Milan, Italy's second largest city, cosmopolitan center and undisputed capital of fashion and design with a historical and artistic heritage of undoubted value also linked to one of the most flourishing periods of the Renaissance.
That historical period is notorious when it turned page in history using pure art as a fundamental tool for change, starting a new cycle with Florence, home of that innovative and rampant movement but with Milan which was among the first cities outside the Tuscan territory to absorb ideas and concepts and boasting authentic treasures.
From the central Piazza Cadorna along Via Carducci in a few minutes you will reach the magnificent Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, a grandiose Renaissance work declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, conisidered one of the jewels belonging to that architectural style created outside the Tuscan borders.
The original building was originally developed by the illustrious Milanese architect Guiniforte Solari, also known as Boniforte, master and eminent exponent of the Gothic-Lombard school that produced that architectural masterpiece with his project in the second half of the 15th century.
Subsequently, new innovative lines and further embellishments were brought by schools from the center of the Italian peninsula with the protagonists the great master Donato Bramante, from Fermignano, a small center in the Marche region and the genius of history Leonardo da Vinci, both pioneers of the Renaissance in the major center of Lombardy.
The stages of the construction of that extraordinary ecclesiastical structure and of the adjacent Dominican Convent, which became the second Milanese center linked to this monastic order after the one housed in the famous Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio, show the beauty and pure art in its profound essence.
The religious complex initially owes its development to Count Gaspare Vimercati who gave the order to modify the layout to accommodate his troops, also commissioning the construction of a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of Graces with an image of her placed inside.
Subsequently, Ludovico Maria Sforza, known by the nickname Ludovico il Moro, Lord of Milan, called in 1474 the master Donato Bramante, stationed in Urbino, inviting him to the Duchy of Milan with the idea of modifying the Church with the original project of transforming it into the mausoleum of the Sforza dynasty.
During the visit you will notice the extraordinary combination of medieval and Renaissance architecture that exists in total harmony, the second movement, the Renaissance it never completely distorted what already existed previously, the proof is confirmed by observing the refined geometric shapes developed in the choir of typical Bramante matrix and the simultaneous presence of the cross-vaulted bays visible in the body of the naves clearly of Gothic style.
You will also be able to admire, apart from these very interesting details linked to pure architecture, pictorial masterpieces such as the decorations in the Chapel of Santa Corona made by the talented painter Gaudenzio Ferrari from Valsesia with the Crucifixion.
That famous place of worship that was the site of a masterpiece by the master Tiziano Vecellio or the "Coronation of Thorns" then transferred to Paris and now present at the famous Louvre Museum or the Saints painted by Butinone which refer to the pure art of the late fifteenth century.
The Bramantesque Tribune from the name is obviously attributed to Donato Bramante, author of the project, although historical documentation states that the works on site were directed by another great figure, namely Giovanni Antonio Amadeo
That great architect, engineer and sculptor from Pavia, protagonist of grandiose works in Bergamo with the Colleoni Chapel and in his beloved Pavia with great works carried out on the façade of the extraordinary Certosa, an artist who was also Bramante's collaborator in the construction of the Duomo of Milan.
You will be able to admire the other chapels with other numerous works of art of relevance as well as other details such as the baroque altar, beautiful marble works and the magnificent colonnade of the central nave.
Afterwards you can reach the splendid Cloister to admire from the outside the architectural profile of the Church with the towering tribune and the absolutely grandiose architectural details developed around this magnificent space.
At the end of the visit of the Church you can reach and entering with reservation made in the Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie which contains Leonardo's Last Supper, a work that entered the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980.
That immense masterpiece, an incomparable work, represents in all its essence the greatness of the Tuscan master in terms of interpretations, technique, execution, choice of environment with very profound concepts that connect art, painting to religion, faith and spirituality.
The artist from Vinci reached Milan after his experiences in Tuscany where probably reached his peak, the immense, unique talent of that genius already noticed by his Master Verrocchio at a young age exploded definitively at the Sforza court where that, superb, eclectic artist without equal reached the eternal consecration.
It is no coincidence that masterpiece is nowadays is considerd by the most popular Renaissance fresco in history.
This immense masterpiece, an incomparable work, represents in all its essence the greatness of the Tuscan master in terms of interpretations, technique, execution, choice of place and very profound concepts that connect art, painting to religion, faith and spirituality.
The artist from Vinci reached Milan after his experiences in Tuscany, the Vatican probably his peak, the immense, unique talent of this genius already noticed by his Master Verrocchio at a young age exploded definitively at the Sforza court where this eclectic artist without equal reached the eternal consecration.
It is no coincidence that this masterpiece is nowadays considered the most popular Renaissance work in history. Leonardo, who lived 17 years in Milan living in the Casa degli Atellani a short distance from the Church where his famous vineyard is still located today, represented in this masterpiece the maximum essence of the research of expression, aesthetics, execution, visual, historical, explaining to the whole world how perfection can be achieved in painting,included in the place chosen for this divine, sublime representation obviously linked to another very profound theme such as religion.
The whole thing is a masterful summary, a sort of artistic encyclopedia in a single work.
In the work of the Tuscan genius appears at first glance the strong philosophical vein in representing the scene, the expressions of each protagonist say a lot and make you interpret a lot, lines, perspectives, contours, colors are not just details but an integral part of a message that could be identified in a poem or narration materially transmitted in art and as if by magic.
All that was summed up in that extraordinary fresco executed by that unique artist between 1495 and 1498.
Undoubtedly, this Renaissance treasure was an inspiration for other contemporaries and artists belonging to later cycles and in its own way in a period in which the Renaissance was the protagonist of that famous change in art at a universal level where the new, without arrogance or underestimation, ousted the old, gave a great impulse and life to innovative cycles that only figures like Leonardo could think of, perform and transmit.
Links : https://www.yesmilano.it/en
https://cenacolovinciano.org/en/museum/the-works/
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