For The Love of Travel

Walking around the Ticinese neighbourhood, I noticed a billboard advertising an exhibition ‘Obey- the art of Shepard Fairey’’! Woo hoo, one of the world’s most influential and internationally recognized street artists, exhibiting in Milan. So that was my first stop for the day. An amazing visual and conceptual journey through the artist’s 35-year career, featuring a rich collection of works personally selected, featuring iconic themes in his art: propaganda, peace and justice, music, and environment.

“Through my art, I want to remind people of the equal humanity of all people, regardless of their race, religion, nation, or culture. There is no us versus them; there is only us.” 

Best known for the “HOPE” poster, a portrait of Barack Obama and an emblem of the 2008 presidential campaign, Obey’s style has a minimalist palette, influenced by the hip-hop and punk cultures, challenging social conventions – inviting the audience to question and take a stance on current issues.

Ready for more art, caught a couple of trams to check out the “Gucci mural”. Since 2017, in Largo La Foppa, the Gucci Art Wall boasts 176 square metres available for mural art. Just opposite the Radetzky Café/Bar, looms this huge urban canvas – this month dedicated to Debra Harry, ex Blondie and Gucci campaign-ista pictured with an adorable Yorkie.

And then, inquisitively popping by head through a gate leading to a secluded apartment block… saw another mural ….of a portico with a real garden in the foreground.

Radetsky Bar, with iconic outdoor sofas and elegant architecture, has been a hangout for socialites since 1988. Perfect for brekkie, brunch, aperitif (with nibbles), or dinner.  I had a refreshing passionfruit cocktail.

Took an Uber to see the “Vertical Forest”, Bosco Verticale, a prototype for a new building with large and small trees, shrubs, and ground covering plants providing 30,000 square metres of vegetation of woodland and undergrowth, concentrated on 3,000 square metres of urban surface. The greenery filters light creating a welcoming microclimate, regulates humidity, produces oxygen and absorbs CO2. A specialist team of ‘flying gardeners’ (arborist-climbers), who use mountaineering techniques once a year to descend the building, pruning and checking plants for removal and substitution. Irrigation is centralised, monitored remotely. AND….the Forest has given birth to a habitat colonised by numerous animal species (including 1600 specimens of birds and butterflies), establishing an outpost of spontaneous flora and fauna recolonisation in the city. AMAZING!

Ratana was my lunch spot over the road from the Vertical Forest, with lots of seafood options and a very cute menu presentation, these fish images dotted throughout the food descriptions.

A visit to the Casa Museo Boschi di Stefano art deco building offers not just the chance to wander through 50 years of Italian twentieth-century art history, but also to go on a journey into the lives of the collectors who lived in the apartment.  Spent my morning there. At the beginning of the 1930s, the married couple Marieda di Stefano and Antonio Boschi (see portrait of them below with their puddy tats), opened the doors of their residence to some of the most influential artists ever, including Mario Sironi, Alberto Savinio, Lucio Fontana, Carlo Carrà and Arturo Martini, with whom they were to forge genuine friendships over the years. A little jewel of a place in the heart of Milan, free to visit and just a hop step and jump from the hustle of Corso Buenos Aires.

Then back to my ‘hood by a couple of interlinking trams and just a few minutes walk through back streets, was my (late) lunch spot, Alla Collina Pistoiese, a traditional Tuscan restaurant since 1938. Another saffron risotto (this one was my fave from all the restaurants), followed by lemon and vodka sorbet, yum!

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.