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All Italy Milan Loggia dei Mercanti Whispering Gallery

Loggia dei Mercanti Whispering Gallery

The secret medieval communication system will whisk your words above the noise of the crowd.

Milan, Italy

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Piazza Mercanti Milano, with the loggia on the right.   Stefano Stabile/CC BY-SA 3.0
The arches of Loggia dei Mercanti.   Map Data © 2017 Google
  loremipsum / Atlas Obscura User
  loremipsum / Atlas Obscura User
The arches will carry your whispers.   Map Data © 2017 Google
The loggia doubles as a secret whisper gallery.   Map Data © 2017 Google
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Loggia degli Osii   Jaszmina Szendrey / Atlas Obscura User
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The Loggia dei Mercanti, the open-air space beneath Milan’s Palazzo della Ragione, hides a secret communication system. Speak softly to some of its columns, and its archways will whisk your whispers to a well-placed listener on the opposite side of the portico.

The loggia, which is part of a medieval merchant’s square, doubles as a whispering gallery. It’s an unusual acoustic phenomenon that occurs beneath perfectly domed buildings and archways around the world.

The rounded, circular architecture of a whispering gallery allows even the softest sounds to travel to awaiting ears. According to local legends, medieval and renaissance merchants and spies took advantage of the clandestine communication system within the loggia to trade secrets.

Other tales tell of shy lovers or those caught in forbidden romances using the colonnade to whisper sweet nothings to one another. A less exciting version speaks of merchants using the whispering gallery to talk about business above the noise of the busy markets.

Even now, in-the-know tourists can take advantage of the acoustic novelty. Whisper to the internal columns and let the architecture carry your words to someone standing beneath an opposite column. Or, linger along the colonnade and try to eavesdrop on unsuspecting pedestrians across the portico.

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Whispering Gallery Sounds Architecture Acoustics Medieval Secret

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This hidden gem is extremely close to the Duomo, just on the other side of the huge square.

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Added By

chersil

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LisaLii, Penelope Reichley, Jaszmina Szendrey, Kerry Wolfe...

  • LisaLii
  • Penelope Reichley
  • Jaszmina Szendrey
  • Kerry Wolfe
  • loremipsum

Published

January 2, 2018

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Sources
  • http://www.nextgenatpfinals.com/en/news-and-media/tennis/20-things-to-do-milan-2017
  • http://www.italyundiscovered.com/2017/02/09/things-to-see-in-milan/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whispering_gallery
  • http://www.milano24ore.net/cityinfo/cathedral/Piazza_Mercanti.php
  • https://www.airbnb.ca/things-to-do/places/483002?pdpReferrer=17&pdpContext%5BmtPdpReferrerType%5D=10
  • http://www.turismo.milano.it/wps/portal/tur/en/arteecultura/architetturaemonumenti/palazzivilleecastelli/Loggia_Mercanti
  • http://www.museidigenova.it/en/content/loggia-dei-mercanti
Loggia dei Mercanti Whispering Gallery
Piazza dei Mercanti
Milan
Italy
45.464578, 9.187726
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