LIFE IN MILAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 187, 9 August 1932, Page 11

LIFE IN MILAN.

At the monthly At Home of the Overseas League on Friday afternoon, Madame Ailcen Johns gave an account of life in Milan, where she had lived for a year while studying singing. No greater contrast could be found, said Madame Johns, than that of the unrestricted life of women in such places as New Zealand, and the cramped routine which custom imposes on them in Italy. The Italian word for a woman occupied in domestic duties was the equivalent of the English "incarcerated." She was not expected to have any outside interests, but to devote her whole time to her house and children, and for a woman of good standing to appear in public alonn, or ev.en to patronise a restaurant or cafe with another woman, was quite outside the conventions. Some of the humours of housekeeping in a flat for those with an imperfect knowledge of the language were detailed by Madame Johns, an appreciated incident being the adoption of fruit salts ai? a rising agent for sconcs, owing to the difficulty of obtaining baking powder. Baking as we know it is rarely undertaken in an Italian home, where three gas l'ingis is considered an adequate cooking plant. Spaghetti is the staple diet, and a taste for this, with its accompanying flavours of tomatoes and oil, is soon acquired by visitors. Some beautiful views of the chief scenic features of Milan weic shown by Madame Johns, particulai interest centring in the elaborate Gothic cathedral! with its 2000 statues and many spires. Other outstanding possessions of the city are Leonardo da Vinci's great picture of "The Last Supper, painted on the walls of an old monastery, and La Scala Opera House, where all the most famous sinjrers of the world have appeared. Madame Johns was presented with a bouquet by Miss N. Montgomery, secretary of the league, who presided. During the afternoon Miss Thco Halpin contributed two pianoforte solos.