Marchiondi institute

I’ve found this destination on the internet. An abandoned institute in Milan. On the map i found the street. It actually was part of the city. I reach the place by car, arriving from the highway, exit viale Certosa, i pass Piazzale Lotto, i go through viale delle Forza Armate. It should be at the end of this street. On the map it looks close, but at the end it’s a long way to go. We arrive at Baggio, the landscape starts to change, the houses are less and smaller, the street from large and imposing, becomes a intrigue of narrow streets with porfid as pavement. As the little old towns in the outskirts. If the map hadn’t shown clearly that we were still in the territory of Milan i would have done  u turn, convinced that i’ve gone over the border. I have my hole life to visit the rest of the world, for my final work i had to give myself a limit. It’s a pity, ‘cause right few days ago i found at the end of viale Fulvio Testi an abandoned house: very beautiful. Althought it’s so nice, nobody would want to live in a place like that: facing the worst street in Milan for traffic and pollution. It’s right after the border with Sesto, but i think that this time i can do an exception. If the border wasn’t signed on the map, i could never tell i left Milan. Baggio instead it seems as a town itself. When we arrive in via Noale, we can’t go wrong: the institute stands out big and abandoned with a background of fields and low houses. This time i know what is all about: it’s project of Viganò, an important architect of Milan. From the top of my ability in architectural criticism i let my first impressions free: horrible. Fortunately it’s abandoned, which gives to the place deeper aura, more than what it would have if it was still working. I don’t think the people living there appreciates this factor. They probably hated the place when it has been built, i imagine they hate even more now that there isn’t ny apparent reason for the building to stay there. At the main entrance there’s a plate, a way to justify the fact that it hasn’t been torn down yet. The city hall shouldn’t have let the building get in these conditions if they thought it was so important for the history of Milan... unless they are romantic and they love ruins. The side we run into at first, the one facing the park, has a high fence. With a little effort it shouldn’t be hard to enter from here, but it’s to easy to be caught and seen, so i wouldn’t  dare. We decide to go around the area, also because i’ve read that there’s an easy way to get inside. The main entrance is open, but not so clearly we realize that there’s a bar, a cafetteria in function. The faces we see through the windows are weird, it probably is a place for human derelictes: strangely enough they have their headquarters in an abandoned place, a way to isolate them even more from society. It’s not a welcoming place. We go to the side parallel to the one on the park. It’s along a field and a closed street. The armosphere is so calm i’m almost convinced i could go inside. What can there be in a place like this, so far from the center? I hear voices, i look around bewildered, hoping that they don’t come from where i fear. Pretending a not too believable indifference i observe what’s behind the fence. The images are confused,  the built let’s me foresee movements, but i can’t tell what kind. The voices get louder, but i can’t understand the language nor the subject. My hope is that they are a bunch of workers. More than hope i’d define it ingenuousness. Suddently two big guys pop out from a hole in the fence a bit ahead from us. They do look like workers, but i decide i want to find out a bit closer to civilization, so i turn around very slowly, and we start to walk back towards the end of the closed street. In the meantime i talk with alessandro, so pretending to look at him i catch glimpses of the position of the two suspicious guys. Alessandro doesn’t seemed worried, but he will be in the next thirty seconds for my stupid ingenuousness. Unexpectedly i turn around and decide i want to comunicate with the two guys. “excuse me, can you tell me what’s inside?”. Could i think of something worse to ask? The two just stare to each other, and mumble an answer “no... no...”. i thank them as if they gave me a very important news, for my life. To tell the truth they did. While i was asking and they were answering i stared at them, studied them and arrived at a conclusion: they where gipsies. As they got farther Alessandro looked at me as if i were crazy: “what the hell did you ask? Didn’t you understand they were gipsies?”. No, or to tell the truth i wanted to leave the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t expect them to invite me in for a coffee, but i wanted to test the grade of suspiciousness. I would say high. We decided that this is a place where they meet to exchange the stuff they’ve stolen. I have no intention to become part of the loot. (when i was a little girl my mother used to tell me tht if i weren’t good she would have sold me to the gipsies). A bit shocked we decide to try to go on the back from another side. Unfortunately there’s no way to get close to the lace from here: there’s a fenced field, and from far wawy i can see that the back of the institute has a high wall. I have no intention to go back to the gipsiy side, so this time too i won’t enter the place. We go close to the fence on the side facing the park, to catch some details: behind the broken windows i see confusion, it’s full of objects and stuff. Maybe if i come bck another time, in the afternoon, the gipsies won’t be there, they might be at “work”.