We woke the next morning, to find the backyard filled with neighbors, preparing for an Easter Egg Hunt.  It was such a delight to watch the children searching for the eggs, amid the greenery just outside our windows.

After watching the Easter Egg Hunt for a while, we headed outdoors ourselves, to explore more of the neighborhood.  Directly across the street from the building where we were staying, on Via Cappuccio, # 2, there was the Istituto Tecnico Industriale Carlo Bazzi.  Founded in 1872, this technical high school is actually supported by the Ente Scuola Edile Milanese, the Association of Construction and Complementary Companies of the Provinces of Milan, Lodi, Monza, and Brianza, as well as by the Federation of Construction Workers.  This is the “it school” for anyone wanting to get into the construction field.  They also have a museum on safety and safety devices, in the workplace.

The Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, simply known as the Catholic University of Milan, was founded in 1921.  This is the largest private university in all of Europe, and the largest Catholic university in the world.  The school is divided into 12 faculties, as well as 7 postgraduate schools.  The main campus is housed in what was the ancient Monastery of Saint Ambrose.  During World War II, one of professors of the university hid a box of documents relating to the Resistance in Milan, among the bones of fifty skeletons, all of people who had died of the plague, back in the 16th century.  Not daring to disturb the remains of the dead, especially those who died from the plague, the members of the SS never found the box, even though they thoroughly searched the university.  We spent a little time strolling through the cloisters of the university, as well as visiting the chapel.  It was a lovely experience, and made me interested in knowing more about the place, and the buildings in which it was housed.

Along a corridor of the university, we saw a monument to Beato Contardo Ferrini, whose body is venerated in the university’s chapel.  Ferrini was a noted Italian jurist and legal scholar, who died of typhus at an early age.

Nearby, there were two monuments to early founders of the university: Ludovico Necchi and Ernesto Lombardo.  Necchi was a doctor who became a Franciscan tertiary, and his remains now lie in the crypt of the university’s chapel.  Lombardo was a cotton industrialist, who was remembered for the improvements he made in his employees’ lives, teaching them morals, and founding boarding houses, and retirement and vacation homes for them.

 

Next up: More from the Catholic University and the Tempio della Vittoria, plus other wonderful sights in Milan!

 

Note: This blog is written in English and Spanish, and the author takes no responsibility for the quality of any other translations that may appear.  If you have enjoyed this post, please, check out our archives for more posts from Milan, as well as other Italian destinations.  Grazie!