A taxi! A taxi! My kingdom for a taxi!...AKA 'Women's Readymade Wear Week' in Milan

You know it's women's fashion week in Milan because it's cold and rainy. No wonder giornalists call Milan a gray city. (What consistently rotten luck they have. It's often gorgeous just before and just after their fashion week, here. What are the weather sprites trying to tell us?)...More......

It isn't crummy all year 'round, though. By tomorrow, all should be able to taste Milan's Curaçao-blue skies and snuggle into its flannel-warm temps.

For the next few days, though, forget flagging a taxi.

Need to get somewhere, and you don't drive? (Once you get there, you'll probably not find a parking spot, anyway, even without the convention center events.) Try the "GiraMilano" feature on the English-language (yeah!) version of ATM's/Milan's public transportation site: http://www.atm.it/en/Pages/default.aspx. Just input your point-of-departure in the top field and your point-of-arrival in the lower field, then press "Calculate." If you'd rather take as few steps as possible (oh dear, oh dear, what terrible English, my friends, "Few short walks" indeed...why, oh why, do companies with big budgets always try to scrimp on English by having the director's uncle's nephew's half-sister's neighbor's hamster do the translations? It's bad for their public image!), or prefer to avoid the metro, or making too many changes, click first on Advanced Search, then make your choices. Use this feature to figure out the schedule to the new convention center (Fiera) in Rho-Pera, a suburb of Milan. Beware: since it's outside Milan's city limits, there is a surcharge on the ticket.

Have umbrella and rainboots, will travel! There's a special charm about Milan when it's rainy.

I shot this fashion snap on the 31st of August, 2010, at around 10:40 on the escalator in front of the Stazione Centrale.

Enjoy!

Taxis waiting next to the Cadorna station...yesterday

Taxis waiting at Cadorna's side exit, mid-morning yesterday.

Don't expect to see them waiting, today.

There's a national taxi strike, today, from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M....More......

Arriving in Milan's Linate Airport? Take the Linate Express, bus X73, E. 1.50, Monday-Friday, 7 A.M.-8 P.M. For the price of a regular bus ticket (E.1.50), in about a half an hour it goes nonstop to Piazza San Babila at the other end of Corso Vittorio Emanuele behind the Duomo. On normal (non-strike, non-trade fair) days, there are taxis at the stand, there, waiting to whisk you to your destination. The general area is well-served by bus, tram and metro.

Arriving at Milan's Malpensa Airport? Take the Malpensa Express: http://www.malpensaexpress.it/en/index.php. It's a fast and easy "trenino" (little/light train) that costs only E. 11 one way. Some are nonstop, some stop at a few places along the way. Some get into the Cadorna station (in the general area of the Sforza castle, so still quite central), some now get into the Stazione Centrale. At both, taxis usually are waiting just outside all exits...but not today. From either train station, bus, tram and metro transportation is easy to the rest of the city.

New to town, and worried that the tram, bus, metro (subway) and "passante" (urban light train) indications on your map may be old? Have an iPhone? Then you're in luck. There's an app for checking Milan's public transportation system, see my: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com/2011/06/photoless-friday-16-got-smart-phone.html.

A word to the wise is sufficient...no matter how tired and frazzled you are, do not give in to the temptation to take a pirate taxi.

How do you know?

If someone comes up to you furtively, whispering "taxi, taxi," you can be sure it's a pirate taxi.

These are private individuals working under the table without licenses, without safety controls, without training and without insurance.

I think you get the picture.

Good luck!

The taxi shot I've been waiting for

Here's the taxi shot I've been waiting for...had to be the right weather, the right time of day, a day when I could plant myself there to wait...and wait...and wait...and then--SNAP! yesterday at 4 P.M.--it finally happened!

Dedicated to the great NYC taxi driver blog I follow, here's the info, in case you'd like to, too: http://www.nyctaxiphoto.com/.

Whirlwind gorgeous afternoon (it's a long one: forewarned is forearmed)

Thwarted in my afternoon’s bureaucratic errand (they won the battle, but not the war! another skirmish is planned for tomorrow!), with about an hour to kill before another appointment, and favored by the return of cold, but clear, weather, I whipped out my beloved camera, and snapped away happily and so successfully—at least I think so!—that it’s hard to choose just which one, or two, to share, so here’s a whirlwind tour starting in Piazza Cordusio and ending behind the Duomo...More......

As we rev up the engines ready for the sprint, I’m sure you all will remember a hint I’ve dropped in previous posts: swathes of style also are indicators of bursts of personal and civic wealth, and here’s an excellent example, the Eclectic style building by Luigi Broggi for the bank Credito Italiano in 1901, a handful of years after recovery from a fierce nation-wide financial crisis (1880-1883; after changing hands, the building now houses UniCredit). What better way to boast of financial solidity and stability than to plant a sturdy elaborate building on one of the city’s central piazzas, surrounded by other banks and right across the piazza from the city’s first modern stock exchange (now hosting post office functions)?

Behind the façade, the building later was united by the architect Giovanni Muzio with the flanking one in via Tommaso Grossi, also by Luigi Broggi, which, besides being a delightful example of Milanese Art Nouveau (called “Liberty,” after the name of the London store from which goods in that style arrived in Milan), expresses an important development in modern architecture seen also in France. Constructed in 1901-03 to store the Contratti family's business goods (which included enameled objets d’art), it is an “in-your-face” use of what before had been considered low class materials suitable only as structural, not external and decorative, elements: cast iron and reinforced cement. (There are two other nearby examples on via Spadari and Corso Vittorio Emanuele.)

I ask you: how can architects and clients be so insensitive to the surrounding buildings to tack something so horrible onto such a delightful little building, even if considered “dated” at the time?! No news about it in my handy dandy “Milano” by TCI-Touring Club Italiano, the source for my info in this post. May the architect’s name come to light, so it can be covered in shame.

Onward and upward to a possible art historical scoop! The light finally was right to capture the façade of this delightful structure on via S. Margherita (…get ready for this, folks, it runs over the original “cardo massimo” of the ancient Roman version of Milan, no kidding!!!) probably from the 1930s built for the Banca di Sicilia. Couldn’t find any info about it in my usually resourceful TCI “Milano”. How disappointing. The pictures came out great, though, and luck was with me, my hand was steady enough for close-ups of the four principle relief sculptures. May I have a drum roll, please?

Under the second figure from the right, a female figure carrying a sheaf of wheat, the sculptor’s name is clearly visible: GIGI SUPINI F. (the “F.” is for “FECIT,” Latin for “did/made it”). Since it’s so late, libraries are closed, and I’m so lazy busy, anyway, I hunted about on the internet for some reliable information about him. Didn’t find much, but did find out that he also was responsible for the relief sculptures on the “Toro” building on Piazza S. Babila, so he was no small pickings. Calling all art and architectural historians, remember to cite me, when you note this in your next best seller!

A hop down via S. Margherita, and we arrive at Piazza della Scala, with two more examples of post 1880-83 economic fiasco bravado: the Banca Commericale Italiana (1905-1911) by Luca Beltrami and …

… his façade (1886) on what was originally the unfinished back side of Palazzo Marino, a fascinating story in and of itself (this self-aggrandizing and literally bankrupting project for Marino, a transplanted banker from Genova, was begun by the top notch architect Alessi in 1553, and the original façade—Beltrami’s inspiration—on piazza S. Fedele was completed by 1572). It’s also a great shot of one of Milan’s 1920s trams, for you public transportation fans.

The bizarre public “art” currently sprinkled around town does include this illuminated swing in front of S. Fedele. What it has to do with Palazzo Marino, S. Fedele, or even Milan, is anyone’s guess, as is the case with lots of this Christmas’s equally surreal decoration. At least the swing is entertaining. I mentioned the church, begun for the Gesuits by Pellegrino Tibaldi in 1569, in an earlier post, when talking about the monument dedicated to Manzoni.

We’re on the home stretch, folks! Here is via S. Radegonda, not very inspiring, a bit narrow and claustrophobic, but the store “Rinascente” has constructed a fun neon bridge connecting their original structure to its adjunct, and the street is profoundly important for Milan’s history: Piermarini, the favorite architect in Milan of the Austrian Hapsburgs (a lot of northern Italy was part of their humongous empire), snapped his fingers in 1783, and down went an ancient Benedictine monastery and hospital dedicated to that saint, and up went a street. Less than twenty years later (1801) up went a theater. Almost exactly a century later (1882), Thomas Alva Edison snapped his fingers, and in the shell of the ex-theater up went Europe’s first thermal plant for the generation of electricity; business boomed with the upswing in industrial activity, and plants popped up like mushrooms all over northern Italy. In 1923, Edison bought and transferred its offices to an 1892 building on Foro Bonaparte.

Since the Odeon cinema was created by Giuseppe Laveni and Aldo Avati in the general area also in 1923, I’m halfway remembering that I read somewhere that the building is one and the same. Take it with a grain of salt.




What would a post be without taxis, lately? Here’s the taxi stand in Piazza Fontana, created by Piermarini in the late 18th century between two late 16th century witnesses of continuing Milanese importance: the Archbishop’s palace (at our backs in this photo) and the captain of justice’s building begun in 1578 by P.A. Barca (just barely visible in the back left), which figures in Manzoni’s “Promessi Sposi” for you Italian literature fans. Piermarini’s favorite sculptor, Giuseppe Franchi, translated his design into reality for the fountain (1782). Who was responsible for this year’s public “art” and the horrible Christmas lighting covering the fountain (thankfully, not very visible during the day) and…

…these horrible things, like multiple Daphne’s on acid? I need to remember to pass by, and look for a plaque with information about the ‘artist.’







Time to quit this rush, so I’ll close with the clock added in 1865 by Giuseppe Vandoni to the cornice of Pietro Pestagalli’s 1841 building in the area behind the Duomo, over the area known as the “campo santo,” or “holy ground,” which all over Italy served as a work yard for churches in construction and as a cemetery.

After these last photos, I headed a skip away to a delightful afternoon of tea (and, ahem, a couple of cookies) with two lovely ladies.

My hands were frozen stiff, despite the gloves, and I hope I haven’t worn you out!

I took these photos on December 29, 2010, from about 3 P.M. to 4 P.M.

For a great blog on taxi driving in New York City, see: http://www.nyctaxiphoto.com/

More taxis in Milan (this is turning into a fixation) and the first "Porta Nuova"

More taxis in Milan...this is turning into a fixation...they also don't need blue skies to be interesting, or to show aspects of the city...I'll get back onto other kicks when the weather improves (should be next week)...More......

Here, a taxi is exiting out of one of Milan's oldest still standing gates, which is very hard to photograph because it faces north, and is in a position to get neither morning, noon, nor afternoon light well, so a cloudy day, with evenly distributed light, is just as good as any.

To enjoy the gate and the walls, here are a (very) few necessary words about Milan's history and urban development for those, who have not (yet...grin...) had the patience to read some of my back posts.

Because of a central position between east, west, north and south and the relative ease of movement on the nearby rivers and lakes(ancient highways), the area around Milan was populated in the 5th century before Christ ("B.C.") by the Celts (yes, you read right, the Celts, in this case, the Insubri). Life puddled along until the early 4th century B.C., when other Celtish tribes, who had OTHER invaders pressing at THEIR shoulders in the vast area to the north of the Alps, started pushing their way in.

Then a couple of centuries later, Hannibal (you know, the one famous for having ridden elephants over the Alps) tried to expand Carthage's power, irritating the heck out of an up and coming, but still relatively small tribe, the Romans.

Bad move.

The Romans got their act together, building alliances and, when that didn't work, breaking heads. It was touch and go for awhile, but they finally sent Hannibal back home with his tail between his legs (aided by a recall from his fellow nobles jealous of his power and prestige...bad move, guys...), and Milan had its collective hands spanked for siding with that dark handsome stranger.

Another couple of centuries later, and a lot of boot-licking diplomacy later, Julius Caesar (yes, THAT Julius Caesar) pushed Milan even farther along the road to full Roman citizenship because he needed to protect his back on this side of the Alps before heading to conquer the ancient French and Germans on the other side.

Either he, or his successor, Augustus, built Milan's first stone city walls in the late 1st century B.C., or the early 1st century A.D. ("Anno Domini"/"The Year of Our Lord") around the ancient Celtic center and the one the Romans built flanking it (nothing like an imposing example of who's really in charge).

Those walls ran in a kind of circle running through Piazza Missori towards the south and via Filodrammatici/Piazza della Scala on the north (look them up in Google Maps), and the space for houses, gardens, streets, fields, garbage dumps, warehouses and stalls lasted through a few more centuries of upheavals (let's just say, had I been a life insurance agent, I would not have issued a policy for anyone becoming emperor) until Diocletian (THAT Diocletian) appointed Massimiliano assistant emperor in 287 A.D.

Having been general on this and that side of the Alps, Massimiliano established his capital in Milan, and slapped on two lumpy additions onto city's circle of walls. (Here are some bits believed to be of this wall--waste not, want not--used a few centuries later to build a Romanesque church, itself now engulfed in later structures.)

One of these additions used to run down today's via Montenapoleone (Milan's "Rodeo Drive"). (Well, a few yards UNDER where the street runs, today, anyway.)








THIS medieval gate and circle of walls--FINALLY HERE WE ARE BACK AGAIN--runs a short block beyond, encompassing bits of the city grown up in the meantime. The gate and walls were put up--in typical cantankerous Milanese style--in the mid 12th century A.D. AFTER having taken a sound beating at the hands of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Hohenstaufen, nicknamed "Barbarossa/Redbeard," and having promised him never to rebuild the city's defensive walls.

So much for that promise.

Pole-vaulting across centuries of turbulence, peace and growing Milanese power (being in the middle of roads of commerce does have its advantages) we arrive at the absolutely fascinating Visconti family, which managed to become the (first unofficial then official) Big Cheeses in town, and slapped the (still original) Gothic sculptures by Giovanni di Balduccio and his workshop onto this very gate...a pretty obvious hint of who was then in charge.

Who knew a taxi ride could be so exciting?

For a great blog on taxi driving in New York City: http://www.nyctaxiphoto.com/

Taxis, angels and ice cream

Angels, taxis and ice cream are today's themes. Angels just because and taxis because I'd like to share snippets of Milan's taxis with the author of that great blog about the life of a NYC taxi driver, and ice cream because I promised to report on Milan's ice cream, and a promise is a promise....More......

Sunday's (Nov. 28) blog entry was dedicated to Milan's taxis and a great NYC cab driver blog I follow (http://www.nyctaxiphoto.com/). The light wasn't the best--cold cloudy day with a few snow flakes--and, since I use the automatic settings on my camera (I've learned some of the manual settings, but get a chance to use them so seldom, that I forget...it's easier to keep the limitations of the automatic settings in mind, and use them as "light painting" techniques, rather than seeing them as hindrances), any movement became a blur.

Good light yesterday and today,
so yesterday I snapped the yellow taxi stand phone thingamajig especially handy for independent drivers not belonging to a consortium. Calls go straight to this phone/intercom thing, the next cabbie in line answers, and is off to pick up the caller. Less handy for clients, though. If there are no cabs waiting, the phone just rings, and rings, and rings, whereas the consortiums are able to radio all their cabs, to see which of their available drivers is closest to the caller. Can't remember if the independent drivers cost less--they should, if there are no network costs--, but I doubt it.

Today, an equally chilly but lovely day, I snapped two taxis waiting at a stand just behind Milan's brand new museum dedicated to 20th century art. Retrofitted into a pre-WWII structure, it is so new that it literally has been open only a few days. More on it in a later post.



And now, the ice cream. I've passed this fairly new shop a few times. "Hmmm, are they trying to be clever?," I wondered to myself,"what could they mean by 'side G?' Is it a funny take on the Italian way to refer to the derriere, especially of a woman ['side B'/'lato B']?" My only excuse is that I always was passing on the tram, too fast to ponder it, and then forgot. Til I passed on foot the other day, and finally got it (I'm not usually this slow, honest): "G-Lato"...gelato...aaahhh. There's also the catch phrase in discutable taste (no pun intended).

The inside of the store is modern, but the sidewalk seating is delightfully kitschy, something that has only just started to catch on in Italy, at least in Milan. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and lots of people might find it difficult to attribute beauty to these little guys, but they sure are lots of fun.

Now for the important bits...the ice cream is spectacularly delicious.

Thick.

Creamy.

Tasty.

A bit pricey, but worth it.

Oh, the sacrifices of a gelato critic.

Milan's Taxis

I follow a very VERY good blog by a New York cabbie. Great shots from the cabbie's point-of-view (I particularly like the ones that frame the shot with the cab window), pensive musings that prod, but don't provoke, and the possibility to understand the life of a cab driver, better. In case you're interested it's http://www.nyctaxiphoto.com/.


So I got the bug to take some photos of Milan's cabs and their life in the city, to share with him and you (plus a few "let the buyer beware" cautions)...More......



Let's start with the "Let the buyer beware" cautions...that have nothing to do with legitimate cabbies.

When you arrive in train stations and airports in Italy, as you exit the passenger-only areas, or get near the exit, men with slightly furtive looks saunter your way. "Oh god, he's either a flasher, or is going to beg for money" jumps to mind. Or maybe someone trying to sell you the local version of the Brooklyn Bridge. That last fleeting impression is closer to the truth, because out of the side of their mouths come half-whispered, "Taxi?" To borrow a phrase:

JUST SAY NO.

These are pirate drivers, that is, private people with private cars and no license to be driving for a living, no guarantees of service...and no insurance.

Be patient. Just outside of Italian train stations, airports and scattered about town there are official taxi stands, marked with an orange sign that says, well, "TAXI."

There's no hailing of cabs on the street. (There shouldn't be, anyway, but if the Cosmos is kind, and the cabbie is letting someone off right at your feet, well....) You'll have to go to a taxi stand, or call one of the local taxi companies (find this info online before you go, or at the "Info" point in the airport/train station).

Official Milanese taxis are white, though can be of any kind of car. A buck's a buck: some rent out advertising space on the sides of their cabs. They have the sign on the top (illuminated when available, off when not).

IF they belong to a consortium with a central network for fielding calls for taxis, then they'll have that logo relatively visible on the front doors, or front fenders.


If they are official taxis, but don't belong to a consortium they'll have a piteously small logo of the city of Milan, but it will be so small, you'll be able to see it only when you're right up to the cab. In the interest of public service, I have found a sample on the web, and post it here.

A word to the wise should be sufficient.

Now on to the photos I snapped, yesterday, of Milanese cabs and their life in the city. It was supposed to be a gorgeous day. As you can see, the snow clouds (complete with a couple of flakes) rolled in heavily by noon, but I already was determined to get those shots.


This one is snapped on the Piazza del Duomo opposite to the church. This corner is buzzin' with folks. Because the light was so low thanks to the clouds and the ticking clock (I think it was around 5:30 P.M.), any kind of movement registered as a blur. If you look closely, there's a man on a bike on the right hand side. Taxis come and go with an amazing rapidity, maybe because Christmas shopping already is starting to heat up. Sometimes at this stand there are a couple dozen taxis, but today, only two or three at a time, before getting loaded up with another passenger, and heading off.


This one was snapped in Via Torino, a very busy street leading into the Piazza del Duomo. A couple of years ago, City Hall widened the sidewalks, and narrowed the traffic to two lanes, so it's almost always crowded with trams and taxis, let alone brave and patient (?) drivers in private cars.

Hope you enjoyed this quick look at Milan's cabs. We're heading into Christmas light season, soon, yeah! They'll be switched on on the 7th of December, Milan's patron saint day (St. Ambrose). Stay tuned.