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The dragons, mythological creatures often represented with a strongly negative related
to the origins of evil almost infernal, or at least are so in the movies, and fairy tales,
but these amazing creatures really exist? Or are they still existed in the past?
We have no evidence of their past existence, but incredibly in Milan we have several witnesses
who would assume a real existence of dragons ..
We know from the chronicles of medieval Galvano Fiamma, religious historian in 1300, which
existed in the area east gate, Porta Venezia today a quarry, or cave, in which he was hiding
an evil dragon, with flatulence appestava the air and kill anyone was in those places.
The Galvano Fiamma (whose name seems to be directly based on a story of dragons) read
as follows:
(Already registered) "In these times shortly after the death of
Theodosius, & of our Holy Father Ambrose, in the City, where is the hora Church of St.
Denis, was born a pestilential disease, so he died there very centenaia of people, knowing
how I d ' waves had caused this accident, only in that part of the City, as in all the
other part very healthy, and it was discovered a large dragon, coming out of a certain ***
from the quarries, & with obnoxious, & his deadly breath tainted the air; alqual remedio
not being expeditious, as in this instant case was the need, Uberto one of 'the first
nobles of the City of house Angiera, allhora Lieutenant of the said Earl of Italy, moved
from its natural value, & the Mercy of his country, he exposed himself to the danger
of life to liberate the homeland. He went, therefore, the coragioso Uberto against the
deadly armed dragon not so much iron, how much fortitude, dexterity, & talented, et
al end happily killed, et freed his country with eternal glory of him. From this origin
Uberto havuto home Visconte "
This document fourteenth century, which tells how came the Visconti dynasty, could be lumped
together with another document more than 300 years old, by Charles Towers, which concerns
the construction of the Trivulzio mausoleum located in Corso di Porta Roman.
"I took a istoria manuscritta given to me by Cardinal Theodore Trivulzi Prencipe, adoprandomi
construere in the Arbore of his ancient family numbering more than eight hundred of birth,
as nell'iscavare the fundamentals of this Mausoleum, was found the carcass d ' horrible,
and monstrous Drago; what there rasembri out of credit, since this site dianzi to be ecclesiastical,
aitava to form that vast menagerie called Ergasto, where solevansi enclose ferocious
beasts, with which veggevansi every day accozzar daring people armigere ... "
In this document inherent in the Trivulzio Mausoleum designed by Bramantino, we talk
about a discovery, during construction of a carcass of a dragon. In fact, just below
the mausoleum were found numerous early Christian burials, and it is supposed there was even
a pre-Christian or pagan necropolis. These findings may have triggered the legend of
the discovery of the remains of the dragon, In fact, paganism was often associated with
the absolute evil, like the unclean beasts as they were precisely the dragons.
These two historical documents as in the past the belief that dragons really existed was
still very strong. From these writings we understand, among other
things, that the arms adopted by the Sforza family, commonly called the Alfa or in Milanese
dialect "el biscioon" is in effect a stylized dragon.
Another symbol of Milan, who recalls the figure of the dragon, is the flag of Milan, a red
cross on a white field, known as the Cross of St. George.
The story of St. George is known to be linked to that of a dragon, although curiously to
find an iconography of the saint tied to the legend of the dragon, we should not go in
the church of S. George the Martyr, but in the church of S. Eustorgius, near Porta Ticinese,
more precisely in the chapel Visconti, where we can observe an interesting fresco of St.
George that captures the dragon, by an unknown painter, at whose feet you notice the banner
of striving, perhaps uniting the two dragons, that of S. George and the defeated in 1300
by the founder of the Sforza dynasty.
The story goes that the saint through the street of Salem, in Libya, he met a princess
who was about to be devoured by a dragon, even if it in fact the daughter of the king,
had been drawn by lot as a sacrificial victim. The holy defeated the dragon, rescuing the
princess, and after conversion to Christianity by the city killed the beast, making then
drag outside the walls pulled by 4 pairs of oxen.
Less clear is the origin instead of another Dragon Milan, the famous Green Dragon, a typical
fountain in Milan, that instead of the normal tap water has a dragon's head from where the
water comes from both the mouth and through a hole in the head, for to drink, simply sealing
off the flow of water with the hand of his mouth.
It is interesting to note that while the green dragon in pizza della Scala is totally Bronze
others, scattered throughout the city are in a less noble material, that is made of
cast iron. Perhaps this particular fountain has its origins
from a fountain almost hidden in a vault of the Castello Sforzesco, which has as a decorative
element own a beautiful dragon, dragon at the foot of this we find the banner Sforza,
The history of this fountain, datta "fountain bagaj eat "is very interesting.
It is not old, it is in fact the late 1800's early 1900 and was produced by Luca Beltrami.
But this fountain has two copies of identical or nearly so, to a seregno, and one in Villa
Mirabello, in Milan. The original (but the sculpture of the snake added by Beltrami)
in Bellinzona, however, is in the church of Saints Peter and Stephen, is devoid of dragon
drawn by Beltrami and is currently used as a holy water font.
Another symbol accomunabile the dragon, the snake is located on a column inside the Cathedral
of St. Ambrose. In fact, if we look we can see that the head is very similar to that
of the dragon in the arms of the viscounts. This snake or dragon, according to legend,
would belong to Moses, and was donated in Milan in 1007 by Emperor Basil.
In this sculpture is attributed magical healing powers, and according to some beliefs, the
arrival of the end of the world will descend from the column.
Another dragon, or snake, is located in Merchants Square, in the House of Panigarola which is
currently the entrance of the exhibition area of the palace of the region.
this snake stones in a different color than the floor, he opens his mouth in front of
a door very impressive, at whose feet lies a hole covered by a grating. This snake or
dragon is a real mystery, the time when it should have been made is about 1400 although
it mentions an even earlier. The mouth that opens the front door might have some relation
to the plaque affixed to the wall, and warns about the risks resulting from resorting to
lawsuits, the palace of the region was in fact the seat of the court.
But what of all is the dragon to excellence is Tarantasio, the dragon that appestava the
Gerundo, the huge lake that lapped the boundaries of Milan. Tarantasio was defeated by S. Christopher.
This saint is often depicted with the head of a cynocephalus or dog, this peculiarity
makes you think that it is actually the result of the union of the myths Christians with
earlier pagan religions, in fact, the dog would be the Canis Majoris and the star Sirius,
often associated with the Celtic god Lugh. In the end we can not mention the Duomo of
Milan. Among the numerous sculptures of the façade in fact we can see an innumerable
amount of dragons and snakes, maybe one of these panels is just the dragon Tarantasio,
but it is high on the sides of the cathedral we can see that many gargoil, with some of
these forms of dragon these gargoil serirebebro to ward off the forces of evil ..
As we have seen Milan insolubly is linked to the myth of dragons, that if in Christianity
are considered unclean and evil beings, but for the city of Milan instead become a positive
symbol, linked to the origins and strength of the earth, as if to remind us of the roots
of this ancient city, when the gods were related to nature, and the snake later became dragon
in medieval iconography represented the four elements, water, fire, air and earth.
For this episode of Mysterious Milan is all to the next ..