The beautiful artwork in the archways of the interior of the Galleria Victoria Emanuel II in Milan, Italy. May 15, 2017

A close-up of Leonardo da Vinci a top a monument in his honor in Milan, Italy’s Piazza della Scala. May 15, 2017

A close-up of the monument in honor of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Italy’s Piazza della Scala. May 15, 2017

During my morning walking tour, our group came to this church, San Bernardino in Milan, Italy, and were told to keep our head down as we passed by the church into a small side chapel. May 16, 2017

The San Bernardino alle Ossa church in Milan, Italy, is best known for its ossuary, a small side chapel decorated with numerous human skulls and bones. The ossuary’s vault was frescoed in 1695 by Sebastiano Ricci with a Triumph of Souls and Flying Angels.

San Bernardino alle Ossa is a church in Milan, northern Italy, best known for its ossuary, a small side chapel decorated with numerous human skulls and bones. May 16, 2017

This turned out to be the small side chapel of San Bernardino, better known as an ossuary of numerous human skulls and bones. The church’s origins date to 1145, when a hospital and a cemetery were built in front of the next door basilica of Santo Stefano Maggiore. In 1738 King John V of Portugal was so struck from the chapel, that had a very similar one built at Évora, near Lisbon, which I saw when I was in Evora about three years ago. May 16, 2017

Another nice surprise during the walking tour was this historical building, the Loggia deli Ossi in Milan’s Piazza Mercanti, one of the oldest square of the city. So old it used to be Milan’s central square during the Middle Ages. May 16, 2017