanese Carnival character (meneghino, like milanese and ambrosiano, now means = of Milano), other cities have other characters (Pulcinella in Naples, Harlequin and Brighella in Bergamo, etc.).
The name comes from the surname of the servant going with noblewomen for a walk, or to the church.
He is a bit rough but a good, generous person and mostly characterized by honesty, sincerity and a strong sense of justice. To defend his people, he doesn’t run away. He is funny and able to mock aristocratic people. He became a hero, a symbol of the Italian unification.
He is usually represented as wearing these clothes, a cocked three-cornered hat, a pony-tailed wig, red-white striped stockings and an umbrella.
Meneghino’s sincerity is also symbolized by the fact that, unlike most “commedia dell’arte” theatre characters, he doesn’t wear a mask, nor make-up. This makes of him a free character.

The typical Italian sweet treats for Carnival are the “chiacchiere” (= that also means “blah blah”, lol), with powdered sugar… and if you want also Nutella ;P

^_^ from a girl: [my comments between brackets]
"I don’t know if all three of us just had a bad experience or if it’s the norm but without a doubt Milan is my least favourite place in Italy. [GOOD START, LOL!...I ALWAYS HEAR THE OPPOSITE] It’s main appeal [DO YOU MEAN: ITS] is the designer shops and Gothic cathedral but it really has not much else going for it [AHAHAHAHA THESE TOURISTS NEED TO GET ME AS A GUIDE :]. Maybe we would have had a different experience if we were insanely rich however I still doubt it as I need more than a good shopping spree to stay satisfied. As a female I have never been more creeped out. The men look you up and down and constantly make sexual remarks [AHAHAHAHAHA ANOTHER SHOCKED ONE... WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE DO THEY FIND? SOUNDS LIKE SHE'S JEALOUS 'CAUSE SHE'S NOT PRETTY ENOUGH FOR MILAN...]. Our hotel situation was quite hilarious. All the reviews we had read were about how the owners of the hotel were definitely Mafia or drug dealers [OMG! AND YOU GO THERE?!?! YOU MUST BE QUITE STUPID...]. It was cheap and decent though, so we took that risk [YOU TAKE A RISK ALSO THROWING YOURSELF OUT OF A WINDOW... AND I'M EVEN TELLING YOU... LIKE: MANY PEOPLE TELLING HER "DON'T THROW YOURSELF OUT OF A WINDOW" AND THEN MOAN ABOUT WINDOWS...]. The men that ran the hotel definitely were of the dodgy sort and obviously had to run the business as something on the side so as not to look suspicious. When we looked over our balcony we could see them with quite a lot of bags of some mysterious white substance [FLOUR TO MAKE PIZZA! AHAHAHA OTHERWISE THEY WOULDN'T SHOW IT...] but we were sure that if we stayed out of their way, they would stay out of ours. Discussing laundry with them was quite an experience. The roughest, biggest looking tough Italian men asking how you wanted your laundry done with the most serious look on their face. Priceless.
The first night we arrived we went to the main shopping area to look at all the designer shops at night. Most of which had massive screens and run way shows playing all night. We were surrounded by the filthy rich [I CAN FEEL A POINTLESS HATE TOWARDS THE RICH? I MEAN THE USUAL PREJUDICES ABOUT EVERYTHING?]. So many beautiful women with disgusting older men [AHAHAHA RIGHT, I ALWAYS MOAN ABOUT IT AHAHAHA]. What more would you expect?
During the day we got the bus to the Gothic Cathedral and looked around for all the sites. Being in Milan we obviously wanted to sea [DO YOU MEAN: SEE] the original Leonardo Da vinci painting of The Last Super [DO YOU MEAN: SUPPER], to which we were told the waiting list was a few weeks long [MONTHS! MOST FAMOUS PAINTING IN THE WORLD]. So that was an epic fail [BLAME YOURSELF, YOU SHOULD INFORM YOURSELF BEFORE TRAVELLING... OH I FORGOT YOU WANT TO "TAKE RISKS"...]. Instead we went to the fort which was incredibly boring [FIRST TIME I HEAR THIS, YOU MUST BE ORIGINAL...]. The extremely hot weather of Italy during the summer does not make matters any better [OH THAT'S POSITIVE! AHAHA] so eventually we found a park to chill out in. There was a group of people sitting on a wall playing drums and others dancing around. They looked like complete and utter mad men but they were enjoying themselves so obviously didn’t care and it was highly entertaining for us. Highlight of my time there was finding a Garibaldi monument ad I had just been studying about him in History and he is one of my favourite historical figures [NAH, IF YOU WERE FROM MILAN, YOU WOULDN'T LOVE HIM, LOL].
The food is obviously great as Italian food cannot be beaten [OH THAT'S POSITIVE! AHAHA]. our first night we went to a restaurant in the centre of the city. A small place called Luigi’s [AAAAAAAHHH DOESN'T SOUND GOOD]. I wasn’t planning on eating as I wasn’t feeling too well but the owner of the restaurant happened to be there and he was highly intoxicated as it was his birthday. He joined us at our table although he was extremely limited in English [ALSO YOUR OWN LANGUAGE SPELLING, LOL] and ordered me a free meal. he then asked me to move to Sardinia with him and live in his Villa [Berlusconi in incognito, owner of a restaurant?! AHAHAHA RIGHT, I ALWAYS MOAN ABOUT IT AHAHAHA]. The waiters and workers continuously apologised but we found it absolutely hilarious [OH THAT'S POSITIVE! AHAHA]. Eventually we got a bit bored though so when he went to the loo we took the waiters advice and ran off. Our second restaurant outing resulted in an argument with an extremely angry Italian manager and over-cooked food. Not something one wishes to re-live.
(Milan knows how boring it is that on their postcards they have the words ‘Milano at Night’ and the card is completely black as there is simply nothing to do there.)"
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ALSO, SAME VERSION OF THAT POSTCARD ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, IT'S A JOKE.

^_^ from a girl: [my comments between brackets]
"I don’t know if all three of us just had a bad experience or if it’s the norm but without a doubt Milan is my least favourite place in Italy. [GOOD START, LOL!...I ALWAYS HEAR THE OPPOSITE] It’s main appeal [DO YOU MEAN: ITS] is the designer shops and Gothic cathedral but it really has not much else going for it [AHAHAHAHA THESE TOURISTS NEED TO GET ME AS A GUIDE :]. Maybe we would have had a different experience if we were insanely rich however I still doubt it as I need more than a good shopping spree to stay satisfied. As a female I have never been more creeped out. The men look you up and down and constantly make sexual remarks [AHAHAHAHAHA ANOTHER SHOCKED ONE... WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE DO THEY FIND? SOUNDS LIKE SHE'S JEALOUS 'CAUSE SHE'S NOT PRETTY ENOUGH FOR MILAN...]. Our hotel situation was quite hilarious. All the reviews we had read were about how the owners of the hotel were definitely Mafia or drug dealers [OMG! AND YOU GO THERE?!?! YOU MUST BE QUITE STUPID...]. It was cheap and decent though, so we took that risk [YOU TAKE A RISK ALSO THROWING YOURSELF OUT OF A WINDOW... AND I'M EVEN TELLING YOU... LIKE: MANY PEOPLE TELLING HER "DON'T THROW YOURSELF OUT OF A WINDOW" AND THEN MOAN ABOUT WINDOWS...]. The men that ran the hotel definitely were of the dodgy sort and obviously had to run the business as something on the side so as not to look suspicious. When we looked over our balcony we could see them with quite a lot of bags of some mysterious white substance [FLOUR TO MAKE PIZZA! AHAHAHA OTHERWISE THEY WOULDN'T SHOW IT...] but we were sure that if we stayed out of their way, they would stay out of ours. Discussing laundry with them was quite an experience. The roughest, biggest looking tough Italian men asking how you wanted your laundry done with the most serious look on their face. Priceless.
The first night we arrived we went to the main shopping area to look at all the designer shops at night. Most of which had massive screens and run way shows playing all night. We were surrounded by the filthy rich [I CAN FEEL A POINTLESS HATE TOWARDS THE RICH? I MEAN THE USUAL PREJUDICES ABOUT EVERYTHING?]. So many beautiful women with disgusting older men [AHAHAHA RIGHT, I ALWAYS MOAN ABOUT IT AHAHAHA]. What more would you expect?
During the day we got the bus to the Gothic Cathedral and looked around for all the sites. Being in Milan we obviously wanted to sea [DO YOU MEAN: SEE] the original Leonardo Da vinci painting of The Last Super [DO YOU MEAN: SUPPER], to which we were told the waiting list was a few weeks long [MONTHS! MOST FAMOUS PAINTING IN THE WORLD]. So that was an epic fail [BLAME YOURSELF, YOU SHOULD INFORM YOURSELF BEFORE TRAVELLING... OH I FORGOT YOU WANT TO "TAKE RISKS"...]. Instead we went to the fort which was incredibly boring [FIRST TIME I HEAR THIS, YOU MUST BE ORIGINAL...]. The extremely hot weather of Italy during the summer does not make matters any better [OH THAT'S POSITIVE! AHAHA] so eventually we found a park to chill out in. There was a group of people sitting on a wall playing drums and others dancing around. They looked like complete and utter mad men but they were enjoying themselves so obviously didn’t care and it was highly entertaining for us. Highlight of my time there was finding a Garibaldi monument ad I had just been studying about him in History and he is one of my favourite historical figures [NAH, IF YOU WERE FROM MILAN, YOU WOULDN'T LOVE HIM, LOL].
The food is obviously great as Italian food cannot be beaten [OH THAT'S POSITIVE! AHAHA]. our first night we went to a restaurant in the centre of the city. A small place called Luigi’s [AAAAAAAHHH DOESN'T SOUND GOOD]. I wasn’t planning on eating as I wasn’t feeling too well but the owner of the restaurant happened to be there and he was highly intoxicated as it was his birthday. He joined us at our table although he was extremely limited in English [ALSO YOUR OWN LANGUAGE SPELLING, LOL] and ordered me a free meal. he then asked me to move to Sardinia with him and live in his Villa [Berlusconi in incognito, owner of a restaurant?! AHAHAHA RIGHT, I ALWAYS MOAN ABOUT IT AHAHAHA]. The waiters and workers continuously apologised but we found it absolutely hilarious [OH THAT'S POSITIVE! AHAHA]. Eventually we got a bit bored though so when he went to the loo we took the waiters advice and ran off. Our second restaurant outing resulted in an argument with an extremely angry Italian manager and over-cooked food. Not something one wishes to re-live.
(Milan knows how boring it is that on their postcards they have the words ‘Milano at Night’ and the card is completely black as there is simply nothing to do there.)"
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ALSO, SAME VERSION OF THAT POSTCARD ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, IT'S A JOKE.

until 13 January: free visit to see "Amore e Psiche" by Canova, close to the Gallery @ Palazzo Marino (not the famous "Amore & Psiche" by Canova with the amazing angel kissing, stolen by the french, as always... must have been the french thief Arsene Lupin... their museums are collections of thefts, especially by Napoleon - ask people in Venice, Tuscany and Milan to know what they think about him, the dictator. All art works that should come back to Italy. The only art by the French: Impressionism, that is: bullshit that even children could paint... the only thing the french are good at, is running away with their white flag, them scaredy cats, or being sodomized, dirty people with no bidet in their bathrooms)

MADONNINA

All the cathedrals in the world have a CROSS (+) at the top.
...apart from one: Milan's Duomo (quite strange, isn't it?), with a woman: a golden statue of Our Lady (about 4 metres tall), the "Madonnina" (Madunina in Milanese dialect).
Now they're working on it...
I've been many times on the roof but never close to the statue, because it wasn't possible. Someday I will...
Before the Duomo and BEFORE the Romans (who did NOT found Milan), there was a temple dedicated to another woman: Belisama (Goddess of fire, both sun and moon) by the Celts, founders of Milan.
When at Mussolini times they built the Torre Branca (just above Just Cavalli), he wanted it to be lower than Duomo's Madonnina, but now it isn't (for just 10 centimetres).
When they built the "grattacielo Pirelli" skyscraper, they put a small copy of the statue (85 cms) because the palace is taller than the Duomo. The statue has a great meaning, not only religious, to protect the Milanese people.
Now they built skyscrapers (Palazzo Regione Lombardia, Torre Hines) taller than the "Pirellone", so they moved the statue (and there was a whole ceremony, with the archbishop blessing it)

3 KINGS PROCESSION (corteo dei Re Magi)

as every 6 January, the importance of the Milano version comes from the church where they arrive to bring the gifts (gold, frankincense, myrrh): the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio is the site of the tomb of the Three Magi or Three Kings. It's one of Milano oldest traditions, since 1300.
In the 12th century, when Milan was sacked by Frederick Barbarossa, the relics of the Magi were appropriated and subsequently taken to Cologne. In 1903/4, fragments of the bones and garments were sent back to Sant'Eustorgio's. Nowadays they are in the Three Kings altar.
Always seen it when we were kids not only because it's close to us, also for the animals (elephants, camels, horses, etc.), music, etc. You can also be one of the people wearing costumes.
from Duomo to San Lorenzo to Saint Eustorgio (living nativity scene)

until 13 January: free visit to see "Amore e Psiche" by Canova, close to the Gallery @ Palazzo Marino (not the famous "Amore & Psiche" by Canova with the amazing angel kissing, stolen by the french, as always... must have been the french thief Arsene Lupin... their museums are collections of thefts, especially by Napoleon - ask people in Venice, Tuscany and Milan to know what they think about him, the dictator. All art works that should come back to Italy. The only art by the French: Impressionism, that is: bullshit that even children could paint... the only thing the french are good at, is running away with their white flag, them scaredy cats, or being sodomized, dirty people with no bidet in their bathrooms)

MADONNINA

All the cathedrals in the world have a CROSS (+) at the top.
...apart from one: Milan's Duomo (quite strange, isn't it?), with a woman: a golden statue of Our Lady (about 4 metres tall), the "Madonnina" (Madunina in Milanese dialect).
Now they're working on it...
I've been many times on the roof but never close to the statue, because it wasn't possible. Someday I will...
Before the Duomo and BEFORE the Romans (who did NOT found Milan), there was a temple dedicated to another woman: Belisama (Goddess of fire, both sun and moon) by the Celts, founders of Milan.
When at Mussolini times they built the Torre Branca (just above Just Cavalli), he wanted it to be lower than Duomo's Madonnina, but now it isn't (for just 10 centimetres).
When they built the "grattacielo Pirelli" skyscraper, they put a small copy of the statue (85 cms) because the palace is taller than the Duomo. The statue has a great meaning, not only religious, to protect the Milanese people.
Now they built skyscrapers (Palazzo Regione Lombardia, Torre Hines) taller than the "Pirellone", so they moved the statue (and there was a whole ceremony, with the archbishop blessing it)

3 KINGS PROCESSION (corteo dei Re Magi)

as every 6 January, the importance of the Milano version comes from the church where they arrive to bring the gifts (gold, frankincense, myrrh): the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio is the site of the tomb of the Three Magi or Three Kings. It's one of Milano oldest traditions, since 1300.
In the 12th century, when Milan was sacked by Frederick Barbarossa, the relics of the Magi were appropriated and subsequently taken to Cologne. In 1903/4, fragments of the bones and garments were sent back to Sant'Eustorgio's. Nowadays they are in the Three Kings altar.
Always seen it when we were kids not only because it's close to us, also for the animals (elephants, camels, horses, etc.), music, etc. You can also be one of the people wearing costumes.
from Duomo to San Lorenzo to Saint Eustorgio (living nativity scene)

- 1 month
Probably nothing will happen on 21 December at 11:11 am
(by the way: is it London time? Milan time?), but what if something happens? surely not the end of the world, and surely not that hour and not that day. But what if something serious happens another day? something changing life in worse (as if the crisis wasn't enough).
I'm sure there are many things we humans don't know (I'm not necessarily referring to God and religion), and many things they don't tell us...
for example, an asteroid hitting for sure the world, is something they would never tell us, or it would be a total chaos.
Also, I'm sure that "aliens" exist, I mean other forms of life. The universe is so huge, infinite, that it's 100% sure other creatures exist, and nobody of us knows. I know, lol. I don't think they're watching us (but I'm watching you, lol), but what if suddenly someone was here... we wouldn't be prepared and many would die for a heart attack.
I often notice too "strange coincidences", and I wonder if we're all part of a masterplan...

things to do before the end of the world:

- 1 month
Probably nothing will happen on 21 December at 11:11 am
(by the way: is it London time? Milan time?), but what if something happens? surely not the end of the world, and surely not that hour and not that day. But what if something serious happens another day? something changing life in worse (as if the crisis wasn't enough).
I'm sure there are many things we humans don't know (I'm not necessarily referring to God and religion), and many things they don't tell us...
for example, an asteroid hitting for sure the world, is something they would never tell us, or it would be a total chaos.
Also, I'm sure that "aliens" exist, I mean other forms of life. The universe is so huge, infinite, that it's 100% sure other creatures exist, and nobody of us knows. I know, lol. I don't think they're watching us (but I'm watching you, lol), but what if suddenly someone was here... we wouldn't be prepared and many would die for a heart attack.
I often notice too "strange coincidences", and I wonder if we're all part of a masterplan...

things to do before the end of the world:

from the Bible:
"...Da quel giorno, il nome della città sarà: il Signore è là"
(Ezechiele, 48)

("from that day, the name of the city will be: the Lord is there")

Photo above: chocolate shoes and bags @ Rinascente Milano.
This is the Eicma week (the biggest motorcycle exhibition in the world (venerdì gratis x donne, free for girls on Friday).
One of the free events (gratis), at 6:30pm on Wednesday, 39th floor (of 43) extraordinary opening of the new Palazzo della Regione Lombardia.
"Le moto lombarde in mostra", apertura straordinaria del 39° piano.
+ Thursday, Friday, Saturday from 7:00 pm, Ducati aperitivo (happy hour cocktail) @ ATM bar