The Synagogue of Milan and the Guastalla Gardens

The Guastalla Gardens, the oldest gardens in Milan

This guided tour, amidst the scent of the verdant Guastalla Gardens and the luminous beauty of Milan’s Central Synagogue, decorated with marvelous gold and blue mosaics and multicolored stained glass windows, offers a truly unmissable itinerary to discover Milan. Thanks to the many curious tales shared by our guides, we rediscover the history of a corner of the city immersed in silent stillness and perhaps unknown to most. Before visiting the

Synagogue, the Central Jewish Temple in Milan, we walk through the Guastalla Gardens, the oldest in the city: a true green heart in the center of Milan where the play of colors that animates the facade of the Synagogue seems to be reflected in the water of the Baroque fishpond, to then get lost among the small temple of Luigi Cagnola and the many trees in the park: the maples, the horse chestnuts, the exotic cigar tree… Established as the Italianate garden of the monastery founded by the Countess Paola Ludovica Torelli of Guastalla in order to educate noble and fallen maidens who, without dowries or other means, would otherwise have ended up on a bad path, today the Guastalla Gardens represent one of Milan’s most well-maintained and sophisticated parks, a little gem that has been open to citizens since 1939.

The Synagogue: the precious masterpiece of Luca Beltrami

But here we are in a few steps in front of the Synagogue, a destination of absolute interest in the cultural and architectural panorama of our city: the center and symbol of Milanese Judaism, its building strikes our gaze for the decorative richness of the gold and cobalt blue mosaics that adorn its high façade, a splendid example of the late 19th-century eclecticism that characterized the entire original project, now unfortunately partially lost. Severely damaged by bombing in 1943, the construction of the Synagogue had in fact been designed by none other than Luca Beltrami, the most famous and esteemed architect of the time, the proponent of the grandiose restoration of the Castello Sforzesco. During the nineteenth century, in the face of the rapid demographic increase of the Jewish community in Milan, the need had arisen to erect in the heart of the city a synagogue of monumental proportions, a place of worship with a basilica plan that would accommodate the Israelite rituals; the solemn inauguration took place on September 28, 1892, in the presence of the principal municipal authorities.

Discovering Judaism in Milan

A guided tour of the Synagogue today constitutes a very special experience, a privileged key to discovering Jewish culture and appreciating, along with its history, its artistic and iconographic peculiarities. Amidst sumptuous vestments, candelabras with seven or nine lights and elegant chandeliers, you will find yourself immersed in the world of Jewish symbols: the Star of David, the shofar, the menorah, the lulav, the cryptic letters of the Hebrew alphabet… These are the compositional elements of the imaginative collage created by New York artist Roger Selden for the multicolored stained glass windows of the twenty-three interior windows, the result of the architectural restoration implemented in 1997: a luminous interplay of ancestral forms that tells us of traditions and customs thousands of years old, revealing all the richness of Judaism and its cultural roots.