The dome of the Duomo di Pavia is the third (or maybe the fourth) for size in Italy, after St. Peter’s Basilica, the Pantheon, and Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. It is now possible to visit the Cathedral until January 8th 2012: it was closed after the fall of the Civic Tower in 1989.

See the Diocesi site for more information about opening days and hours, and Trenitalia or Trenord site for train timetable.

Villa Litta in Lainate is now closed, but you can visit the public park or garden, and the Nettuno fountain. The Ninfeo or Water Palace will open next year late Spring, Be patient.

villa litta lainate

In the West Circuit (31-33), you can find the Memorial of Giuseppe Mengoni; the unlucky architect of the Vittorio Emanuele Gallery died when he fell down from the scaffolding the opening’s eve, at the end of 1877. The author of the memorial is Francesco Barzaghi (1839 – 1892), teacher at the Brera Academy and author of several statues and monuments around the city: Francesco Hayez near Brera and Napoleone III at Sempione Park, just to mention a couple of them.

mengoni

Near the architect’s you can see the statue of his daughter, who died in 1880, just three years old.

The tomb of Ernesto Bazzaro is situated near the Crematorium in West Cinerary Gardens; his bronze Self-portrait is set upon a simple stele bearing this epitaph:

bazzaro tomb

Here Ernesto Bazzaro ashes – once flame of genius, eternal glory of Lombardic sculpture – are collected.

Bazzaro is represented in many sculptural works at the Cemetery, as we can see for example in the Alfredo Lombardi memorial,

Exhaustion –  1894 – Section XVIII

Exhaustion

Enrico Butti (1847-1932) has taken his inspiration from a work of L. Bartolini in  Santa Croce, Florence. Isabella Airoldi died very young in 1889 he was only 24 years old. You can see her here in the cemetery, still sleeping and dreaming of death. Angels come to the Earth from the sky and take her to paradise.

Photo taken before restoration

Nice face, blue eye… where can you see her ?

and where

Opening Hours (Monday Closed):

Tuesday to Sunday
8.00AM to 6.00PM
Access allowed until 30 minutes to closing time
1st January
Easter
Easter Monday
1st May
2nd June
15th August
8th, 25th and 26th December
From 8.00AM to 1.00PM

Tuesday, November 29th, from 19:30 PM to 23:00 PM free admission to Brera Art Gallery (and Cenacolo Vinciano, but this one apparently sold out).

A little jewel, in my opinion

I advise you to visit it on tuesday…

Meanwhile, take a look at website

And, while you’re there, don’t miss S. Eustorgio and the Portinari Chapel.

Some ideas about what to see and where to go while you are in Milan, want to see something interesting and don’t want to spend too much money. Ready to go ?

Let’s start with the Castle

Sala delle Asse: any trace of Leonardo here?

Galli's Madonna Lia

Free Entry on Friday (2:00PM to 5:00PM)

…and, maybe, each day after Half Past Four

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