Hi all!

My wife and I are going to Italy next June and we are landing
in Milan (Bergamo, actually). We heard that in the past recent
years, the Milan's cathedral's facade was covered due to restoration
work. I looked at the cathedral's official website, and the only
news I could get about the current state were in Italian, which
unfortunately I can't read, and automatic translators didn't
help me much.

Would anyone here happen to know how it is now and guess how it
would be in June?

--
François

Make credence recognised that on Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:36:47 -0500,
Francois Duranleau <[email protected]> has scripted:

>Hi all!
>
>My wife and I are going to Italy next June and we are landing
>in Milan (Bergamo, actually). We heard that in the past recent
>years, the Milan's cathedral's facade was covered due to restoration
>work. I looked at the cathedral's official website, and the only
>news I could get about the current state were in Italian, which
>unfortunately I can't read, and automatic translators didn't
>help me much.
>
>Would anyone here happen to know how it is now and guess how it
>would be in June?

I can't find anything about the state of it on the web. If you tell us
the page you were looking at, we can help you translate though.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

"Deeply Filled Mortician" <deepfreudmoors@eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> wrote
in message news:[email protected]...
> Make credence recognised that on Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:36:47 -0500,
> Francois Duranleau <[email protected]> has scripted:
>
>>Hi all!
>>
>>My wife and I are going to Italy next June and we are landing
>>in Milan (Bergamo, actually). We heard that in the past recent
>>years, the Milan's cathedral's facade was covered due to restoration
>>work. I looked at the cathedral's official website, and the only
>>news I could get about the current state were in Italian, which
>>unfortunately I can't read, and automatic translators didn't
>>help me much.
>>
>>Would anyone here happen to know how it is now and guess how it
>>would be in June?
>
> I can't find anything about the state of it on the web. If you tell us
> the page you were looking at, we can help you translate though.

I read this on the web site:
"Nei prossimi giorni di questa primavera molto avanzata e così bene
rappresentata dalla splendida fioritura precoce delle due magnolie nelle
aiuole dietro l'abside del Duomo, si smonterà un altro elemento del
ponteggio di facciata avendo ultimato il restauro di un altro settore, per
cui se ne potrà ammirare quasi tutta la sua bellezza artistica."

After referring to the flowering of the magnolias behind the apse this
spring, the author says that "another part of the scaffolding on the
facade - presumably the (liturgical) west front - is going to be taken down
after finishing the restoration of another section, so that it will be
possible to admire almost all its artistic beauty".

Alan Harrison

On 2007-04-28, Deeply Filled Mortician <deepfreudmoors@eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> wrote:
> Make credence recognised that on Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:36:47 -0500,
> Francois Duranleau <[email protected]> has scripted:
>
>>Hi all!
>>
>>My wife and I are going to Italy next June and we are landing
>>in Milan (Bergamo, actually). We heard that in the past recent
>>years, the Milan's cathedral's facade was covered due to restoration
>>work. I looked at the cathedral's official website, and the only
>>news I could get about the current state were in Italian, which
>>unfortunately I can't read, and automatic translators didn't
>>help me much.
>>
>>Would anyone here happen to know how it is now and guess how it
>>would be in June?
>
> I can't find anything about the state of it on the web. If you tell us
> the page you were looking at, we can help you translate though.

Here's the website: http://www.duomomilano.it/ground1024_en.html

Then click on "News (It)" among the choices at the bottom of the page,
and then click on 2007 next to "Archivio" and then look at the first
two entries (at least).

Thanks,

--
François

Make credence recognised that on Sat, 28 Apr 2007 17:38:37 +0100,
"ALAN HARRISON" <[email protected]> has
scripted:

>I read this on the web site:
>"Nei prossimi giorni di questa primavera molto avanzata e così bene
>rappresentata dalla splendida fioritura precoce delle due magnolie nelle
>aiuole dietro l'abside del Duomo, si smonterà un altro elemento del
>ponteggio di facciata avendo ultimato il restauro di un altro settore, per
>cui se ne potrà ammirare quasi tutta la sua bellezza artistica."
>
>After referring to the flowering of the magnolias behind the apse this
>spring, the author says that "another part of the scaffolding on the
>facade - presumably the (liturgical) west front - is going to be taken down
>after finishing the restoration of another section, so that it will be
>possible to admire almost all its artistic beauty".

Basically they aren't commiting to when it will be finished.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Fri, 27 Apr 2007, Francois Duranleau wrote:

> My wife and I are going to Italy next June and we are landing
> in Milan (Bergamo, actually). We heard that in the past recent

Then you might be interested in the Bergamo airport website (it has also
an english section) http://www.sacbo.it, specially about connections. A
visit of Bergamo's Citta' Alta (High City, up on the hill) is definitely
worth while.

> years, the Milan's cathedral's facade was covered due to restoration
> work. I looked at the cathedral's official website, and the only

I'd never looked at the Veneranda Fabbrica's web site but now, but it
has an english section too. It's a bit too fancy for me, and in a light
colour, but you should find nice images there.

I have no time to browse it now. Last time I passed through Piazza del
Duomo a couple of weeks ago, the scaffoldings were still covering the
bottom half of the facade. This scaffolding is not unpleasant as some
of the previous ones (with advertising), since it reproduces an old
painting of the cathedral interior.

I cannot add anything to the quotation made by others (the one about
magnolias and alike) except that the author was engineer Ferrari da
Passano, which I met personally when he made some conferences, and lead
a visit to the marble quarries in Candoglia. He was the former Head of
the Veneranda Fabbrica (now retired), and lead the restauration works of
the four main pillars (which were almost entirely rebuilt) before 1986.
So whatever he said, it's worth trusting.

Anyhow the facade is not the most interesting part of the cathedral, nor
the most ancient, being it a mixture of gothical and renaissance ...
some of which "false" (it was terminated under Napoleon). The bronze
doors are even more recent (and they can be seen even now).

The interior is ok for visits (early morning is best for the apse
stained glasses with sun shining through), and so the paleochristian
baptistry under the facade, and the treasure (some interesting high
middle age jewelry) under the alter. Also the roof of the cathedral is
open.

Unfortunately the museum (on the right hand side looking the facade, in
a wing of the Royal Palace) is closed because of restoration works in
the Palace and budgetary difficulties of the Fabbrica. Pity because it
had very nice material (including drawings of the project of the
facade, and a large wooden model of the entire cathedral), and one could
buy interesting publication (as the story of the replacement of the 4
pillars).

Anyhow, if you come to Milan, and are interested in art, beside the
"usual" places (Brera gallery, the Castle museums, and the Last Supper
- which requires advance reservations) do not forget less often visited
places like the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Bramante's trompe l'oeil in the
apse of S.Satiro, the churches of S.Maria della Grazie (near the Last
Supper, also Bramante) and S.Maurizio (entirely frescoed), S.Lorenzo
(byzantine mosaics in the chapels) and S.Eustorgio near the Diocesan
Museum.

Google for some old postings of mine about Milan on this NG.

--
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On 2007-04-30, Giovanni Drogo <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Apr 2007, Francois Duranleau wrote:
>
>> My wife and I are going to Italy next June and we are landing
>> in Milan (Bergamo, actually). We heard that in the past recent
>
> Then you might be interested in the Bergamo airport website (it has also
> an english section) http://www.sacbo.it, specially about connections. A
> visit of Bergamo's Citta' Alta (High City, up on the hill) is definitely
> worth while.
>
[...]
>
> Google for some old postings of mine about Milan on this NG.

Thank you very much for your information! It's well appreciated.

--
François