Milan – South of the center: Navigli and Ticinese
Located on two channels, directly south of Cerchia Viali, streets of navigli district, the atmosphere deviates far from the city center. Dilapidated houses with a view of the water are very popular among the inhabitants of the city who consider themselves gypsy. This present-day district of Milan was, from the fifteenth century to the years 50. of our century, an important inland port. Naviglio Pavese, connecting the city with Pavia and running west Naviglio Granda, they belong to a network of rivers and canals that covers the entire Po plain, which allows cities far from the sea to have harbors, and even naval bases. This system was used extensively by travelers, especially family members who rule the cities of the North, who liked to visit each other. Heroes of Shakespeare's Storm, Prospero and Miranda, they had just escaped down the Navigli Canal. Famous tourists still used the canals in the 18th century, for example. Goethe, which describes the inconveniences and dangers faced by travelers. Today, apart from seeing the studios of local artists and visiting antique shops, there aren't many interesting things in Navigli, but it is peaceful, a neighborhood suitable for walking, and the bars and nightclubs are among the best in the city.
Another artists' district closer to the center, TICINESE, she is like, though less likely to be invaded by yuppies”. On the edge of the district, na początku Corso di Porta Ticinese, Arco di Porta Ticinese rises on an islet separated from traffic, built in the Ionian style on the occasion of Napoleon's victory at Marengo (after the fall of the emperor, it was called the gate of peace). Later in the Corso, the only exterior signs of fashion here are the numerous second-hand shops and a number of clubs, but it is the atmosphere of somewhat apathetic decadence that makes, that it is one of the city's more intriguing neighborhoods.
Ticinese also boasts two important churches. First of them, Sant’Eustorgio, was built in the 4th century as the resting place of the relics - the bones of the Three Wise Men, which St.. Ambrose. Rebuilt in the 11th century, it was demolished again in the 12th century by Emperor Barbarossa, who took the bones of the wise men and placed them in the cathedral of Cologne. Some of them came back in a year 1903 and is kept in a Roman sarcophagus in the right transept. However, the main attraction of the church is the Portinari Chapel, the execution of which was commissioned in the 1660s by a Florentine architect Michelozzi called Portinari, working for the Medici bank. The remains of one of the less popular Catholic saints were to be buried in this chapel, st. Peter the Martyr. He was excluded from the Church for allegedly accepting women in his cell, but later he was acquitted and hired as an inquisitor. He died in a particularly disgusting way (one of the members of the sect, which he was investigating, he slashed his head open with an ax), and after his martyrdom he was almost immediately canonized and declared the patron saint of inquisitors. Straight, the geometric plan of the chapel was considered to be the first truly Renaissance design in Milan, although this style was actually developed only by Bramante. Inside the chapel there are frescoes by Foppa, depicting scenes from the life of St.. Peter, and on the sides of its beautiful sarcophagus there are bas-reliefs.
In front of the Church of San Lorenzo, located further on Corso, stands the 14th-century Porta Ticinese and sixteen columns brought from some Roman ruins. It is a place for reflection, but the neighborhood of not very fancy bars and passing trams seem to disturb it. Amateurs of night entertainment, before visiting clubs and bars in Navigli and Ticinese, however, they should come right here. Considered by Leonardo as the most beautiful church in Milan, Saint Lawrence, was founded in the 4th century, when it was the greatest, built on a central plan, church in the roman empire. The current building is the result of reconstruction (in the 11th century) and then renovation (in the sixteenth century) the original church. The building is still deteriorating as a result of the tremors caused by the trams passing by. The most interesting feature of the interior design is the Capella di San Aquilino, largely preserved in its 4th century form (usually closed, but the sacristan willingly opens it). On the walls there are fragments of mosaics from that period, including one (in the left apse), some elements have fallen off and revealed the artist's original sketches. The stairs behind the altar lead down, to the fragments of the original foundations that have survived to this day, built from the remains of some Roman arena.