A morning for wandering around the ‘hood. A brutalist structure down the road from my hotel caught my attention…designed by Marcello Piacentini in the late 1920’s, who employed Antonio Maraini to sculpt the portal gate with figures representing virtue, work, love, home, family, fidelity and health. Currently, the home of the National Social Security Directorate.

The lovely Giovanni Galli sweet shop, founded in 1911, is just around the corner – marron glaces and pralines are their specialty…but there are also choccies; jellies; nougat; marzipan – they are preparing boxed-up presentations ready for (seemingly) banquets on St Francis’ of Assisi feast day 🙂

A graduation celebration spilled out onto the street in front of the Touring Car Italiano building, with the fortunate graduate grinning from ear to ear, having an animated discussions with friends and family, wearing a celebratory wreath of green leaves intricately weaved with red and white flowers.

A leisurely lunch @ Cantine Milano, with a 3 course wine and food pairing. Yummy! In particular, the meatballs with sausage/beef/cheese on saffron potato cream and lemon-marinated red cabbage… and risotto Milanese. I’m also developing a taste for Valpolicella Ripasso, a dry deliciously fruity red wine from Verona..

I headed to the rooftop of the flagship store La Rinascente to enjoy the panorama of the Duomo….queues galore for the bars and restaurants on the terrace. So I sneaked through when a waiter wasn’t looking, made a beeline for the glass panels surrounding the terrace, and on tippee-toe…managed to get this image at sunset.