LIFE: Up in a Cloud

CHIAVARI, Italy – The city of Milan does a pretty good job of promoting itself. It’s easy to find information on what’s going on in the city whether its street fairs or trade fairs or even which restaurants and bars are the current “hot” spots. And then there is the Milan the Milanese kind of keep to themselves – it’s not that they are keeping secrets, it’s just that they don’t talk about some things as much as they talk about others. The Rite of the Nivola is a good example.

 

Rito della Nivola, Milan, Italy

In all the years I lived in Milan I never knew that one of Christianity’s most important relics – the Santo Chiodo - a nail from the True Cross – is in the Duomo of Milan.  It is kept in a reliquary in the apse near the main altar. You can’t see it when you are in the Duomo but you can see the little red light above the altar that shows where it is kept.

This relic is believed to have been discovered by Saint Helena in the Holy Land in 326 AD, and many experts believe it was brought to Milan in the 12^th or 13th century during the Crusades. What we know for sure is it was in the Duomo in 1461. It was first brought to the attention of the public by the Bishop of Milan, Charles Borromeo, during a procession in 1577 when he was asking for Divine Intervention from the Black Plague. Divine intervention was definitely needed. Millions of Italians had already died from the plague and before they figured out a way to combat it, it had killed more than 20 million people, over 60 percent of the entire population of Europe.

 

Altar, Duomo of Milan

One of the reasons the Rito della Nivola isn’t better known is that even if people hear the name, it isn’t clear what the rite is all about. Unless you know the story, it is just about impossible to connect the Rito to the Holy Nail, or the plague or St. Charles Borromeo or even Milan for that matter. It does seem a bit odd that the rite isn’t named after the Holy Nail, instead of after the reliquary that holds it and the contraption that lifts it up to the apse.

That’s not to say the reliquary isn’t beautifully decorated with cherubs and angels and looks like large cloud when it is being raised or lowered in the Duomo. It does, and that cloud like appearance is where the rite gets its name as nivola is, or was at the time, Milanese dialect for cloud.

 

 St. Charles Boromeo 

As for Leonardo da Vinci’s involvement in the project, the best guess is that he designed, or at the least conceived of, the complicated pulley system that carries the Nivola up into the apse.  Da Vinci was working for Ludovico (il Moro), the Duke of Milan, at the time and records show he was called in as a consultant on a difficult construction problem the builders were having with the dome of the Duomo.  So it is entirely plausible that he could, and would, design a system that could carry a heavy basket-like structure 147 feet up on the air. It was just the kind off thing da Vinci did best. 

To raise and lower the basket which was 9 feet (3 meters) long and weighed 1,700 lbs (800 kilos), it took about two dozen men. They were positioned on the roof of the Duomo, no doubt hanging on to the ropes of the pulley system for dear life, charged with lowering the Nivola down to a spot in front of the altar. Two weeks later they were back for the more difficult task of raising it up again. Now the pulley system has been mechanized so the entire operation is much less stressful but the schedule is pretty much the same.

 

 Duomo of Milan

There are only two days a year that you can see the Nivola, the day the Holy Nail is taken from the case, usually on September 14th, and two weeks later when it is put back. The ceremony is open to the public but you have to make a reservation through the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo offices.  

Duomo di Milano Contact Info

 http://www.duomomilano.it/it/contacts/
Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo
Via Arcivescovado 1 – 20122 Milano 
tel +39 02 72022656
fax +39 02 72022419
www.duomomilano.it
Office Hours: dal lunedì al venerdì h. 9.30-13.00; 14.30-17.30, Closed Saturday and Sunday email: info@duomomilano.it  

Duomo Info Point

Via Arcivescovado  1 – 20122 Milano
tel +39 02 72023375 - fax +39 02 72022419
Hours Duomo Info Point: Monday-Saturday h. 9.30 -5.30.
Sundays 11.00 alle 3.00
email: info@duomomilano.it  

ON ANOTHER NOTE

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LIFE: Now That I Think About It

CHIAVARI, Italy – Before I moved back to the Italian Riviera last January, I lived in a small town about 20 minutes from Milan, called Saronno. I lived there for about 12 years. In the beginning I worked as editor of an English language magazine and then, since Milan is all about fashion, I moved on to Women’s Wear Daily, a somewhat influential newspaper dedicated to the fashion industry. 

 Sforza Castle, Milan, Italy

After 12 years in Saronno I figured I knew the town pretty well, but it wasn’t until someone asked me where they could buy postcards of Saronno did I realize that there are no postcards of Saronno. There aren’t any stickers that say I heart Saronno, or Go Saronno soccer banners either. And as far as I know absolutely nothing ever happened there that anyone would want to know about. I also realized that was what I liked the most about the place.

Saronno is an old, unpretentious market town that has been around since the days of the Romans. If the name rings a bell, it’s probably because of Amaretto di Saronno liqueur and Lazzaroni cookies, which both come from there, or rather came from there. Seems to me the production plants have moved south, but I may be wrong about that.

What I’m not wrong about though is that absolutely nothing of any importance ever happened in Saronno, no one famous was ever born there or even visited there, not even Cecilia Gallerani and she was the Countess of Saronno.

 Cecilia Gallerani

“Who?” said my neighbor. “There was a Countess of Saronno?”

“You would know who she is if you saw a picture of The Lady with Ermine," said her husband who claims to know about these things. "That is what Leonardo daVinci named the portrait he painted of her in 1490,” he says. “The portrait, and the town of Saronno was a gift to Cecilia from her lover, the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. He is the one who lived in the big brick castle in the center of Milan and the one who started building the Duomo di Milano, Milan’s massive cathedral. Technically the Duke gave Saronno to Caesar, the son he had with Cecilia in 1491,” he continues, “but of course Cecilia had control of it as Caesar was a newborn baby. That all happened the same year the Duke married Beatrice d’Este.”

“The Duke and Cecilia had a baby and then he married another woman a few months later?” I ask.

“Yep,” says my neighbor. “He had arranged it with Beatrice’s father when she was born and by the time they got married the Duke was 39 and I think Beatrice had just turned 16.”

 And what about Cecilia?” I ask, “She couldn’t have been too happy about that, having just given birth to his baby. What happened to her?”

“Nothing,” says my neighbor. “The Duke eventually married her off to his best friend and moved them into a palazzo just outside of Milan. The Duke and Cecilia continued to see each other even after they were both married to other people, but then he got involved with another woman, Lucrezia Crivelli, and that was that.”

“His poor wife,” I say. “Poor Cecilia too. So what year was that?”

Ludovico Sfoza, Duke of Milan

“Around 1492,” he says. “A few years later the Duke was defeated by the French and for the next couple of years Saronno and Milan, and the rest of his Dukedom was under French control. But then the Duke formed an alliance with the Pope, and with the help of the Pope’s army and Swiss, German and Spanish mercenaries he was able to recapture his Dukedom. Then the bubonic plague hit.”

“Didn’t anything nice ever happen here?” I ask.

“Not that I know of,” he says.

“Well, how about important people. Are there any important people here?“

“Actually, most of the old people you see in Saronno now weren’t born here, they came from Milan during World War II, like me. It was the summer of 1942, the year I was supposed to start school that the British began bombing Italy. By the autumn of that year, they had dropped more than 1,600 tons of explosives on northern Italy. Our neighborhood in Milan was in shambles. I remember my mother clutching her food coupons and standing in long lines, stepping over piles of rubble from the buildings that had been bombed. That’s how we lived, barely lived to tell you the truth. My brothers and I went to bed hungry more often than not. And it was scary. Sometimes during the night the air raid sirens would go off and my mother would pull us out of bed and rush down us into the basement of our building.  Everyone would be down there and we would huddle around a short-wave radio listening to Radio London and the Voice of America, praying for the news that the Americans had landed. When that finally happened, we moved out here to Saronno because my mother knew they would be fighting in the streets of Milan, and she was right.”

After that conversation I began looking at my neighbors a little differently. I even started to feel more kindly toward Father Franco and his cackling chickens and feeling a little guilty about reporting him to the Mayor’s office for harboring a public nuisance. I had nothing against Father Franco but those damn chickens, and especially the rooster who woke me up every morning at 4 AM, had to go. Then I realized that I hadn’t heard them for a couple of days.  

I asked my neighbor if he thought my letter had provoked the eviction of the entire chicken population over at Father Franco’s, even though all I had asked for was that they get rid of the rooster.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It wasn’t you. There’s a town ordinance that doesn’t allow farm animals to be kept in residential areas. It just takes a while for things to happen here.”

Maybe it’s just as well. It sounds to me like enough has happened there already.

LIFE: Summer in the City

CHIAVARI, Italy – Just so you don’t think I’ve completely abandoned Milan for a posher life on the Italian Riviera, here is my Ode to Milan and some random photos that brought back some nice memories of summer in that city.

 The Lido, Fun in the Sun Milanese Style

THE VERY FABRIC of Milan is Valentino red, Armani black and Versace gold. As a city it’s slick and it’s snazzy. It’s not anything like all those other Italian cities that are so absorbed with their past. No no, not Milan. This northern Italian city is about art, it’s about design, it’s about fashion, oh yes, above all it is about fashion.

 George Clooney's ex Elisabetta Canalis shopping in Milan

Board one of the clunky orange trams going up Via Manzoni, and chances are you’ll find yourself sitting next to the editor of an international fashion magazine, or maybe the marketing director for Prada or Dolce and Gabbana. Morning traffic is intense, Vespas zoom in and out, taxis honk and drivers stick their heads out the windows. What’s the hold up, they shout, move it buddy! Everyone is in a hurry. No strolling allowed.

 

 Sometimes You Just Need a Quick Drink (taken near the Duomo)

Milan is not an easy city to visit. But you must admit the massive Duomo is breathtaking. Topped with a crown of two thousand and two marble statues and a brilliant gilded statue of the Madonna, few visitors realize it is Italy’s second largest cathedral, only the Vatican is bigger. 

 This Guy is Way Cooler than the Levitating Monk in Chiavari,  Don't You Think?

And yes the Sforza castle is amazing. Imagine a castle with a thousand years of history, surrounded by a moat and drawbridges right in the center of town. Yes the Galleria’s soaring iron and glass arches were soaring years before Mr. Eiffel built his tower in Paris. Milan’s Galleria was the first shopping center and in its time it was a wonder of the world. And every great Italian composer, from the 18^th century on, has composed for the world famous La Scala opera house.   

 

 Procession for Corpus Domoni

In the spring and fall, when the city is gearing up for the all-important twice-a-year fashion shows, the trams and subways are crowded with tall, leggy models, male and female, carrying large black portfolios. They make the rounds of the booking offices, anxious to see if they are good enough to walk the runway for Cavalli and Armani, or if they’re to be delegated to working the show rooms.

Who But the Italians Can Get Away With Uniforms Like These?

When the models have half an hour free, you will find them standing in awe in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, which hangs in the Refectory of the church of Santa Maria della Grazie. Or perhaps they wander into the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, the world’s first public library to see the fragments of the gospels of Mathew, Mark and Luke.

 

 Awww, Mama Duck and her Newly Hatched Ducklings at the Darcena

There is more to track down at the Pinacoteca di Brera, a world class art museum in a 16^th century palazzo. And if they want more da Vinci there’s also the Museo della Scienze e della Tecnica Leonardo da Vinci where you’ll find models based on sketches of Leonardo’s designs for submarines and helicopters. Who would have thought?    

 Mama Duck and Ducklings Being Guided Across a Busy Street

So do come for a visit, even in the summer, but don’t look at Milan like you look at Florence or Rome. Stop in and marvel at the grandeur of the Duomo and the Galleria. Do visit the museum at La Scala. Stroll the streets of the Golden Triangle and come right up close and personal with some of the world’s top designers. But do try not to look aghast when the price tag on the lacy peach colored bra in the window, the one with the ostrich feather trim, turns out to cost more than $1,800 at today’s exchange rate. Celebrate your good sense not to buy it with a glass of bubbly Prosseco at one of the sleek bars in the neighborhood, in short, enjoy a different style of Italian life, Milanese style.

LIFE: All Duked Out

SARONNO, Italy - There was an article in the newspaper the other day about the restoration of the wooden model of the Duomo that was built when the Cathedral was under construction. At some point it will be displayed at the Duomo museum. The key words here are 'at some point'. Whenever a public project seems to be taking a little longer to finish than the locals think it should, they shake their heads and say, “here we go again, another Fabbrica del Duomo – which translated loosely means “oh no, here we go again, another never ending project, just like the Cathedral of Milan.”  

 Milan's Piazza Duomo Today

The Duomo of Milan was started in 1387 by the Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and was ‘officially’ completed in the mid-1960’s when the massive bronze doors were finally installed. No, you didn’t read that wrong – it really did take 579 years to complete the project. And truth be known, work on the enormous structure has never really stopped. With four million people passing through those bronze doors every year there is always something, either inside or out, that needs to be repaired or replaced, especially if it is made of marble. 

A Partial Detail of the Exterior

The Duomo is built of marble that comes from the private quarry of the late Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti. He stipulated that the marble from his quarry should be used exclusively for the construction of the Duomo. That was back in the 14th century, and the rule still holds.

After prying the enormous rough blocks of marble from the side of the mountains near Lago Maggiore in Piedmonte, the blocks were moved from the quarry to the lake, and then loaded onto special barges. They floated from the lake to the Ticino River, down the river and into Milan using the vast canal system that existed in the city at that time. The blocks of marble were delivered to a small lake that was near the Duomo building site and then transferred on a type of sled pulled by mules. That lake by the way, was paved over and is now called Via Laghetto, Lake Street.

 Close up of Some of the Statue Topped Spires

In the 14^th century, when construction of the Duomo began, Italy was not a country as we think of a country today, but a collection of city states. Each area was ruled independently which meant that goods passing from one dukedom, or Duchy, to another were subject to custom duty. Of course Dukes had special privileges and in order to avoid payment on the large number of marble laden barges that passed from Piedmont to Lombardy daily, the words: “ad usum fabricate operis,” Latin for 'destined for the Duke’s building site, were painted on the sides of the Duke’s barges. Those four little words meant that he paid no import duty to the Duke of Savoy, who controlled Piedmont.   

Painting of One of Milan's Many Canals

It wasn’t long before the words “ad usum fabricate operis” were shortened to AUF, and you still hear the old Milanese using the expression “a ufo” to indicate something is free, or more to the point, "non ce' niente a ufo", nothing is free.

For the hundreds of years the Duomo was under construction, the center of Milan resembled a giant ant hill – workers scurrying here and there, climbing scaffolds, chipping stones, mixing mortar and running and fetching stones and slate for the artisans. 

The operational and financial areas of the project was managed by the Vereranda Fabbrica del Duomo, specifically created by Duke Gian Galeazo to oversee the construction of the Duomo and to manage the project finances. Today, Angel Caioia, the current president of the Vereranda Fabbrica del Duomo, heads a seven member Board of Directors and oversees the Fabbrica’s 130 employees, who still perform many of the same duties as their 14^th century predecessors did.

Fabbrica Workers Restoring the Wooden Model of the Cathedral

It was a massive project, larger than any seen before. So large in fact that one of the unique problems the engineers faced was how to raise the massive stones needed to complete the top of the Duomo. They decided to get some outside help, so they called in a French architect. When he saw the size and scope of the project, the Duomo is 354 feet tall (108 meters), he threw up his hands and declared all the work done up until the time he arrived on the scene as in pericolo di ruina – in peril of ruin, and according to him it had been done sine science, without science, whatever that means.

 

He proved to be full of hot air, but his caustic comments did push Galeazzo’s engineers to improve their instruments and techniques and work on the Duomo not only continued, but actually picked up speed. When Gian Galeazzo died of the Black Plague in 1402, almost half of the cathedral had been completed, but with the Duke gone the project stalled due to a lack of funds and ideas.

The Work is Slow and Exacting

By 1447 Milan had come under the rule of the Sforza family. Under the first Sforza, Francesco, the nave and aisles were completed up to the sixth bay. Forty years later, when his son Lodovico Sforza, better known as Il Moro, took control of the Dukedom, the octagonal cupola was completed and the interior decorated with four series of fifteen statues each, each statue portraying a saint or a prophet, and characters from the Bible. Stained glass windows, telling the story of Milan’s patron saint, Saint Ambrogio, were installed behind the great apse.

In May of 1519 the Fabbrica commissioned a wooden model of the still uncompleted Duomo to be built. Engineers and architects have always made use of models as it is the easiest way to check the relationship between shapes and functions and to verify possible proportional or volume faults of large construction projects. At that time the Duomo had an apse, a transept, an incomplete dome lantern and the first 5-6 spans of the naves which extended from the transept towards the façade. As the Duomo changed, the model was also changed so the   representation of the project was always true. Just carving the 3,400 statues that decorate the Duomo, must have taken years.

Every Piece is Checked

When the large dome above the transept proved to be a challenging construction problem, Leonardo da Vinci, who was working for Duke Lodovico at the time, was called in as a consultant. While he was solving that problem, Leonardo  took the time to design a complicated pulley system to raise and lower a basket which holds a Santo Chiodo, a Holy Nail from the true cross, the most important religious relic owned by the Archdiocese of Milan. 

This relic is believed to be one of the two nails of the Crucifixion discovered by Saint Helena in the Holy Land in 326 Ad. Many people believe the nail came to Milan during the Crusades, in the 12^th or 13^th century. A special mass, called the Rito della Nivola is still held every year in mid -September and the nail is lowered and raised using the same pulley system designed by Leonardo da Vinci. 

If you stand in the middle aisle of the Duomo and look up, above the altar, you will see a tiny red light. That light indicates the location of the Holy Nail. 

The first religious service was held in the Duomo in 1402. It was the funeral of Duke Gian Galeazzo. Work continued throughout the rest of the 15th century, and the Duomo opened for regular worship in 1418.  

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