Milan and Eros, the spicy soul of the city

Spicy secrets behind Milan’s chicest buildings

Our guided tour dedicated to the history oferos in the city of Milan begins among the elegant streets of the Brera district. Where today there are boutiques, ateliers and refined art galleries, the tales of our guides will get lost among old stories and spicy curiosities… In these places, in fact, brothels and popular stores were once hidden, very “peculiar” commercial activities!
Between Via San Carpoforo, Via Madonnina, Via Fiori Chiari and Via Fiori Scuri, many were the brothels and places of pleasure, designed for all budgets and flourishing until the Merlin Law, at the end of the 1950s, put an end to these controversial activities. The Castello Sforzesco is another unmissable stop on our guided tour, going back in time between the sacred and the profane: you may be surprised to learn that the statue of St. John of Nepomuk, now located in the fortress’s Piazza d’Armi, once stood in Via Sforza, on the Navigli, and was venerated by drunks who invoked the Bohemian saint’s protection so that they would not drown in the canals!

Milan, eros, and the fame of ancient neighborhoods

Inside the Castello Sforzesco, among the treasures of the halls of the Museum of Ancient Art, finally hides a stone bas-relief with irreverent iconography: a woman with open legs in the act of shaving herself with terrifying shears. Some jokingly call her “tosa scostumata,” because in Milanese “tosa” means girl. The relief, coming from Porta Tosa (the ancient Porta Vittoria), is said to recover a gesture of Celtic tradition to ward off the evil eye, or rather to represent Frederick Barbarossa’s wife as a sign of mockery for the great enemy of Milan and the other Lombard municipalities. It is not excluded that the subject of the relief was indeed a prostitute of the city… Then again, Brera, significantly known even in not so remote times as the Contrada di Tett, was not the only red-light district in Milan. From Verziere to Porta Ticinese, there were many equivocal places in the city: at theArena Civica, it was common for thieves and delinquents to dabble in dice and three-card games. Also not far from the Duomo stood an ancient neighborhood, a den of the underworld: the Bottonuto, demolished in the area where Piazza Diaz stands today. As proof of the ancient practice of prostitution, it should not be forgotten that even the first spire of the Duomo of Milan is linked to a person involved in the slave trade, which flourished in the 14th century… In short, many curiosities for a tour that starting from the heart of Brera much can tell us about the shadiest plots of the city of Milan: and for the most curious, not to be missed is the opportunity to meet maidens and characters of the old Milanese brothels in a special theatricalized tour.