Porta Genoa. August 2014
[from FB post: August 6, 2014]
Milan is a city of contrasts. You see things that just are amazing and take your breath away and then some African illegal comes and hassles you to buy something. You are in a district of very old and very cool buildings and then there is an ugly modern high rise next to it. It is flooded with tourists in just a few areas. People are busy and mind their own affairs. I think this is a city where you'd be better off being with a local -- it is not a "wander and enjoy" kind of place at all.
The tourists these days come from Asia and I think mostly from China. They are here in busloads... Japanese these days are solo tourists.
The food and wine are good when you can find a place that is not touristic AND where they speak English (not an easy combo).
Milan really is Italy's New York for both good and bad....
Milan as New York, a better comparison was never made. Milan is Italy's great industrial heart. It is wealthy and poor; it is old and modern; and IT IS BUSY. New York City is one of the busiest places I ever lived. Work is busy, commuting is busy, and social lives are busy. I got the same sense walking around Milan. The place is laden with history and museums, but the Milanese don't care if you visit or not - they are too busy with their own lives chasing Euros.
I spent a few days walking in different sections of the city. I could see how if someone were young and driven to make their mark in Italy, it was the place to be, or if already rich and established, a person most likely made their fortune there. Milan had lovely neighborhoods like Brera and Porta Genoa (pictured above) for enjoying those hard earned Euros. Life could be good in Milan; however, the city was lightyears from Rome and points further south and their relaxed and resigned attitude toward life as I came to know later. As New Yorkers sometimes feel they carry the whole country economically, so the Milanese must feel about Italy. The Italians feel mixed about Milan, too. In front of the Italian Stock Exchange a large white sculpture of a human hand, middle-finger extended, defiantly opposes Italian capitalism. The New York Stock Exchange wears the American flag proudly - the Borsa in Milan faces a hand flicking the bird. I really loved Italy sometimes.
Italy's migration crisis was on full display in Milan as well. The Piazza del Duomo was filled with West African illegals who hassled the swarms of tourists with a variety of scams while the police looked nervously away. Wartime guilt for letting their Jewish population get deported and murdered? Italy receives a lot of migrants from Africa and keeps them on the periphery of society in hopes they will move on perhaps? With Italy's plummeting birth rate and lack of replacement Italians, I think it is very possible that a large, established West African minority will became a part of modern Italy. The history of humanity is always about change anyway.
I am surprised I continued to visit Italy after Milan, to be honest. The city blew me away with its history and monuments, but also repelled me with its brusqueness. I was like some immigrant in New York City wondering why no one was "friendly" when in fact everyone was just "busy". My time in Milan was saved by a multitude of small moments when I came to understand much more about Italy - great sandwiches [see: sandwiches], small bistros that serve local wine from their own vineyards [see: Milan - first impressions], and whimsical art exhibits set amongst Renaissance treasures. After that first visit, I never returned to Milan. Now that I have traveled more in Italy, I think Milan deserves a better visit (not least to visit the museums which I didn't enter due to lack of time).
Milan is New York, but New York will never be Milan.
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