DK Travel : Milan and the Lakes : History & Culture

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St Charles Borromeo (1538–84)

The crusading archbishop carried out Counter-Reformation ideals in the north.
Star Wars Episode II

George Lucas knew that even his vaunted digital special effects couldn’t hold a candle to the extraterrestrial beauty of Lake Como, which, with very little touching-up, filled in for Naboo’s lake district in the fifth Star Wars instalment, Attack of the Clones (2002). Beautiful Villa Balbianello (see Villa Balbianello, Lake Como) is again a backdrop for romantic scenes.
The Rake’s Progress (1951)

Under Toscanini’s direction, La Scala started opening up to foreign works, including this Stravinsky classic.
The Spider’s Strategem

Before gaining international fame, Bernardo Bertolucci made this 1969 story of a dysfunctional family haunted by the fascist past. He set this psychological drama in the quirky town of Sabbioneta.
Theodolinda (500s)

Lombard queen who converted her populace to orthodox Christianity.
Theorem

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s usual mix of sex, homosexuality and a communist critique on the emptiness of bourgeois life defines this 1968 film. Handsome stranger Terrence Stamp raises the libidos of a middle-class Milanese family, then further stirs up their lives by disappearing.
Turandot (1926)

Puccini struck lucky again with exotic Asian fare – and, for once, a happy(ish) ending.
Twilight in Italy

The first place D H Lawrence and his lover Frieda settled during their European peregrinations was the shores of Lake Garda, during the winter of 1912–13. In 1916 he compiled his notes on those happy first months spent in Italy and wrote this travelogue.
Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916)

This leading Futurist was born in the south but soon moved to Milan. His failed journalism career served him in writing treatises on Futurism, while his paintings and sculptures were among the most admired of his era.
Villa Reale/Galleria d’Arte Moderna

Milan’s Neo-Classical (1790) “Royal Villa” housed Napoleon in 1802 and Marshal Radetzky until 1858. It is now given over jointly to weddings and an art gallery, with works by Romantic master Hayez, Neo-Classical sculptor Canova, Futurist Boccioni and Tuscan Macchiaioli (pseudo-Impressionist) like Lega and Fattori. Morandi, Corot, Gauguin and Van Gogh also get a look in. Marino Marini (20th-century sculptor of happy men riding horses) gets his own wing. Some rooms may be closed for restoration.