Free Walking Tour through Renaissance Milan: Beauty and Philosophy

thank you Stan! I wish you all the best!

Hi Elina! Thank you, I really enjoyed your company and guiding you through Milan! Wish you a great time in Italy!

Hi Stepán! Thank you very much for your participation and feedback! Regarding your private comment to me, I believe I wasn't clear enough during the tour, so now I'll try to explain the “whys” that were missing: - Why the Renaissance in Milan? Renaissance was a fervent period of openness up to ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian knowledge that started in Florence. As Milan was allied politically with the Medici family (governors of Florence), they wanted to bring to Milan the same ideals of the Neoplatonic philosophy which had HUMANISM and REALISM as its main pillars. - What were the novelties of this movement? The artists were immersed in this effervescent philosophical and cultural context and had an artistic proposal that reflected these principles of bringing beauty, realism and elevated ideals to humanity. The innovation they brought, compared to the Middle Ages, were the mental openness towards a human ideal to be pursued, trying ti mirror the ideal world of Plato in art and architecture (for this reason we've seen the ideal urbanistic planning, ideal court-yard, ideal fresco, ideal façades, and the Vitruvian Man as the Ideal Human). Human beings became the focus in architect and art, while in Middle Ages you had the focus on God. Paintings become realistic, artists want to express perfection in forms through geometry and beauty, so they pay attention to all details and try to paint and sculpt as if they were real people. - Why these monuments and paintings are preserved until today? Actually they were not preserved for a long time. After the momentum of the Renaissance, we’ve passed through Illuminism and Positivism, and many political changes in Milan (invasions from French, Spanish, and Austrians), and many frescos were covered by stucco, the Castle was totally misused, even becoming stable for horses. Only in the last 150 years the Renaissance art and architecture was acclaimed as a very important historical moment and Milan started recovering many places that were forgotten and damaged. And only in the last 3 decades Milan is really investing in finding and restoring many palaces, and preserving the art from this unique historical moment. I hope now is a bit clearer, thank you again and I wish you the best!!