Home Europe Italy Milan MARY HAD A LITTLE SISTER
MARY HAD A LITTLE SISTER

MARY HAD A LITTLE SISTER

Milan

Milan Cathedral - Piazza del Duomo 2

The Madonnina, the statue of the Virgin Mary atop the main spire of the Milan Cathedral, has had different rival madonnine throughout history, but has always remained the greatest. The secret is in its size: Giuseppe Perego’s gold-plated copper statue is over 4 meters tall and is placed at a height of above 100 meters. Since the local tradition imposes to not build anything exceeding the height of the Madonnina, a gimmick was thought by the designers of the Pirellone (the headquarters of the known Italian tire brand), that was 20 meters taller than the Duomo: a sister statue was placed on top of it thus the Madonnina remained the highest point in Milan. The same stratagem was repeated with an 85-cm Madonnina placed on the Lombardy Region council headquarters (161 m), and again with Isozaki’s skyscraper (209 m) for the Allianz financial group, the fourth copy of the Madonnina. But the original always remains the one on the Cathedral, that together with the tourists who walk up to it, looks over the city – and its little sisters too.
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