2009 Vacation - Part 5 - Milan, Florence & Pisa

Our first stop in Italy was Milan. We traveled from Frankfurt, Germany, through the Swiss alps, literally, going through possibly over 100 tunnels, some as long as 8 km. We arrived in Milan late at night the 25th of July.

This was meant to be a short stop. My parents and I wanted to see "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Di Vinci. We figured the kids would be bored so they went on their way to the National Museum of Science and Technology which has some hands on things and scale models of Leonardo Di Vinci inventions. So, my parents and I headed towards the painting. It is in the convent of the Santa Maria delle Grazie ("Our Lady of Grace"). More specifically, it is in the refectory, or dining area, of the convent. On the night of 15 August 1943, bombs dropped by British and American planes hit the church and the convent. Much of the refectory was destroyed but beforehand they had sandbagged "The Last Supper" which protected it. For a long time, this old painting was out in the open air following the bombing.

There have been many attempts to move the painting to a more secure location but they have been unable to without destroying it. Instead, in the 90s they made the room climate-controlled to make it the ideal temperature and keep humidity at the ideal levels to keep the painting safe. When you visit it, you walk walk through one set of doors and when those close, another set opens, there is never a direct opening to the outside world.



We left Milan the evening of the 25th and arrived in Florence a few hours later. In Florence, we visited spent much time walking the streets. In reality it was a very dirty run down city but there were very interesting areas. We did see some amazing churches and the tombs of Raphael, Michelangelo and Galileo among others. We saw the statue of David by Michelangelo andf many other works of art.



The last stop before arriving in Rome was a quick stop in Pisa. Now, when I say quick, I mean it. I think we were there for a total of 2 hours. All we wanted to do was see the leaning tower.



After taking our pictures with the tower, we continued on to Rome. More about that coming very soon.