Stazione Centrale – Central Station Milan

central station milanliberty train station milanMilan’s Central Station is an impressive building in size and style and worth a visit even if you do not intend to travel by train. Although the construction of the railway station already begun in 1906, it was under the fascist reign of Mussolini that it got its definitive form and was finally completed. Some of it’s original style remained however, such as the Liberty and Art Deco elements. T

he text above the main entrance has been “christened” after WWII, but you can still recognize part of the word FASCismo beneath it. Indicative of the state of affairs in Italy, where fascist organisations still exist?

Platform 21 and the Shoah

liberty architecture station milanSeen from afar it does bear some resemblance to Australia’s Ayers Rock in its massiveness . The impression of the building is as immense as are its dimensions : its facade is 200 meters wide and its vault 72 meters high, the steel canopies are 341 meters long and cover an area of 66,500 square meters. Visitors can see the Savoia family waiting room, Sala Reale, at platform 21. This, unfortunately, is also the platform from which during the final years of WWII hundreds of Jews were transport to the concentration camps of the Nazi’s, by order of the Repubblica Socialista Italiana of Mussolini. There is now a large inscription with the word Indifferenza, indifference as a reminder of the dark past.

shoah jews milan station

Living in Italy: the Real Deal - Expat Stories

Would you like to know how we found our house and moved to Italy? Then read our book!