Inarea

St Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan is depicted with either a scourge or a honeycomb in his hand: impetus and ambrosian sweetness for a man – a layman, not even a baptised one – who was elected bishop by popular acclamation . Being bishop also meant being “mayor” because Ambrose ruled the city for the next 23 years. Come to think of it, scourges and bees are most apt symbols for representing the spirit of the Milanese: always at pains to achieve an ideal of perfection, and as proverbially busy as those noblest of insects… It’s no coincidence that of all Italian cities, Milan is the one that’s always the busiest redesigning itself over and over again – which may be why it’s celebrated all over the world as the capital of design. And that’s why our tribute to St Ambrose is the outline of Milan Cathedral – not drawn, but built with pencils! Name Day: St Ambrose

When talking about presents and reindeer, we should also remember Father Christmas’ medieval ancestor, St Nicholas, whose personal history seems quite distant from that of his jolly successor. Nicholas was born around 270 A.D. in what is present-day Turkey, was persecuted by the Emperor Diocletian and had his nose broken. Among his many, unconfirmed saintly deeds he is said to have rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by giving them each a dowry, and resurrected three children who had been cut up and placed in a pickling jar by a wicked butcher. The fame of his boldness precedes him: at the Council of Nicaea, he allegedly lost his temper with a theologian with whom he disagreed and spat in his face. These incidents turned Nicholas into the patron saint of children to whom he brings gifts during the night between yesterday and today… Considering that the average age children stop believing in Father Christmas is getting lower and lower, St Nicholas would seem to have all the right credentials to become a modern hero for those who are slightly older. As for us, whenever we hear the song “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” playing, let’s remember that the original Santa actually came last night and has very little in common with the old man in red who rides a sleigh and drinks Coca Cola – unless the name “Sankt Nikolaus” rings a (sleigh) bell…. Communications and language erase and redraw people and their stories. But we need to be careful: judging from his hagiography, our medieval hero could react in a somewhat hot-headed manner… Name Day: St Nicholas of Bari

We like to think that it’s no coincidence that Walt Disney was born twenty days before Santa Claus’s wondrous night; perhaps he was already preparing to share Santa’s chores (as well as the copyright of so many future gifts). But there’s also another side to this story because little Walt could only really be a child at Christmas: his father used to deliver the Kansas City newspapers door-to-door, forcing his children to the same. But, as we know, newspapers aren’t published on Christmas morning. We think of Walt Disney as a mix of genius, creativity, leadership, a multitasker and an organiser. When he was at the height of his popularity he often mused that he owed a lot to his approach and passions, but equally to that strict, early-morning discipline. We can just see little Walt out on his delivery run, pushing newspapers into letter boxes, but holding on to an imaginary towel. Growing up for him will mean never giving in, and never throwing in the towel either… nor the sponge! Name Day: St Sabbas

Apart from being the king of Milan, panettone  is one of those few Italian words that requires no translation. We know that in the 19th century, the traditional Italian Christmas cake took on shape that is so familiar to us today, so it’s in the 1800s that we’ll linger a little today. In a letter to their son, Teresa Borri, wife of Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni, wrote that her day had begun nicely, having slept and “panettoned” well (i.e. eaten lots of panettone). Words have their own onomatopoeia, and this verb makes us think of slinking around with Sunday-morning feline indolence, when we can put off dealing with all the things that need our attention… Mrs Manzoni may not have been the only one to use the aforesaid verb in those days, although it seems to have since become obsolete. However, we can still recover something of its fragrance: for example by gliding around languidly in spite of the Christmas shopping frenzy going on all around us… Name Day: St Barbara

If we were to choose an image to represent the lives of famous people and their children, it would be a comet whose tail – the child – eventually decides to detach itself from the parent star, leaving the latter to shine in all its brilliance. But the moment such children decide to go their own way, one can be sure that even the Milky Way will turn out to be a way that has been “paved” for them… That’s how it was for Anna Freud. The last of six children, when she was born her mother refused to nurse her while her father had already chosen a name for the new baby – had it been a boy. Nevertheless, Anna became his favourite child and, above all, the only one who continued in his footsteps, investigating something that Freud had, in a way, neglected: the Ego, squeezed as it was between the Id and the Superego. According to Anna, an investigation into the defence mechanisms of the Ego had to start with the observation of children’s behaviour; she devoted hours and hours to this in the nursery school which she founded in London in 1941 for children whose lives had been disrupted by the war bombings. Anna Freud’s ‘soft’ approach (which had also been inspired by the methods of Italian pedagogue Maria Montessori) often brought her into conflict with her colleague Melanie Klein and the latter’s belief that psychoanalysis was necessary also for three-year-olds. Anna disagreed strongly and felt that it was totally wrong to touch the little ones, even if only with ideas. Anna evidently believed it was important to fill even their first few months of life, in the cosiness of their playpens, with sweetness. Name Day: St Francis Xavier

One of the totally forbidden moves in Greco-Roman wrestling is the “neck hold”. And if our Greek prima donna could speak to us today, she might be able to recount several episodes when she either struck, or was herself struck, below the belt: her presumed collusion with German officers during the occupation of Greece, followed by those unhappy loves of hers, first with impresario Giovanni Battista Meneghini, then with Aristotle Onassis. And, last but not least, with film director Pier Paolo Pasolini who, unbeknownst to her, cut out her voice and had her dubbed in his film “Medea”  where she played the title role. At a certain point in her career also her vocal chords were cut short and never recovered. But what this “dramatic coloratura soprano” managed to accomplish during her heyday (from 1952 to 1957)  is unrivalled to this day. Callas had an incredibly wide-ranging, powerful and dark voice: they’re not our words, nor those of the critics, but of the public who to this day, and in all the languages under the sun, still leave comment on her videos on YouTube. Maria Callas died alone in Paris in 1977; her ashes were scattered in the Aegean Sea. This flower may not be the “sacred ancient plant” she sings about in “Norma” but, if unravelled and turned into a silk necktie, it’ll certainly be more comfortable that the infamous “neck hold”. Name Day: St Bibiana

Here’s a colourful lady who has been the prima donna of velvet-upholstered sitting rooms since 1885: the Tiffany lamp. She was invented by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), a painter, designer and decorator who was the son of Charles Tiffany: yup, none other than the founder of the famous jewellery shop where certain young ladies like to have breakfast. According to The New York Times, in 1913 Louis indulged his passion for ancient Egypt by hosting a costumed party at his Manhattan home: it came to be known as his “Egyptian Fête”. But although he produced lamps, he didn’t like being in the limelight himself; on the contrary, he preferred to remain unnoticed in the shadows, leaving his creations to get all the attention. Indeed, Louis was so shy that he asked his friend Gustav Mahler if he could to attend rehearsals of the New York Philharmonic in concealment so that he wouldn’t have to speak to anybody. Now let’s image him as a 17-year-old boy packed off to Europe to complete his training. In those days, Paris was the city of the Impressionist painters. But also in the French capital Louis liked to shy away from attention and began to think instead about the relationship between colourists and painters: “Colorists are men apart” he once wrote. “But always they are antagonized and decried by artists and critics who lack the gift and see nature in outline rather than in color.” So off Tiffany went to look for his colours in Africa and, later, even further afield from Europe. Thanks to his stained glass lamps, he entered in shining glory the world of Art Nouveau which, thanks to him, also spread to America. At that point Louis may have taken his leave of the Europeans saying something like: “Strangers have the best candy”. Name Day: St Eligius

There was no such thing as the Nobel Prize in 1753 and the Copley Medal was one of the most prestigious awards that a gentleman could aspire to. At the time, the British considered anyone born on the other side of the Atlantic not quite on a par with them; hence bestowing the Medal on an American citizen was quite a breakthrough. The “American” in question was none other than Benjamin Franklin, who may never have been president but is nevertheless the face on $100 notes. At 42 years of age, Franklin had become so wealthy that he could afford to engage solely in what he termed “Philosophical Studies and Amusements”: the pastimes of a gentleman. And so, partly as study and partly as amusement, he flew a silk kite attached to a metal key during a storm. Having ascertained that the flashes of lightning were not being hurled down by the fury of Zeus, he began to think about how to ‘channel’ such energy: this led to the invention of the lightning rod. There isn’t unanimous consensus that Franklin actually carried out this experiment: but we don’t want to burst his bubble. After all, it’s notorious that Benjamin was an inveterate womaniser and so, to stay in the realms of mythology, let’s imagine that he had been struck by Cupid’s arrow – or, as the French say, a “coup de foudre” (literally, “thunderbolt”) – and that he was multitasking at the time, combining… studies and amusements! Name Day: St Andrew the Apostle

Who knows why nostalgia always puts in an appearance, blushing shyly, when strawberries are mentioned: from Bergman to The Beatles, this fruit is something of a gateway to long-lost childhood. For song-writing John Lennon in particular, “Strawberry Fields” was the garden of an orphanage in Liverpool where he used to go and play: a place where “nothing is real” and “living is easy with eyes closed / misunderstanding all you see”. This song came at a delicate moment for The Beatles: personality conflicts were emerging, together with long periods (sometimes weeks and weeks) of creative lethargy from which, instead, no music was emerging. Although Lennon-McCartney never actually intended the song in question to be performed live, in November 1966 the band started recording several different versions of “Strawberry Fields Forever”. They seemed undecided vis-à-vis the number of beats and the key, with the song fluctuating between pop, psychedelic and orchestral versions. Much splicing took place (the digital era was still a long way off!) and in the end Lennon finally found the path that would take him down to Strawberry Fields. In today’s world any link (physical or digital) is like a zip that opens onto infinite possibilities, so it’s comforting to think that someone has chosen just the right note to take us back to memories of the past, leaving out all the fuzzy noise of the present. Name Day: St Saturnin

Oggi parliamo della compagnia aerea con il simbolo dell’arpa che, dal 1922, è anche quello dell’Irlanda. Il motivo per cui questo strumento è così legato all’identità di questa nazione, è da cercare nel fatto che era suonato dal mitico re Brian Boru, vissuto attorno all’Anno Mille. La sua arpa, oggi, si trova al Trinity College (anche se non manca qualche disputa sulla sua autenticità). Querelle conservative a parte, quello che più ci interessa è l’evoluzione del significato di questo strumento. Nel XVII secolo, dire “Tuning the harp / Accordare l’arpa” alludeva al controllo dell’Inghilterra sulla terra verde. Dall’epoca di Enrico VIII, infatti, le arpe sulle monete irlandesi erano sormontate dalla corona di sua maestà: un sottotesto politico che lasciava poco spazio all’immaginazione. Nessuno aveva detto a questi inglesi che, secoli dopo, sarebbe nata la Ryanair, con la sua arpa che suona ad alta quota e a basso costo, offrendo a noi passeggeri una certezza: viaggiamo stipati come in un pacco di pasta e, quando arriviamo, anche se siamo un po’ cotti, grazie al risparmio, ci sentiamo comunque al dente! Onomastico: San Saturnino