The Famedio
The marble hall of fame and Manzoni's rest โ the epic entrance.
Paolobon140 โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Virtual-Pano โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Chabe01 โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Chabe01 โ CC BY-SA 4.0
In Europe an old tradition: Montmartre, Pรจre-Lachaise, Genoa, Vienna alike โ places built to be visited and read as art and history, the Milanese themselves strolling them with pride. Respect is assumed; wonder is guaranteed.
Famedio first with its ceilings, then by map to the Campari supper, the Pirelli tomb and the modernist section โ an hour yields the essence, and photographers know the slanting afternoon light makes the pictures here.
The Monumentale stop on the purple line sits at its gate, Milan's Chinatown across the road for a different lunch โ then a fine walk to the glassy Porta Nuova district: eternal old Milan then futurist Milan inside two hours.
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The Monumentale is an open-air sculpture museum disguised as a cemetery: since 1866 Milan's great industrial families โ Campari, Motta, Pirelli, Toscanini among them โ have competed in commissioning Italy's leading sculptors for monuments that burst every funerary convention: miniature Greek temples, pyramids, a full-scale bronze Last Supper, expressive angels and abstract modernism. The entrance alone justifies the trip: the Famedio โ the vast marble hall of fame in Lombard style where Manzoni, Italy's greatest novelist, lies, its walls carrying the city's honoured names. Beyond stretch avenues of cypress and sculpture reading as Milan's gilded biography: who made its wealth, and how each wished to be remembered. Entry is entirely free, the place a respected haunt of photographers and strollers โ among Milan's calmest, strangest-beautiful hours.
The marble hall of fame and Manzoni's rest โ the epic entrance.
The full table for the Campari family โ the most famous tomb.
Industry's families competing in sculpture โ Milan's gilded age in stone.
Piazzale Cimitero Monumentale, 20154 Milan