by Maureen | Dec 8, 2009 | Christmas & New Year's Eve, Featured Articles, Journal, Photos
It was about 6:30 on a Sunday evening and I thought I was merely going to a champagne-tasting I had been told of. As it turned out, I came up out of the subway into a massive, standing-room-only crowd that filled the Piazza del Duomo in the center of Milan. Mini hot air balloons, about 2 feet tall and flame-fueled, were rising in the sky above the crowd and up over Milan’s jewel cathedral and the seemingly-just-as-tall, towering Christmas tree. Someone was filming the crowd’s responses and the video was being replayed on the building-sized, digital display facing the piazza. It was an energized, electric moment.
“Oh Holy Night”, a Christmas song I grew up with, was being broadcast out over the piazza; it would have inspired tears if I had let it.
“Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!”
I saw the local police clustering, and then moving together through the crowd. A procession began a swath through the people and I asked someone who it was. (Of course they responded in Italian and I forget what they said.) Moments later, the crowd roared happily as the lights on the tree were illuminated for the first time. The stained glass windows of the Duomo were backlit from within, and it was all magical.
The tree was covered with 100,000 lights, and white pointsettias.
And I had just happened to have shown up at the right moment! There’s something wonderful about popping up out of the subway tunnels into the midst of pleasant surprises.
DECEMBER 8 UPDATE:
I just read that the floating lanterns are intended to be “luminous symbols that spread the Peace, Hope and Love of Christmas”. The Christmas Tree, guy-wired to a number of surrounding buildings, is 164 feet tall, the biggest Christmas Tree in Europe.
“L’inaugurazione ufficiale del Festival della Luce e l’accensione della città prenderanno il via domenica 6 dicembre alle ore 18.00 attraverso un grande evento di apertura in piazza Duomo con il lancio delle ‘lanterne di luce’, simboli luminosi che diffondono nell’aria del Natale la ‘pace’, la ‘speranza’ e l’‘amore’.
I tram di luce, con la loro scia luminosa, daranno il via alla manifestazione. Come scenografia, i fiori luminosi trasformeranno Piazzetta Reale in un prato verde di luce. A seguire l’accensione del grande Albero di Natale, il più alto abete luminoso d’Europa – oltre 50 metri – illuminato da centomila lampadine ad alto risparmio energetico – e l’illuminazione della Cattedrale attraverso un progetto firmato dai light designer Castagna&Ravelli in collaborazione con la Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, che dall’interno rivela lo splendore delle sue vetrate.”
http://www.comune.milano.it/portale/wps/portal/CDM?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/ContentLibrary/per+saperne/per+saperne/led/led+show/lo+evento+milano%2C+citta+di+luce/speciale+led_led+show_evento
by Maureen | Dec 8, 2009 | Cheese, Christmas & New Year's Eve, Featured Articles, Food!, Journal, Photos, Shopping & Markets
It’s the holiday season, and it starts with a rush here in early December. Today, December 7, is the Feast Day of Milan’s Patron Saint, Sant’Ambrogio; it’s a citywide holiday. This day is followed with a national holiday tomorrow, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and all the Italian world is shut down for a very long weekend, (except for a few essential services).
On Saturday, I went to the Fiera Artiginiale at Milan’s space-age, ultra modern, expansive fairground, Rho Fiera. Aye! Many city blocks-worth of vendors presenting regional foods and handgoods from around Italy, Europe and the world. The Fair is an amazing gathering for taste-testing oils, jams, spreads, salami, olives and wines. One can oooh and aaah at textiles and handcrafts. In under 4 hours, my energy was spent, my feet were spent and my wallet was spent… and I was carrying home a heavy bundle to ship back to the States for gifts.
Here’s a map of the pavilions, showing the regions and countries represented:
http://www.artigianoinfiera.it/ita/visit_miniguida.php#
And then there’s “Obei Obei“, or “Obeh Obeh”. The name is inspired by “Oh Belli!”, the shouted calls from vendors luring passersby to stop and look at the goods for sale. What started years ago as a smaller market near the Sant’Ambrogio station, grew to a huge event. It was moved, and now surrounds the Castello Sforzesco with booths of food, crafts and antiques. I came up out of the subway to a chilly afternoon and a men’s chorus singing Italian Christmas songs.
The conjunction of the old Castello Sforzesco and the mylar Babbo Natale (Santa Claus) made me chuckle.
Along the way, I sampled spicy salami from Calabria, nut-studded Torrone, and cheese with flecks of truffle.
I photographed, but passed by, the Sicilian sweets vendor. (When I bought a few goodies from the same vendor before, the macaroons and pistachio-paste cookies were dried out. They must bake for weeks in preparation, and therefore, the treats get old.) But these guys have got signage down pat!
I decided against either a hotdog or hamburger (of course not!) and finished with a hot sandwich of grilled sausage, peppers and kraut with mustard and a long bun.
Or I could have gone for a sandwich of porchetta…
As a highlight of the holiday weekend, this fair is an intense, people-packed, push-and-shove opportunity. It was pretty difficult to move, and therefore, hard to see much in the booths. (I recommend the Fiera Artiginiale for it’s greater variety and higher quality of goods, although it’s also jam-packed with people.) It was dark and 6:00 p.m. by the time I made it back through the crowd. The holiday light show was underway and enjoyed by many who stood watching the display of changing lights on the castle.
Though I could have walked, I caught the subway to the Duomo to enjoy a champagne-tasting that I had been told of, underway all afternoon and early evening.
