Yesterday's snarl disappeared almost as fast as it burst out, but lions are so much fun, here's another one!...More......
This one is up quite high on the left hand flank of San Fedele, a little late 16th century jewel of a church more known, today, probably because on its steps the elderly Manzoni, one of Italy's most important writers, slipped, fell, banged his head and shortly thereafter died.
His figure is commemorated in a sculpture in the piazza in front of the church.
The church also is remembered, today, because, in the furor following Napoleon's downfall in 1814, his Milanese tax minister, Giuseppe Prina, was dumped out of an upper-storey window in his palace facing onto the courtyard in front of that church.
Inside, there's an interesting mix of Early Renaissance (tucked away...you'll have to hunt), late Renaissance and modern.
Personally, the location is just as fascinating.
The space where San Fedele is, today, was part of the area once in control of the Della Torre family, which had the bad fortune to lose the early 14th century power struggle with the subsequently ducal Visconti. Their houses were razed (hence the nearby street name "case rotte" / "ruined houses," an excellent example of how past monuments and happenings are remembered all over Milan).
What went up in their place?
The area also was part of the Santa Maria della Scala complex. Name ring a bell? It should.
The La Scala opera house got its name from the late 14th century church, built in this area by Beatrice Regina of the important Veronese della Scala family and wife of (intriguing) Bernabò Visconti (more about him in a future post) upon whose grounds, in turn, the theater was constructed in the late 18th century (alas, Mozart had stayed in Milan just a handful of years earlier, so he never got to see, or perform in, the new theater).
I snapped this photograph on the 7th of August, 2010, at 5:30 P.M.
To see the needlepoint design that I created out of the lion photo, see my needlepoint blog: Ars acupicturae stellae - Star's Needlepoint Art, http://arsacupicturaestellae.blogspot.com/2010/10/milan-monday-12-another-lion.html
Enjoy!
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