The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Lights, ads, and skyscrapers in 2015 Milan

From the 20s …’till the ’90s Milan used to have a Brodway-style wall for advertising.

It was of course Palazzo Carminati, where some international, and many Italian brands used to shine — right in front of that big church called “Duomo”. At some point there was also one of the first computer-controlled board, with b/w interactive short films (it replaced the big CYNAR ad, but I’ve found no pictures of it).

Anyway, all this ended in 1999, after mayor Albertini executed a decision taken by the previous “giunta” (headed nothing less then by a “leghista”, some mr. Formentini). Such ads in front of a church were an offence, we needed to restore “il decoro urbano” (or similar blabla) lead to the end of that era. There is no need to remember that after that decision we experienced the worst moments for italian economy. Many of those brands were taken over or closed. And nobody looked at those buildings anyway. I’ve commented this second picture many times, whenever if surfaced on social media (more or less twice/year), by stating that taking those light away was the real reason behind the italian economic troubles.

Come 2015…we can see the “light at the end of the Tunnel”, “la luce alla fine del Tunnel” (to use the words made famous by the man who pretended to “salvare l’italia” by taxing yachts and adding some more taxi licenses). In fact, while on a short trip to Milan, yesterday, I’ve discovered big, bright, colorful, interactive electronic billboards not on palazzo Carminati, but on the church itself!

(more billboards — static ones — on the other side).

And then we shall mention that finally there are some new skyscrapers, after a pause in new constructions that lasted 40 years.

So, yes, the stupid pseudo-moralistic issues of the 90’s are (at least for now) over, and we can now hope Italy can finally “ripartire” (as mr. Renzi, much criticized for being optimistic, seems to say twice/week).