The
Innumerable Aiguilles Or Spires Of The Most Exquisite And Delicate
Workmanship, Tapering And Terminating In Points All Newly Whitened, Gave
Such An Appearance Of Airiness And Lightness To This Beautiful Building
That It Looked More Visionary Than Substantial, And As If A Strong Puff Of
Wind Would Blow It Away.
The next morning I went to visit the Cathedral in
detail.
It stands in the place called Piazza del Duomo. On this piazza
stands also the Ducal Palace; the principal cafes and the most splendid
shops are in the same piazza, which forms the morning lounge of Milan.
Parallel to one side of the Duomo runs the Corsia de' Servi, the widest
and most fashionable street in Milan, the resort of the beau monde in the
evening, and leading directly out to the Porta Orientale. The Cathedral
appears to me certainly the most striking Gothic edifice I ever beheld. It
is as large as the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris, and the architecture
of the interior is very massive. There is little internal ornament,
however, except the tomb or mausoleum of St Charles Borromeo, round which
is a magnificent railing; there are also the statues of this Saint and of
St Ambrogio. There are several well-executed bas-reliefs on the outside of
the Church, from Scripture subjects, and the view from any of the balconies
of the spires is very extensive. On the North the Alps, covered with snow
and appearing to rise abruptly within a very short horizon, tho' their
distance from Milan is at least sixty or seventy miles; and on all the
other sides a vast and well-cultivated plain as far as the eye can reach,
thickly studded with towns and villages, and the immense city of Milan nine
miles in circumference at your feet.
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