The lock at the end of Via San Marco, below Viale Monte Grappa, once marked the arrival point for those coming into the city from the north along the Naviglio Martesana (NM): now emptied of water, it still has the decaying wooden lock gates which are identical to those...
Long attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance sanctuary of Santa Maria alla Fontana is one of the most secret and poetic places in the city. The site was originally in the middle of the countryside, beyond the Porta Comasina city gateway, and the sanctuary was founded in 1507...
The Bernocchi family monument in Milan’s Cimitero Monumentale stands out both because of the height of its spire and the figures that adore it. The work of the architect Alessandro Milani and the sculptor Giannino Castiglioni, the structure was built in stages between 1931 and 1936 to serve as...
On the façade opposite the Palzzo della Ragione, Milan, the capital of a column in the second arch bears a little noticed Roman bas-relief depicting a scrofa semilanuta (long-haired sow). Legend has it that the founder of Milan was the Celt Bellovesus, who crossed the Alps and then came...
The Portinari Chapel was built in the years 1462-1468 for the Florentine banker Pigello Portinari, the Milan agent of the Medici Bank. It is considered to be a masterpiece of the Lombard Renaissance and its frescoes, by Vincenzo Foppa, recount the life of the Dominican St Peter Martyr...
Most people are not even aware of its existence, and even those who do know it sometimes do not see the pentimenti in this unfinished work. The Rondanini Pietà is the last known work by Michelangelo, carved when the artist was 90 years old and approaching death. This final...
In Via Manzoni in the Fashion District of Milan you will find an outstanding private museum, established by nobleman Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli, which was opened to the public in 1881. The museum, a singular example of a late 19th-century aristocratic Milanese residence, contains Poldi Pzzoli’s fine collection of...
The gallery of Villa Clerici is little known, although it has been open since 1955, primarily because it is some way from the city centre of Milan. Few in fact know that it has recently reopened after being long closed for maintenance work. This museum is one of the...
Perhaps it is because it is located on the outskirts of the city of Milan that most Milanese have never heard of – and almost certainly have never visited – the old Charterhouse which Bishop Giovanni Visconti had built in 1349. This lack of knowledge is a shame, as...
Just a short walk from the central railway station, a Renaissance chapel has miraculously survived. Its arched portico, squeezed in between the large buildings, is reminiscent og the Ponticella del Bramante at Castello Sforzesco. Long neglected – and thus a victim of vandals, the elements and repeated cleaning with...
Welcome to my love affair with the food, wine, history and culture of the Mediterranean, past and present. Here you will find not only recipes, drinks and fabulous products, but the history of the food and culture of the Mediterranean.
My purpose is to get you to explore and experience new tastes and along the way to immerse yourself in the wonderful history of this diverse and wonderful region – from Venice to Istanbul, Rome to Dubrovnik, Athens to Crete and all places in between and in the surrounds. Be prepared to be surprised, delighted and enthralled as you take this trip with me.
