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Tired of the usual tourist attractions in Milan? Already visited the Duomo? Motored the canals of the Navigli district?
Take a walk to the Zone of Silence neighborhood, located northeast of the Cathedral of San Babila. Aptly named because of its location tucked away from Milan’s heavily trafficked streets, it offers many early modern buildings. One of these, Casa Sola-Busca, is nothing architecturally spectacular in itself…what is located on the front of the building is what you need to seek out, keeping in mind the irony of the neighborhood name.
Nicknamed “Ca ‘de l’Oreggia” or “House of the Ear”, the building features a large ear on its facade.
Yes…an ear.
Long before doorbells were commonplace, a method of announcement was required by visitors. Hence, the ear.
Designed by master sculptor, Adolfo Wildt and maestros Lucio Fontana and Luigi Brogginiin in 1930, the auditory organ was used by callers…to do just that. Calling right into the ear, which was equipped with an early intercom, it allowed visitors to announce their arrival.
After many years of the ear’s existence, the original owners and creators relinquished their residence. Despite the ear’s former practicality, subsequent tenants finally had the sculpture disconnected, as many a curious passerby could not resist revealing their secrets into the able ear.
The now quiet ear is still visible today on Via Serbelloni.
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Casa Sola-Busca
- Address: Via Serbelloni 10, Milan, Italy
- Hours: No posted hours
- Admission: free
- Getting There: From metro stop, San Babila, take Corso Venezia northwest, crossing Via Senato. Continue of Via Senato to Via Gabrio Serbelloni and take a right. Casa Sola-Busca is located on the right.
Arriving in the front of the building, an extensive queue snaked from the front to side where tickets were required to enter the queue. After a quick walk to the ticket office at the Sala Delle Colonne, we soon had tickets in hand and were back to the line. Moving rather quickly, our bags were inspected at the door and we were then admitted into the cathedral.
Riding the metro late in the afternoon, I eyed the many young people, dressed up for the Saturday night. Disembarking at the Porto Genova stop, we all made our way down to the main canal. Being a beautiful sunny day, there were masses of people spilling out from the scores of bars, restaurants and cafes that line the canal. Happy hour was underway and specials were advertised throughout the area, most offering drinks and accompanying appetizer buffets.
Tourists crowded on the the many bridges that span the canals, all clamoring to get that perfect selfie and other artwork was abound with countless galleries and signs pointing to courtyards showcasing local artists work. Design showrooms and temporary outdoor photography and art exhibits can be found throughout the area.
Palazzo Borromeo and Santa Maria Padone. Palazzo Borromeo was built in the late 14th century when the Florentine Borromeo family moved to Milan. Remodeled over the centuries and badly damaged during the air raids of 1943, it’s appearance today is not of its original construction. The square was created in 1440 following the demolition of a number of houses purchased by the Borromeo family to create a space linking the family palace with the 9th century parish church of Santa Maria Padone. The Romanesque church was transformed into a small basilica and a small family chapel was added in the 15th century.
Imperial Palace. Close to the circus, you can find the remains of the Roman Imperial Palace complex. Many different buildings were used privately and publicly by the Emperor as well as his court officials and the imperial bureaucracy. As in other Italian cities, the Emperor had direct access from his palace to the circus.
Entering through the main Famedio, a Neo Medieval style memorial chapel made of marble and stone, I first stopped to gaze upon the beautiful blue ceiling and the tomb of novelist, Alessandro Manzoni before making my way through each of the hallways. I particularly loved walking along the outer edges of the open-aired corridors so that I could admire the building’s architecture, the courtyard and the ornate tombs that line the area.
Before making my way into the cemetery’s immaculately groomed grounds, I then walked the full length of the building’s lower level, exiting at the center, where I could examine the map and the locations of the cemetery’s famous occupants. In this area is also a structure comprised of metal tubes and black and white stones centered with a small clay bowl placed inside the main formation. Surrounded by memorial plaques, I was informed by a fellow bystander that it is a monument to the 800 Italians who perished in Nazi concentration camps and the bowl was filled with soil from the Mauthausen concentration camp.
Wandering the grounds, through the avenues of trees, should be reserved for an unhurried pace as to absorb entire beauty of the surroundings and that’s just what I did. It was impossible not to want to stop and inspect each monument, so detailed and individualized were they. Many of the tombs and funerary monuments are of such an extravagant size, it is almost as through you are walking through a neighborhood of homes.
