Ssshh… Be careful… the walls might be listening!
Do you know where the “Ca de l’oreggia” – the “House of the Ear”?
A funny name that has renamed one of the then not so sparse historic buildings located in the city center, near Porta Venezia, capable of leaving us speechless, to say the least!
To what do we owe this bizarre nickname? But, of course, to the shape of the huge bronze ear in the facade, which hides precisely an intercom!
Strolling through the quiet streets of the so-called Quadrilatero del Silenzio (Silent Quadrilateral), one finds it embedded on one of the old walls of an Art Nouveau building, Casa Sola-Busca: the funny ear, which stands on the right side of the entrance at number 10, between Via Serbelloni and Via Maffei, equipped with an ear pinna and external ear canal, complete with curly locks of hair, is the work of sculptor Adolf Wildt.
The Swiss-born Milanese artist was specialized precisely in ear work and was called upon, precisely, to create this masterpiece of imagination and virtuosity. A beautiful work of art, but not only that, it was in fact also one of the first intercoms in Milan and in history!
Devoid of a push-button panel and names, the question arises: how did it work?
Thought of as a kind of ante-litteram wireless system, back in the day the ear was used to communicate from the outside with the janitor, who then contacted the families residing inside the building. Amazing, isn’t it?
But this is just one of the many oddities that make the Liberty district of Porta Venezia, at least for us, an incredibly fairy-tale corner of Milan!
And at this time more than ever, let’s believe in fairy tales, let’s unleash our imagination, and let’s keep chasing all our dreams!
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