Blog post Wednesday, January 24

 

Traveling by high-speed train

Today the class woke up early to board the high-speed train at 7:30 traveling from Florence to Milan. The train traveled at an astonishing 230 km/hour! The rail consists of 50 miles of underground tunnels. Deb and the civil engineering students were amazed at this infrastructure. The United States simply doesn’t have anything like that. One notable station that the train went through was Mediopadana Station, a futuristic building that is made to look like a sail waving in the wind. The most famous train station in Italy is the station in Milan. The train enters the station and the first thing the passenger sees is the gigantic steel arches spanning the entire track. The passenger gets off and enters a beautiful 20th-century entrance of the station. Made of marble and with sky-high ceilings, we got an immediate taste of what Milan is like.

The Bosco Verticale

 

The first place we visited in Milan was the Bosco Verticale. It is two structures designed to be “vertical gardens.” They are great examples of combining sustainability and architecture. The buildings have staggered balconies, each containing a small tree. The building owners manage these trees, and as they grow they appear to take over more and more of the building. The structure is LEAD-certified but does not align with any local European Standards. It is not just the structure though that is built sustainably. There is an entire complex underneath, almost like a miniature city. There are grocery stores, shops, parking garages, and other amenities below the structures’ first visible level. This system promotes less motor vehicle traffic because of the fewer commuters and encourages people to stay around in and invest in their home area.

 

The Milan Cathedral

The Second Place We visited was the Milan Cathedral. This was one of the most impressive structures were have seen on the trip. The exterior was completely covered in human sculptures of different religious figures. It is a Gothic style with pinnacles at the top. Candoglia marble from Lake Maggiore quarry primarily makes up the outside of the off-white building. Inside, black, white, and red marble decorated the floors in beautiful designs. The interior also has tall stained-glass windows that let in beautiful colored lights. At the back of the cathedral, there is a sundial that is included in the floor. A gold line traces the sun pattern throughout the day and at certain times, the light perfectly shines through a hole in the ceiling and nightlights a plaque on the floor. This is a great example of engineering integrated into architecture!

 

It was really interesting to see Milan after exploring Rome, Naples, and Florence among other places. While still containing notes of historical architecture, after most of the city was flattened by bombs in WWII it was given a chance to rebuild and modernize. Out of all the Cities in Italy, this one seemed the most similar to the United States. It was a cool experience, and also the last major location of our trip. We are all looking forward to a couple of lighter days in Florence before packing up and heading home on Saturday morning.