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. The streets in general in Milan are
well paved; there is a line of trottoir on each side of the street
equi-distant from the line of houses; so that these trottoirs seem to be
made for the carriage wheels to roll on, and not for the foot passengers,
who must keep within the space that lies between the trottoirs and line of
houses. With the exception of the Piazza del Duomo there is scarcely
anything that can be called a piazza in all Milan, unless irregular and
small open places may be dignified with that name; the houses and buildings
are extremely solid in their construction and handsome in their appearance.
A canal runs thro' the city and leads to Pavia; on this canal are stone
bridges of a very solid construction. The shops in Milan are well stored
with merchandize, and make a very brilliant display. The finest street,
without doubt, is the Corsia de' Servi. In the part of it that lies
parallel to the Cathedral, it is about as broad as the Rue St Honore at
Paris; but two hundred yards beyond it, it suddenly widens and is then
broader than Portland Place the whole way to the Porta Orientale. On the
left hand of this street, on proceeding from the Cathedral to the Porta
Orientale, is a beautiful and extensive garden; an ornamental iron railing
separates it from the street. From the number of fine trees here there is
so much shade therefrom that it forms a very agreeable promenade during the
heat of the day.
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