A Day in Milan: Girls Trip to Italy

Today, we got up early so we could catch the train before 8:00, so we could get to Milan before our 10:00 appointment to Santa Maria Delle Grazie where Da Vinci's Last Supper is located. We got off the train and rushed to get to the subway, we were cutting it so extremely close.  We got out of the subway at our stop right at 10:00 and realized that it was still a 10 minute walk to the church.  We all put on our speed walking shoes and walked/ran to the church square.  When we got there someone from our tour told us we had to hurry and drop our bags in the lockers and get inside because our tour was about to leave without us, and we wouldn't be able to join them.  We threw our bags in the lockers and were super grateful that they were free, then went into the Bramante Sacristy, which is a former convent, to start the tour.

The tour guide had already been giving historical information for the last 15 minutes, and the second we walked in we went from an open atrium to a small hallway.  The doors into the hallway locked behind us and the doors ahead were closed and locked.  Come to find out, only a small tour group is allowed in the building at one time.  Each tour group is only given 15 minutes in the actual room with the painting of the Last Supper, then they must leave.  The tour is an hour long, because you walk in stages until you enter the room, so the wait is filled with facts and history lessons.  It was a good thing we weren't any later, because once the door is locked they don't let anyone back or forward, you have to stay with your designated group.

We entered a large dark room with paintings on either ends of the walls.  This was not what I was expecting.  My entire life, I thought the Last Supper, by Da Vinci was on canvas and was a small picture.  To my surprise, it spanned an entire wall.  It is beautiful! I learned that The Last Supper was started in 1495 and Da Vinci did not have any experience working with mural fresco painting.  He used pigments directly on the dry wall, instead of on wet plaster.  Because of this, the painting is deteriorating due to humidity and earthly elements.  It is not withstanding the test of time.  The painting has to be continually restored due to flaking, vandalism, and the bombing and probably very little of it is still original.

The tour guide then sped up her talking by about 100% and was now talking full speed ahead to cover as much information as possible in the allotted 15 minutes.  She started by talking about who was in the painting and how they knew who it was.   It is said that this painting depicts the apostles reactions after being told by Jesus that one of them would betray him.

The painting divides the apostles into groups of three.  The first group of three are Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus and Andrew. I missed this part of the talking because I was reading the plaque and not realizing what she was talking about.

The next three are Judas Iscariot, Peter and John.  Judas is holding the silver peices in a bag in his right hand.  The older man beside him is Peter.  They know this is Peter because he has a knife in his right hand. John has long hair and we were told it is to represent the male and female in the universe.

The next group of three are Thomas, James the Greater and Philip. Thomas has his finger up as in a doubting expression. Phillip has a sweet face and hand on his heart.

The last group of three are Matthew, Jude Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot. This group isn't looking at Jesus, but their bodies are gesturing towards Him.

In the last restoration of the painting, a water jug was uncovered as well as more details of the food.  It was neat that I was able to see the faint outline of the water jug in person. The table also holds bread, fish (eel) and glasses of wine.

Something amazingly neat that I learned about this painting is that it survived the bombings during WWII.  The entire side walls and building was bombed but miraculously, the walls with the paintings survived.  The Last Supper, in 1940, was completely covered by sandbags and scaffolding in hopes of keeping it safe from potential bombing.  And safe it was.  It was incredible seeing pictures of the entire wall covered and secure in preparation for the war.

After learning all the fascinating details about The Last Supper, we were directed, with the last 5 minutes of our tour, to the painting behind us.  This paining is The Crucifixion by Donato Montorfano. The Crucifixion was not covered or protected during the war, but it also survived the bombing of the church.

When our time was up, we were very quickly and rudely pushed out of the room.  We found ourselves in a much smaller room with photographs of The Last Supper.

The tour guide was only given 10 minutes in this room before once again the doors were opened and we had to leave.  After leaving the room, we were then taken on a tour of the Church.

We left the church and walked around the Bramante Sacristy- which is a former convent and found the best view of the church was available here. We still wanted to see the Duomo, so we left the tour early and jumped on the next subway to the Duomo.

We got out of the subway and was awarded with the beautiful view of the Duomo Cathedral Square.  The sun was so bright and was reflecting off the white of the Cathedral, making me very happy that I had sunglasses. Heather Gillespie was joking about the new fad Instagram photo, so we tried it out for a laugh.  It's the one with the photographer holding the person's hand as they walk away.  It's super cheesy, but we had a good laugh.

We needed to get tickets to go to the Cathedral's roof, so we started walking to the ticket office.  On the way to the ticket office we stopped at the main elaborate doors of the Cathedral.  The doors were made between 1894-1908 and it depicts the stories from the life of Mary. There was one spot on the door that has been touched so many times that it shone bright gold from the oils from so many hands, it was the carving of Mary holding Jesus' hand as he walked to Jerusalem.

We were super nervous we wouldn't be able to go to the roof because we all had our backpacks.  We packed super light and we all brought only backpacks for the purpose that we knew we were going to have to have our bags with us all day today without anywhere to put them.  Luckily and with a sigh of relief, they let us pass security and go up the elevator to the top.  The rooftop of the Duomo di Milano was exquisite.  It was amazing.

We came out and found that we were walking on the roof.  I thought it would be just around the top, but it was actually just all over the roof and around the entire top of the church.  The views of all the steeples and angles was so amazing.  

We enjoyed taking our time as we walked all the way around the entire top.  There was a small staircase that took you to the highest point of the church.  The stairway was crazy narrow and steep.  That was the only point where I felt uncomfortable, but everyone was considerate and would wait so two people weren't passing each other.

At the highest point, the highest steeple was under renovation, so we couldn't see that part, but Heather laughed and said it looked like it had an angle Moroni at the top, just like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Temples.  The flying buttresses were actually my favorite architectural feature of the roof.  I always thought Gothic style was dark and sharp angles, but this white and beautiful gothic cathedral has changed all my prejudices of gothic style churches.  If you are ever in Milan, I highly recommend going to the roof and make sure you have a lot of time to be able to see the fine art work in sculptures, pinnacles, spires and the buttresses.  

We had set an alarm on our watches before we started our whirlwind day as the "book it to the airport" alarm.  As we were searching for food our alarm went off, so we went straight to the subway and made it to the airport in time to make our flight.  This was a short trip and we only had one day in each city, but it was fabulous.  I really love Italy. I love the food, the gelato, the architecture and the history.  What an amazing and beautiful country.  I'm glad I got to share this trip with two amazing ladies and friends, Heather and Rebecca.