After 11 nights in Slovenia, it’s sadly time to leave this absolutely stunning country. We’ve enjoyed it immensely and had just the best time exploring. It’s a pristine European jewel and I dearly hope that we get the opportunity to return again in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, the car is loaded and we’re on the move to our next country, Italy, and our base for the next 3 nights, Milan.
Milan, a city synonymous with fashion and design, also boasts a vibrant contemporary art scene, and at its heart lies the magnificent Pirelli HangarBicocca. It’s about 30mins from our hotel, 2 stops on the metro and a walk so we dump our bags and make our way to the gallery which closes at 8pm and doesn’t open again until Wednesday after we’ve left so we must go tonight. More than just a gallery, this non-profit foundation, established and fully supported by Pirelli, has transformed a colossal former locomotive factory into one of Europe’s largest and most dynamic art spaces. It’s a place where art isn’t just displayed, but experienced within the walls of industrial grandeur of the building.
There’s 3 exhibitions on, 2 temporarary and 1 permanent. We commence with “Improvisation in 10 Days” by Tarek Atoui. Atoui’s work delves into the fascinating world of sound and its impact on human perception. His exhibition suggests a dynamic and evolving presentation, incorporating live elements or interactive soundscapes that invite us to engage directly with the sonic environment. We’re encouraged to walk between the soundscape and immerse ourselves in it but sitting on large blocks of granite and lumps of wood. It’s interesting but not really getting our vote so we move on to “ICARUS” by Yukinori Yanagi.
Yanagi is reknowned for his thought-provoking works exploring themes of national identity, globalization, and environmental concerns. “ICARUS” is the first retrospective dedicated to Yanagi in Europe and brings together a selection of iconic works created since the 1990s. The exhibition title refers to the Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus: by flying too close to the sun, Icarus caused his own downfall. Yanagi explains that choosing the metaphor is to encourage visitors to reflect on the risk of exceeding one’s limits and the consequences of our actions both individually.
One of Yanagi’s exhibits, The World Flag Ant Farm is composed of 200 flags – representing the countries of the world today, including states not recognised by the UN – made from coloured sand, housed in transparent boxes connected by plastic tubes. Thousands of ants travel along the tubes carrying grains of sand from one container to annother gradually eroding the flags designs. In the installation, Yanagi asks us to reflect on the artificial nature of national borders and on the broader implications of globalisation, migration and trade. As the flags become intermixed their recognisable symbols will dissolve and evolve into a universal flag. The movement of the ants is an ironic portrayal of the fragility of these symbols of national identify transforming their static forms into a huge bustling “ant farm”. It’s a thought provoking exhibit and we focus firstly on our own national flag and the ants behaviours within it, then onto the flags of countries we’ve visited. Ukraine find us momentarily saddened by the islands of sand fracturing their flag. Art imitating life perhaps?
Our final dose of culture is a permanent exhibition, Anselm Kiefer’s “The Seven Heavenly Palaces”. The seven imposing towers, constructed from reinforced concrete and lead, are a profound and moving testament to human aspiration and ruin. Weighing 90 tons each and rising up to 18 meters, they are a powerful, almost spiritual, experience that anchors the entire HangarBicocca space. Kiefer, a German artist renowned for his deeply philosophical and often melancholic works, confronts themes of history, memory, mythology, and destruction. The towering structures made from lead, reinforced concrete, and glass loom with an ancient, weathered gravitas, appearing simultaneously as ruins from a forgotten past and beacons reaching for an unknowable future.
Each tower, named after a different Sefirah from the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, represents a stage in humanity’s spiritual journey towards understanding the divine. Adorned with lead books, cosmic dust, and fractured glass, they speak of shattered ideals, the weight of knowledge, and the scars of history, particularly the atrocities of the 20th century. To walk among these giants, dwarfed by their scale and raw materiality, is a truly humbling experience. The silence of the vast hangar amplifies their solemn presence, inviting introspection. The towers urge the viewer to meditate on your own personal existence, a tangible dialogue between heaven and earth irrespective of religious belief or not.
Completely cultured and thought provoked out, we retire to the gallery’s stylish restaurant for a glass of wine before jumping on the metro and having dinner in a small Trat just around the corner from our hotel. We return to our hotel well sated both physically and cerebrally, it’s been a great day.
Well rested we breakfast swiftly with a shot of caffeine, Brownie’s in a red can mine in a cup with an accompanying pastry ready to continue our Milanese adventure. Once again we hop on the very efficient Metro straight to the Duomo station. Stepping out of the underground, we’re immediately confronted with the breathtaking scale of the Milan Cathedral – an intricate Gothic masterpiece that took nearly six centuries to complete.
We wander around the piazza and marvel at the countless spires and statues. We don’t however join the enormous queue to part with 35 euros to climb to the top of the cathedral. Besides it’s covered in scaffolding on oneside obscuring the view. We walk into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the stunning 19th-century shopping arcade – why oh why couldn’t they have built Bluewater like this!! With its soaring glass and iron roof, magnificent mosaic floor, and elegant shops housing some of the world’s most luxurious brands, it’s a spectacle in itself. We dodge the tradition of spinning on the bull’s testicles mosaic – it’s said to bring good luck – as the selfie takers and influencers are here in absolute abundance!
After soaking in the grandeur, it’s time for a change of pace and a well-deserved lunch. We head back to the metro and take two trains to Porta Genova station. Its a short walk from there to the Navigli District.
The Navigli is Milan’s historic canal system, originally built for irrigation and transport, today they’re a vibrant hub, especially around the Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese. This is the perfect spot for lunch in the sunshine away from the crowds. We soak up the relaxed atmosphere, watch the boats (and swans!) glide by, and savour lunch by the water. We walk lunch off with a wander along the canal and at the Pontile Darsena, a basin where the canals meet we sit, watch the world go by and soak up the sun
From the Navigli, we hop on a Milanese tram which is like stepping back in time. These charming, often vintage, vehicles offer a slower, more scenic way to travel, allowing us to watch the city life unfold outside our window. The tram winds its way through different neighbourhoods, giving you a wider perspective of Milan, before it eventually returns us to the magnificent Duomo where we take another wander around.
We take the metro back to our hotel sort our laundry out for the next day and sleep like logs. It’s laundry day and after breakfast at a local cafe we wander down to Speed Queen laundromat load up a couple of machines, sit back and relax. The weather is pretty dull so it’s a good opportunity to get our clothes clean.
Clothes washed and dried we grab a sandwich and after some research whilst we watched our washing rotate we grab our bikes from the back of the car and go for a cycle and see a different side to Milan. We cycle along the Martesana Canal, a historic waterway, originally conceived in the mid-15th century and notably influenced by Leonardo da Vinci’s hydraulic innovations, the canal once served as a vital transport and irrigation artery connecting Milan to the Adda River. Today, it has gracefully transformed into a green oasis with tree-lined towpaths providing km after km of idyllic cycling and walking routes. The canal passes through various Milanese neighbourhoods like Crescenzago and Gorgonzola, offering a glimpse into local life outside the tourist hotspots. It makes for a wonderfully flat scenic 20km cycle, we don’t make it to Gorgonzola, I can’t bear that cheese!! Throughout our cycle we spot otter-like animals swimming in the canal. When we research them later we discover that they’re Nutria (also known as Coypu). Nutria are large, semi-aquatic rodents native to South America. They were introduced to Italy (and other parts of Europe) for fur farming and subsequently escaped or were released. They have since established thriving wild populations, particularly in northern Italy, including the Lombardy region where Milan is located. There’s a lot of creative graffiti en-route and I grab some photos but I could’ve spent a hell of a lot longer admiring the street art works.
We cycle back to our hotel and I get us horribly lost but we discover that actually cycling in Milan in traffic isn’t actually that bad. Drivers are considerate and respect our bikes. We eventually navigate our way back to our hotel it’s been a very interesting cycle. We’re on the move again tomorrow so after a glorious pasta dinner we pack up and get ready to hit the road again in the morning.
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