For many years Muba (children museum) has organized creative and unique shows and workshops to develop your creativity and amuse you… Have you ever been to that beautiful exhibition at the Triennale that was called “Vietato NON toccare” (forbidden NOT to touch)? Well, Muba always suggests you original ideas to let you learn while having fun and using your fantasy! You can go there and enjoy an exhibition or take part to one of the many workshops… And what a beautiful place, the Rotonda della Besana, have you ever been there?
It is a unique building, once you go in you will forget to be in Milan city centre… The surrounding walls are tall, windowed and flower-shaped… Inside, a beautiful and well-tended garden with a small playground; but be careful: you can’t play football on the grass, it is forbidden! You can run around and cycle throughout the gravel paths, if the weather is too hot or a bit rainy you can play beneath the arcade!
At the centre, right in front of the entrance there is the complex that hosts the Muba… An old church, identical in all its 4 sides… But what was this place originally? What was its function? It was meant to be a burial place for thousands of people who died of plague more than 400 years ago! Now that you know a bit more, you can enter the Muba with your head up, come on!
We recommend you to book both entrance and workshops in advance because groups of a maximum of 50 children are allowed… Don’t take this risk! Here at the Muba, in these beautiful halls, very interesting exhibitions and workshops are periodically hosted. To visit the exhibitions just check the opening times, while as for workshops you can actively take part from Tuesday to Friday from 5pm to 6.30pm, while on Saturdays and Sundays (and on holidays too!) you can go there from 10am… Every workshop usually lasts about 1 hour and 15 minutes…
You will use waste materials to create your project and you can play, jump and touch special carpets to feel different materials… Tons of ideas here at Muba where you can learn a lot of things without studying or counting, just letting you have fun!
When you will be tired and a bit hungry, you can either have a good snack here at Muba – at their Bistrot – or take a stroll around here and follow some of our suggestions… Stop at Gelateria Umberto in Piazza 5 Giornate for a delicious ice-cream, in Via Anfossi at Ernst Knam – the King of Chocolate – for a special snack… If it is lunch time or you want to have dinner out, Pizzeria La Baia is the perfect choice! Are you looking for a place for both children and grown-ups to spend the day? Perfect! In via Antonio Fogazzaro, Mom’s the Family Bar has recently been opened! It is a great place to spend the day and it is just a few minutes far from the Besana and Piazza V Giornate.
If you are not tired yet, after or before visiting Muba, manoxmano suggests you to take a stroll nearby because as you know, “every corner has its own story”… Actually, we don’t want to take you to a corner but to a square… A very famous one! Unfortunately there is a lot of traffic all around but on the sides there is space for you to stop, look around and listen to what we have to tell you about Piazza V Giornate! You might be thinking, “what a strange name”… What about these V giornate (5 days)? What do they refer to? Why is there such an important monument in memory of it? Do you see the monument?
We don’t want to bore you too much so we are just going to tell you that we are talking about more than 150 years ago… It was 1848, Milan was tired of being under the Austrian domain for so long (40 years) so the citizens decided to seek for freedom! At the time Milan wasn’t the only city under foreign rule! The whole Peninsula was fragmented and people started to think about an ideal: get rid of the foreign rule, unite the country and create a nation – Italy. They also asked for a head of state, a king – Vittorio Emanuele II. The repressions were so tough and strict that rebels started planning secret meetings and they had a secret slogan too. Indeed, people in the streets shouted at the top of their voice “VIVA VERDI” (Long live Verdi), pretending to support the famous composer (Giuseppe Verdi) while it actually meant “Viva Vittorio Emanuele Re D’Italia” – “Long Live Vittorio Emanuele King of Italy”. As you may already know (or you will surely study it), 13 years later Giuseppe Garibaldi united Italy with the Expedition of the Thousand!
Now, back to us, on March 18th 1848 – early in the spring – Milan citizens decided to rise up. None excluded: men, elderly, women, rich, poor, beautiful and ugly… Everyone had his/her own role! Just think that it was thanks to kids like you – small and smart – that it was possible to pass the Austrian barricades. From March 18th till March 22nd people experienced hard times, got the better of the oppressor. Today, this huge monument reminds us that liberty is one of the most important values a man can fight for! This place, Porta Vittoria, was one of the main bloody battlefields where Milanese won over the Austrians!
Now that you know what happened in those years, have a look at the obelisk! The marble basement holds a bronze statue of a lion, an eagle and 5 women! The roaring lion embodies Milanese raising up to get rid of the oppressor! The 5 women represent the 5 days of rebellion in Milan… Every woman symbolizes something different… The will to rise up, the tears for the dead in the second day, the strength to persuade people to rise again despite the wounds and the pride of the last two women wrapped up by the flag cloth: the fourth hoping for victory and the fifth playing the trumpet of victory! Nearby, the eagle – with its unfolded wings – is ready to fly off and accompanies the trumpet blast with its call. Unfortunately the sculptor died just before the monument was inaugurated, but he engraved a Latin sentence on a bell, to remind people that Milan is free thanks to all those Milanese that fought for freedom during these 5 days!
USEFUL INFORMATION
telephone: 02.43980402
Opening times:
Open on Mondays from 9.30am till 3.30pm
Open from Tuesday to Friday from 9.30am till 6.30pm
Open on Saturdays and Sundays and on Holidays from 10am till 7pm
price:
Entrance: adult ticket €8 | child ticket €6
Buy your tickets on Mida Ticket
how to get there:
tram line 9 (Monte Nero Spartaco)
bus line 77, N6, 84
tube line M3 Crocetta
For info on workshops check the website
For families:
Open from Tuesday to Friday: 5pm-6.30pm
Open on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays: 10am-11.30am | 11.30am-1pm | 2pm-3.30pm | 3.45pm-5.15pm | 5.30pm-7pm
