By Walter Sanders
The Set Up: Sharon and I caught a great airfare on Emirates from our new hometown Charlotte to Milan. We decided to make a two-month visit to Italy focusing on areas we have never experienced or wished to know better.
We’re not strangers to Milan, but Sharon and I have never been there together.
Milan is a world-class city on the make in every way: fashion, design, home and office furnishings, music, art, banking, the whole shebang.
And the colors! Not just grays and glass but shocking Phalo blues, vivid pinks, blinding white marble, and husky maroons jostle for your attention. The skyline is in constant flux where construction cranes abound and whimsical grattacieli (skyscrapers) erupt into the sky.
Yet on ground level there’s a comforting familiarity. Outdoor cafes and restaurants as spring had sprung. Shop windows display the unique Italian ability to have love affairs between style and commerce and one night stands between sleek designs and future functionality.
And the fashions! Sure, in the windows. But look around on the streets, in the Duomo square, in Brera, even at the central station. People looking grand. Look at that guy! Movie star maybe? No, just some well-dressed, super-coiffed guy grabbing a caffé.
And look at her! She’s a 6’ 1” exotic principessa walking among plebeians. Is she a holdover runway model from Milan’s Fashion Week or just a regular working woman booking it back to the office?
The city is lousy with glamour.