There where the market used to be…now there is…a column! Unbelievable, but four centuries ago Largo Augusto was a truly infamous place: criminals of all sorts, harlots and even sorceresses seemed to have elected it the kingdom of sin. Only with the first light of day did it purge itself of such immorality, to make room for carts and barges full of goods for the fruit and vegetable market, the ancient Verziere that gives the column its name.
Precisely because of this being the living “stomach” of the city, the votive column that we still see today was erected there to ward off the plague: it was 1580. The construction of votive columns was widespread in Milan and there were dozens of them, although those that have come down to us intact are unfortunately very few. Generally on their top one recognizes the statue of a saint. The function is to make a vow, that is, a promise to God (“ex voto suscepto,” that is, by a vow made), on behalf of his intervention to protect the city. Our Verziere column was erected so that the plague epidemic would cease.
Over the centuries it was used as an altar for the celebration of masses that also benefited the sick who could thus attend religious services. The statue of Christ the Redeemer placed at the top appeared only in 1673. The work, made by Giuseppe and Gian Battista Vismara, was designed by Francesco Maria Richini!
The plague passes and so do the years, indeed the centuries: in 1860, at the dawn of the Kingdom of Italy, the column was entrusted with the task of commemorating the fallen soldiers of the 1848 Five Days of Milan, whose names are engraved on the sides of the plinth and still visible today, although, a few years later, in 1895, Giuseppe Grandi ‘s Five Days monument was unveiled in the center of the square of the same name!
Who knows if even this virus that so frightens us and has so far forced us to the shelter of our homes will encourage the creation of other modern generation “tributes,” perhaps bizarre installations, whether sacred or secular, to populate some corners or squares of our city?
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