What About Milan, Italy? Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Virgin Mary

On the highest spike of the Duomo there is a statue of the Virgin Mary covered in plated gold that is fairly visible by day and illuminated by night. The "Madonnina" (Little Madonna) is the symbol of the city.

Answer: Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper"

After undergoing a major restoration, "The Last Supper" is again fully visible. It's good advice to book your visit in advance: the queue to see Leonardo's masterpiece is always very long.

Answer: Castello Sforzesco, from Sforza family

Both the Sforza and Visconti families ruled Milan, but the castle took the name from Francesco Sforza. Inside the castle you can find many museums, specifically the beautiful "Museum of Ancient Musical Instruments" and the "Egyptian Museum". "Ambrosiano" is a word often used as a synonym for "Milanese", named for the patron saint of the city, Ambrose, while Carlo Borromeo was a Milanese saint and not a ruler.

Answer: I Navigli

I Navigli are still used, especially in winter, by small boats. They surround the oldest, historical part of the city that, for this reason, is called "Cerchia dei Navigli". In the Middle Ages, they were largely used by barges to transport the marble for the building of the Cathedral.

Answer: There are no parallel streets and straight corners.

Milan has a circular plan, with great streets that radiate from its center. Those streets go all around the city, and they are called "Circonvallazioni". Thus, no street is parallel to its neighbour, but slightly diverges from it. This is so subtle that often a stranger finds himself very far from where he thinks he is. (A beautiful and funny example of this situation is "Porta Ludovica's Paradox", written by Umberto Eco, in which the author mockingly demonstrates the physical impossibility to reach Porta Ludovica from any given point of the city.)

Answer: Piazzale Loreto

It's not something to be proud of, but Mussolini and his lover, Claretta Petacci, already dead, were hanged upside-down in Piazzale Loreto. This was to satisfy the understandable rage of the people after twenty years of fascist dictatorship. They remained exposed for almost two days.

Answer: San Siro

There's no way to convince the Milanese to call the stadium "Giuseppe Meazza", even though Meazza was one of the all time best Italian soccer players, who played for both teams. San Siro is the name of the quarter in which the stadium is located. Renovated for the 1990 World Cup Finals, San Siro, with its 83,000 seats, is one of the most famous stadiums in the world.

Answer: La Scala

The real name is "Teatro alla Scala", and it's one of the most famous theaters in the world. After undergoing a major renovation, La Scala re-opened to the public in 2007. It's quite inconspicuous from outside, but you will stare open-mouthed once inside, and getting inside is not so easy. You have to book your tickets weeks, or better months, in advance. Famous, in the city, was the five day line for the Vladimir Horowitz concert in 1987, with people spending four nights in sleeping bags to assure themselves the tickets. (I was there!)

Answer: April 25, 1945

On April 25th, 1945, the partisan brigade "Garibaldi" launched the people's revolt a few days before the American troops arrived. The code message, diffused by clandestine radio and brought by messengers all around was "Aldo says twenty-six by one". "Aldo" was the code for the partisans brigades and "twenty-six by one" meant twenty-six minus one, indicating the 25th as the day of the insurrection.

Answer: Pirelli Skyscraper

At 127 meters, the Pirelli Skyscraper is now the seat of regional government. The Telecom Tower at 187 m is located in Rozzano, a big town near Milan. The Mole Antonelliana at 167 m is in Turin. Milan Communication Center doesn't exist.