Science, Innovation and Chairs

My wife is amazing. She finds things to do that are so cool. I wasn't sure what was in store for us yesterday. But we set off through a different part of the city to a large park. As we went we passed streets of apartment buildings, we were struck by the diversity and the greenery that people put on their balconies.



As with all cities, Milan has a variety of styles and qualities of places to live. Where we are, there are no houses. Everyone lives in flats. Many of those are quite beautiful.

At least at this time of year, flowers decorate most balconies and add charm and colour to the streets.

I would love to get inside and see what I imagine to be quite grand places.







Passing through the park, we came upon Triennale Design Museum. This, relatively modern, institution was developed to display and encourage the work of past and future Italian thinkers. One large room encircled the building and used a timeline  to mark the historical context of Italian design in household objects. Many were chairs.

Fun eh?

Some were other items of everyday use.

Cool record player.

This is an inflatable hard hat. I'm not so sure.

Early calculator, with paper printout and all.

And of course, coffee maker, much shinier than the one I have at home.

The thing that we took away from the whole place was a sense of optimism. There was a very interesting display of various innovations designed specifically to protect the planet. 

For example, here is a burial system where the body is placed in a burlap shell and buried with a tree planted above.

This was to show the waste effect of throw away batteries and to encourage the use of rechargeable. This structure was all made of triple A and 9 volt batteries.

It's really interesting. We've all had it drummed into us the benefit of using sunscreen to ward off skin cancer. Now, sunscreen has become a major polluter of our water. A good thing leads to bad consequences.

Next stop was the Castello Sforzesco, a huge, brooding structure of red brick built by the Visconti family. They moved in in 1368. They didn't enjoy it for very long, as the Sforza family seized it in 1450. They were ousted by the French in 1499. By 1893, it was pretty neglected, when the City started restoration work. It is now a very large museum housing City owned stuff. 

The most important thing it houses is the Pieta Rondanini by Michelangelo.

The last of 4 versions he created on the theme of the Madonna mourning the crucified Christ, it's unfinished. He'd been working on it for 20 years when he died at the age of 90 in 1564. It was really interesting to see how he'd changed his mind on the positioning of the figures over the years. Christ's right arm, on the left of the picture, had been moved to behind the figure.

The only other room we had energy to explore was the Music Gallery full of early examples of instruments, like this organ.

And piano/harpsichord

and guitar thing.