Actor, musician, writer, humorist, activist, composer, host of TV (among them his own show) and radio programs, owner and creator of his own record label, retailer, etc.., Oddly enough, I think we are missing out a few things this man has done, the only man with whom I would get married in a blink with my the eyes closed, Mr Henry Rollins.

It is simply that some people are restless and others aren’t and Rollins is one of the most restless human being you can find, along with great talent, imagination and creativity and a tremendous personality. His career kicked off in 1980 as a singer of the band “State of Alert”, the experience only lasted a year, after which he joins the legendary punk rock band “Black Flag” a crazy rock phase where the young Rollins suffered as he had to sleep for months in a van and received spitting and blows from crazed up fans during shows, a normal attitude of punk fans back then. After 5 years with Black Flag, Rollins had grown enormously and decided to form his own band called “Rollins Band”, with which he was quite successful, especially with his album “Weight”. The Rollins Band had two formations and several albums, the last one was released in 2002, after which the band dissolved and Rollins dedicated his time to his project “Spoken Word”.

As a soloist, beside the Rollins band, he put out two very interesting albums in the hard rock jazz line , always filled with intelligent lyrics, poetry and criticism. The concert will take place next February 15 at the Alcatraz club in Milan, and it will have a bit of everything, his solo music, some tunes from the Rollins Band and certainly humor and a lot of dialogue with the attending crowd. If you’re in Milan do not miss it.

For more information visit:http://www.lastfm.es/event/2039910+Henry+Rollins+at+Alcatraz+on+15+February+2012

Luz Obscura

A very complete artist, as few are in a seductive city as few others cities are. Rent apartments in Milan and secure your entry for this great show.

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Translated by: Marc
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The world of comic books is gathering in Milan on the 4th and 5th of Februaryto enjoy the Comic Book Festival that will take place at the Novegro Exhibition Park.

The comic books and the games will be exhibited in a beautiful place, where the spectators and fans of the world of fantasy can enjoy a series of initiatives designed ad hoc.

The festival is divided in various theme areas, among which there’s a ‘comic book space’, that foresees the participation of authors who come from the whole of Italy. It will be a chance for the public to meet their heroes and enjoy their work. It will also be an opportunity to admire and buy precious and rare books, special editions and new publications.

In the area dedicated to games, the online game fans will play each other on numerous computers, game consoles and simulators. This area will allow the crowd to face each other in many tournaments, games, presentations, RPGs and card games all weekend long. There’s also a wide area dedicated to traditional games and ‘intelligent’ ones with board games, cards, chess and miniatures. In this space they offer the possibility to get in touch with different associations and clubs. There will be a lot to choose from and many options to select!

Cosplay is also going to be back: a competition dedicated to the world of comic books with awards for the winners: Cosplay Competition, Cosplay, Miss Cosplay Battle Royale… a world of games and entertainment that could not be any better. The awards will go to best male and female costume, best interpretation and best couple who play their heroes. All of this according to the rules of the classic competition that takes place during a comic book festival. OF course, don’t miss out on the ‘Gadget’ exhibition, with the chance to buy many gifts for friends of little figures of their favourite heroes that have arrived especially from Japan and the USA.

The most outstanding thing in this festival is, undoubtedly, the national convention of Harry Potter fans: the Potteraduno (Pottermeeting). In a space 3 acres big, the lovers of the famous English wizard will have the chance to relive all of the main moments of this successful saga. A similar stage to the film’s Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley will be there while you can buy many wands at Ollivander’s shop. Each thrilling moment of the film is reproduced live, such as the magic lessons that will take place in Professor Snape’s classroom. All the ingredients will be there: the owls, the Astronomy Tower and even the magic potions and, to round it up, the Quidditch tournament for the bravest ones.

A free shuttle service is guaranteed. The departure point is from Piazza Monte Titano (Lambrate FS station) and it goes to the Novegro Exhibition Park. For the timetables look at the organization’s website here: http://festivaldelfumetto.com

Paola Grieco

If you don’t want to miss out on this fantasy event, the idea is to book a weekend in the capital of Lombardy. For that, you will have to rent apartments in Milan and enjoy a weekend of fun and entertainment.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Between the 50s and 60s, Europe was the central stage of an intense sound and aesthetic revolution. Alongside the musical experiments and the birth of many rock stars, an incredible visual production was developed alongside. This production was based on the search for something new, forbidden and provocative, overcoming ancient canons considered obsolete. It was also supporting a kind of visual art, in which the “aesthetic” and “beauty” began to take very different paths. Thus, while the Beatles composed their future milestones of rock, Francis Bacon associated the human dimension with the monstrosity, the atrocity and suffering his paintings.

The exhibition “From Bacon to the Beatles: new images in Europe in the years of rock”, to be held at the Museo della Permanente, offers a journey between sound and visual creation, featuring a fine selection of works to watch and listen with headphones; the best hits from the same period. The format of the exhibition is very interesting, and continues a curatorial a line that is increasingly having successful among visual arts: the association with music or sound and the infiltration of visual contemplation, have intention of providing a more sensory experience (as affirmed by the curator Chiara Gatti). In this manner, closely watching the event simultaneous sound and aesthetic revolution, it is possible to recognize the mutual influences the have and understand how the new way of looking at the composition influenced sound, and how the way of listening to music had an impact on how to see and process visual.

The exhibition also included Peter Blake and Richard Hamilton, as well as exponents of the Italian artistic movement “Arte Povera” as Alberto Giacometti, Mimmo Rotella Giuseppe Guerreschi and Mario Schifano, the American William Utermolhen, the German Horst Antes and the French Jean Dubuffet y Cesàr. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger compose the “soundtrack”. Interestingly, the paintings (mostly large sizes) and the sculptures are lit as if it were musicians on a stage to reconstruct and evoke the atmosphere of that period that brought along profound social, political and economic changes, since the War of Vietnam to Woodstock.

The exhibition will take place at Museo della Permanente, located on Via Turati 34 until the 12^th of February. The entrance fee is 6 Euros, and the opening hours are from Tuesday to Friday, from 10 to 13hs and from 14hs30 until 18hs30, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10 am to 18hs30 (closing day: Monday). More information at: http://www.lapermanente.it/eventi/bacon.aspx.

menschauser

We recommend you to rent apartments in Milan during those dates, come to enjoy one of the most interesting exhibitions of the year.

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Translated by: Hans
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From the 20^th of January to the 10^th of February, we will be able to enjoy “Excelsior” at the Teatro La Scala in Milan. The show “Excelsior” returns again to the Lombard capital to inaugurate the ballet season.

In 1881, this unique, historical and allegorical choreographic composition was presented for the first time. The show is divided into six acts, composed by eleven scenes, which celebrate the triumph of light and civilization over obscurantism. They recall great feats of humanity and technological achievements of the time, as important as the telegraph, the battery, the steam engine or the Suez Canal.

“Excelsior” was a success at its premiere. It presented more than 100 performances during its first season in Italy, as well as an extensive international tour, through which it obtained a passage through the symbolism embodied the spirit of the time.

The current show produced in 1974 and is a lighter version than the original, both in its scenery, music and dancers, which in its original version, were more than 500 extras. However, the show does not lose anything of creativity and nostalgic flavor of the Italian ballet spirit.The main figure of “Excelsior” is the famous dancer Roberto Bolle, étoile at La Scala in Milan. Bolle has been part of the most prestigious dance companies in the world, the London Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, The Ballet of Stockholm, Tokyo and New York. In this last one, he was appointed principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre in 2003. The show also features the special participation of the Russian dancer Alina Somova, during the 20^th, 22^nd and 25^th of January. Alina was chosen as the Mariinsky Theatre in 2003 and comes from the prestigious Vaganova Academy of the Russian ballet.

Teatro La Scala in Milan is one of the most important places in the world of its kind. The present building dates from 1778, since the first, located at Teatro Ducale was burned in 1776. Salieri opened the new theater with his play “L’Europe riconosciuta”. The first reform of its facade dates from 1907 and later after the damage suffered during the bombing of World War II, had to be renovated again. For some years this magnificent hall was also a casino as was the custom in the nineteenth century.

Tickets to attend this wonderful show are already available in the Internet, in different web ticket sites, including http://www.viagogo.es/Milano/Teatro-alla-Scala-Entradas/_V-1381/Excelsior-Ballet-Entradas, the price of available seats is between € 99 and € 125. Hurry up, because the high expectations created by “Excelsior” has made some sessions, totally booked by now.

Fernando Paterna

Holiday apartments in Milan are the best way to visit the city and get to know each and every one of its charms. The Lombard cuisine, its customs and historic buildings are just some of the attractions that this great city has prepared for you. Do not forget to pay a visit to its big shops avenues and cozy cafes.

Translated by: Hans
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With the arrival of the nineties, the world changed again. Nirvana was the beginning and end of the new problem. Thousands of bands around the world were fighting for the title of being the new Nirvana. The recording industry knew about it and did nothing, but trying to hire any new “alternative” project that appeared. With this, the record companies made and lost a lot of money. Some bands survived, while others fell to the deepest of radial forgetfulness. Perhaps, those were the last days when radio really opened its doors to alternative rock. Today, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Jessie J. with his “Price Tag” dominate the world.

Among the bands that surfaced in the early nineties, Spin Doctors was one of the most loved and remembered, that to date, is still causing smiles with songs like “Little Miss Can not Be Wrong” and “Two Princes”. This band started somewhere in the late eighties in New York. Its original training dates were back to 1989 exactly, and after being signed by Epic Records, they edited their debut hit “Up for Grabs … Live”, recorded live in Manhattan. In the beginning, even though no one believe it, the Spin Doctors was almost a “jam band”, making mischief on stage in a very deep and psychedelic-hippie way, the Manhattan style. Its melodic chords and happy strumming of its songs, used to make everyone dance for long and intense jams. Some of these improvisations are on the network in various “bootlegs” and rarities compiled.

The success came with the release of “Pocket Full of Kryptonite” in the summer of 1991, their debut album certainly, and probably most remembered for its hit singles mentioned above, as well as the classical “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues”. No obsession is clearer in this first release of Superman and the immense metropolis that he defends from evil. Without thinking, in two years consecutive to the album’s release, it received a platinum record for sales, Saturday Night Live appearances, extensive touring and fixed radio transmissions at the time.

The subsequent history of Spin Doctors is the same as of any band with a successful first album, the second release was not so successful, and the ups and downs, typical of Rock N Roll. However, in August 2011 marked the 20th anniversary of the release of the classic “Pocket Full of Kryptonite” and the boys are back in the ring with their joyful and rock sounds. The event will be in Milan on the 29^th of January at the Bloom Club. For more information on the Spin Doctors, visit their official website by clicking here: http://www.spindoctors.com/

Alexa Ray

Get  apartments in Milan and enjoy the sounds and joy of Spin Doctors, one of the most iconic bands of the nineties. Milan and its diverse music scene will be at your fingertips.

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Translated by: Hans
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If you like Italian football you’re in luck. On the 15th of January you have an unmissable appointment between two eternal rivals. Both teams of the city of Milan come across each other again in the most important football competition in Italy, the Serie A.

Rossoneros and interistas are at odds and have a rivalry which dates since the foundation of both clubs. The Milanese population is divided between fans of Inter and Milan.

Both teams share their stadium, the Giuseppe Meazza, also known as San Siro due to its location in the namesake district of the city. It has a capacity for 80,000 spectators and it has seen two World Cups and three European competition finals played on its grass. The teams alternate the stadium and every week one or the other plays its match there.

The origin of all the rivalry comes from a distance. At the beggining, the Milan Cricket and Football Club (original name of the currently named AC Milan) was the only team of the city but, in 1908, a disagreement emerged on the subject if it was convenient to allow foreigners to participate in the team. 43 directors and members of the club decided to turn away from the club and founded a new team, Internazionale di Milano. After this divison, the rossonero (red and black) team was quickly considered as the middle and lower classes team of the city, with its fans mainly being trade unionists and workers. However Inter was considered the club of the rich, but this fact has been forgotten in present times.

Inter has 18 Scudetti (league titles) in its cabinets, 7 Italian Cups, 3 UEFA Cups, 3 European Cups, 2 Interncontinental Cups and 1 World Club Championship. Milan, meanwhile, has 18 Scudetti, 5 Italian Cups, 2 European Cup Winners Cup, 7 European Cups, 3 Intercontinental Cups and 1 World Club Championship.

These are two of the biggest clubs in world football who have faced each other in over 200 occasions and the statistics show a very balanced outcome in their head to head. Regarding the fans, Inter is the second most popular club in Italy behind Juventus from the city of Turin, while Milan occupies third place. During the days previous to the match, the city atmosphere is quite frankly intense and their fans proudly show their colours and flags on the balconies of their houses.

Both teams arrive to the match in very different situations. Inter is having an irregular season while Milan is presented as title contender.

The show which awaits us at the San Siro will be frankly intense, thrilling and vibrant, you can’t miss it! You can still buy tickets for the match in the main websites of sporting events.

Fernando Paterna

Milan is the second most important city in Italy, one of the world’s most important commercial and financial centres, as well as being the fourth most important city in Europe in terms of economy and the capital of fashion. Renting apartments in Milan is an easy, comfortable and affordable option to visit the city.

Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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This is a controversial character of Italian modern art, probably one of the best cartoonists of all times. His name was Andrea Pazienza, and his life was very short (32 years) but incredibly intense, not only by events that encouraged her, but also due to the way he lived his life: in a totalizing, absolute and extreme way. Andrea Pazienza was defined several times as “the greatest living artist,” a claim which is a bit presumptuous, especially if his work is not known. Then, when you open and read one of his comics , one realizes that the level of his drawings allows this presumption without fear: the strength of the colors he uses and his incredible ability to create stories that the – literally – jumps out of the pages and become true moments that we live in our daily life.

Andrea Pazienza was born in San Benedetto del Tronto on May 23, 1956. His father, an art education professor conveyed in him from an early age, his love for art, teaching him to look. From a very young age, Andrea left traces of his genius, creating set designs for a few shows at the Teatro Verdi in San Severo and, since 1973, performing solo and in group exhibitions. He achieved great success thanks to the first comic book he published, “The Extraordinary Adventures of Penthotal” a story inspired by his years at the University of Bologna (where he studied at the DAMS – Disciplines of Art, Music and entertainment, a career he left when he was only two assignments away from his degree). He was also devoted to painting, another art that he developed from an early age, creating a symbolic picture representing his suicide when he was only 15 years. In 1984, the darker side of his artistic production is revealed publicly: the relationship with heroin and a drug dependence. It was those that led him to his death: June 16, 1988, at his home in Montepulciano (Tuscany), Andrea Pazienza died of a heroin overdose. It was never clear whether it was suicide or an overdose taken without the will to die.

Nonetheless, Pazienza leaves an unparalleled legacy in the world of Italian comics. The exhibition “Pazienza un corno!” Organized by the Gallery Ca ‘di Fra’ in collaboration with the Little Nemo Art Gallery of Turin aims to bring together a number of very significant works of the artist. During the entire month of January you can visit the exhibition in the ??Via Carlo Farini 2 (Milan) space . The opening hours of the Space is between 10 and 15 to 13hs 19hs, Monday to Saturday. Until January 28, 2012 (closed for Christmas Holidays until January 9).

For more information: http://sbamcomics.it/eventi/eventi-pazienza-un-corno-alla-ca-di-fra.

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So do not miss the chance to know this artist. We recommend you rent apartments in Milan and learn more about the art of comics, from the hand of one of its most renowned authors.

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Translated by: Marc
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The avant-garde movements are essential to step further into the realm of art. When we talk about art, we refer to a mood or conglomeration of individuals with a common perspective, sometimes coming together by coincidence or systematically organized to address a problem in art, while questioning, and going deeper in artistic representations. What is shown, however, is that the avant-garde does not have a specific location in time, nor fixed starting points. They always appear isolated cases of the same aesthetic in various parts of the world.

The problem of categories in contemporary art, sometimes tends to neglect important symbolic participants of a certain style or proposal. The work of curators, museums and galleries is, sometimes, re-write the history of these characters, who are not noticed very well or fail to have the same recognition as others.

Thus, the marginalization of the art is another condition that is exemplified by the avant garde. Being against the “status quo” of art is undoubtedly a serious risk that every artist must have in mind. Sometimes this slogan forget the vanguard. Today, being an avant-garde artist proved to be an extremely automatically and the wide spread of the conceptual arts at all levels of communication and political discussion, current contemporary art located in a state of despondency, not to use the word crisis that is so fashionable today. Hard to believe then that the vanguards are gone, that the problems of contemporary art comes as easily to academic spaces to meet in these not necessarily the best thing is being done in contemporary art.

Thus, the marginalization of the art is another condition that is exemplified by the avant-garde. Being against the “status quo” of art is undoubtedly a serious risk that every artist must have in mind. Sometimes this slogan forgets the vanguard. Today, being an avant-garde artist proved to be an extremely automatically and the wide spread of the conceptual arts at all levels of communication and political discussion, current contemporary art located in a state of despondency, not to use the word crisis that is so fashionable today. It is hard to believe then that the vanguards are gone, that the problems of contemporary art comes as easily to academic spaces to meet in these not necessarily the best being done in contemporary art.

The Italian trans vanguard was a movement of the mid 80′s and was a response to the rise of Arte Povera, also of Italian origin. Its proposal was completely anti-conceptual, rather entrenched in the management of color in the painting partly influenced by expressionism. Among its representatives are Nicola de Maria, Mimmo Paladino and Francesco Clemente just to name a few. The avant-garde was a return to subjectivity and sensuality in painting, from a classic mode of expression. So, they resort to visual storytelling of various ancient myths and subjects bordering on the heroic, in a unique way that puts their job in a state of suspension of time, without exactly setting the conceptual, the resources of various ages are used in shades of intense. To learn more about the work of these rebels, against the rebels known at that time, visit the Palazzo Reale in Milan and enjoy this fabulous show until March 2012. For more information, visit this website: http://www.mostratransavanguardia.it/

Alexa Ray

Get apartments in Milan and discover the best of the contemporary art today, was well as the one from last century. This city is waiting with its long tradition of galleries and museums.

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Translated by: Hans
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The Palazzo Reale in Milan held thousands of works of art in its interior as well as hundreds of cultural exhibition which came from all over the world. In the last months of 2011 it will host the exhibition titled ‘Artemisia Gentileschi, story of a passion’, that which such a title it promises to show much more than just paintings, because there we will find love among many other feelings.

Artemisia Gentileschi was a 17th century Italian artist. She was born in Rome in 1593 and she grew up watching her father work. Her father was Orazio Gentileschi, another great Tuscan painter who was responsible for the insertion of his daughter in the world of art, painting and drawing. The strong point of the works of the young artist were the great dramatic accentuation and the prolixity of the details in every drawing, a quality inherited from her father.

But women, at that time, had a hard time being successful in a social and culture sphere and, because of that,  the works of Artemisia Gentileschi took over three centuries in order to be recognized, first on a national level and then on an international one. Today, her paintings are famous and thousands of fine arts students  analyze every detail of her strokes.

In the 1990s, joint exhibition of the Gentileschis, father and daughter, were carried out in New York, Rome, St Louis and many other places. This was to spread the works of Artemisia, although she was always left in the background until the contemporary artists managed to discover that she had the same attributes as her father and that her style was brave, original and, above all, unique, on a personal level.

The subjects on the paintings of Artemisia are varied, from love to sex. They also accused her of being a feminist for a long time, of being an a dignified representative of her gender. But, according to investigators, she painted out of pleasure, looked for nothing in return and never imagined that her works would reach all the corners of the Earth.

The most interesting thing about this exhibition that will take place at the Palazzo Reale in Milan is that there will be 40 joint exhibited works and they’ll be divided in four phases which represent the chronology of the life of the artist:

1. The beginnings of her career in the Rome Opera, the influence of her father in the life of the artist.
2. Her years in Florence.
3. Twenty years in Rome, during which time the father was a fugitive and once again we can see the importance of this figure in her life
4. The nearly 25 years of activities in the region of Naples: public works and gradual recognition of her work.

The exhibition will be open to the public from September 2011 until the 29th of January 2012. The Palazzo Reale opening times (of this exhibition in particular) are Mondays from 2.30pm to 7.30pm, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 9.30am to 7.30pm and Thursdays and Saturdays from 9.30am to 10.30pm. Therefore, there are no excuses in order not to visit this museum which is a work of art in itself.

If you want more information visit the official website: http://www.mostrartemisia.it/

d.b

If you rent apartments in Milan you’ll be close to the best attractions in the city, and you’ll be able to see all the museums, restaurants and monuments that you want. Attending this exhibition is almost an obligation for the tourist who is stopping in this great Italian city.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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They called him  ”The Asian Banksy” due to the force of his messages and theformal quality of his works. He became known in the world of Street Art, the world which at first stood in firm opposition to exhibit at art galleries, proposing very precise ideas and standing in a  very rebel positions, creating “ephemeral” art  that could not be sold purchased or possessed as it belonged to the city, a display of gray walls that give it an artistic life of its own, and consequently message to society as a whole.

However, in recent decades (probably from the era of the great artist Basquiat and Banksy finally reaching today media phenomenon) the world of street art has increasingly moved to the conventional circuit of exhibitions and auctions, and the artists whose canvas was formerly on the metropolis, are now engaged to perform a somewhat different versions of their works,  for they can be transported, displayed and, finally, sold.

Can this be considered treason? Some say yes. Others, more cautiously, assert that the galleries provide a space for the socially engaged work of these artists to install their message and their challenge directly into the usual circuit of art sales. But there is no doubt: this same message, displayed on the walls of the exhibition loses all its force at these aseptic spaces.

For all these reasons, it’s worth visiting at least a show of this kind: to get an idea of ??what it means to move a message from acity  to cold art gallery, and to see how (sometimes radically) the artist changes his content .

Farhan Siki is a young artist from Indonesia who had never had a personal exhibition in Europe. His moment is now when the Primo Marella Gallery in Milan decided to give him this opportunity and lend him this space ending on  January 28, 2012. In the exhibition, which will open on the 14th of December at 19hs, will present 15 major works of Farhan, all unpublished.

Siki Farhan’s work presents its messages in a humorous and bold way butalso exploring in depth the textual element. In fact, he often uses logos, icons and symbols of local and global mass culture , to arrange them in his paintings (until recently on walls), loaded with  hyperbolic functions and parodies. It is a language in a way, how he approaches the world of advertising and communication, and through which the artist presents the ironic and bitter contradictions of contemporary life. Somewhat paradoxically, his polemical attacks are also directed to the art world, criticizing some artists in the ” art star system” (he is no doubt referring to the likes of Damien Hirst – whose  diamond skull sold for $ 74 million) .

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So if you are interested in reflecting on the meaning of advanced criticism by street art to date, we recommend you do not miss the opportunity to see this exhibit. You can rent apartments in Milan and spend a few days of art and culture, directly in the capital of “fashion” in Italy.

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Translated by: Marc
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