When Jeanine of Italian Needleworks wrote about something I love in Milan, I couldn't help but thank her, and she hoped that she'd find some pics of the very same thing on my own blog.
How could I say "no?"
So come on in, sit on down, put your feet up, and enjoy the tour!...More...
"Back up, back up, back up," as my (dear) sister says.
I'm very very, very big on counting my blessings.
I need to do it, in order to put everything in perspective.
Being sincerely and healthily grateful is restful.
Being a whiner and a complainer is not. It nibbles away at your soul.
In the last months, I've needed rest and positivity (who doesn't?), and so I turned to writing this and my other blog (Ars acupicturae stellae - Star's Needlepoint Art) to share two, no three, of my passions: Milan, needlepoint and snapping pics.
Out of curiosity (thank the Cosmos for Blogger's "Blogs of Note!"), I started methodically going through all the archives (there are personality hints, there, for those willing to grasp them). So far, I've made it back to February of 2006, and I'm still going strong.
Some blogs with fascinating titles don't exist any more, sad to say, but others have been a gift from the celestial spheres.
Mind-openers. Heart-openers. Soul salves. Inspiration. Real people sharing real experiences in a way that makes me feel like I've gained something positive, even if "just" a smile, from them.
Like I said, I'm grateful.
So, when Jeanine asked for snaps of the Umanitaria school in Milan, how could I refuse?
The physical place in via San Barnaba, 48, is one of Milan's hidden gems: a mid-15th century cloistered monastery, with some later additions. The structure is now the Milanese seat of the wonderful organization with two names: Società Umanitaria and Fondazione Humaniter. One of them is operated by the other one...I can never keep this straight...but the upshot is that it is a non-profit school for work- and fun-related topics at very good prices, and where you'll meet lots of interesting people, and maybe even make some wonderful friends. I highly recommend it.
You've already seen the (probably late 19th-early 20th century) wrought iron gate closing off one of the courtyards open for special occasions.
Here's a snap (over a fence) of the attached Renaissance church's façade...it isn't part of the Umanitaria complex...more about it in another post.
Used to walk past this little Renaissance courtyard every time I came, but that entrance has been closed for construction for quite awhile, so...
We come in this way, now, down the Renaissance corridor.
(The curtains are new, this year.)
There's a little café, but I have yet to find it open, this school year, already two weeks old. Should open, soon...
Are you still looking for a chair?
(I snapped these pics for you, today, Oct. 15, 2010, at around 4 P.M.; rain should be blowing in, so the air already is a bit hazy with moisture. Softens and dampens and whitens the light a bit.)
P.S., if you're interested, see Jeanine's two posts (and my comment on one of them):
Italian Needlework - "Società Umanitaria" (Oct. 13, 2010)
Italian Needlework - "Società Umanitaria" (Oct. 14, 2010)
2 comments:
Thank you SO much for this post! What a beautiful place!
Is this the original house of Prospero Loria?
Nope, it really was originally a mid-15th century monastery built at the behest of Bianca Visconti, the last direct heir of the Visconti dukes, who, because a woman, couldn't rule directly, but, as the wife of the powerful upstart "condottiere" (a kind of mercenary general with his own troops, typical of the period), Francesco Sforza, she had a double whammy of power, and often ruled Milan in his absence for military campaigns. She sponsored the building of this church and monastery in the mid-fifteenth century. The structures had various uses throughout the centuries, until the care of the church was given to the group of very religious laymen caring for the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, while the adjoining monastery was taken over by Umanitaria.
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