In the most important town representing fashion, design and the former host of EXPO 2015, there are still surviving small corners that, like time portals, disclose passages to an ancient and forgotten Milano to the voyagers.

In a corner of Naviglio Grande, not far from a restaurant where my belly has been filled multiple times, the historical Vico houses present an almost unchanged original centrifuge about a century.

Among the dazed looks of visitors I remember that I was seated on the edge of an ancient washbasin, taking off my shoes and refreshing my feet in the water, imagining washermen reclined and committed to washing clothes in the river.

From this site you can only see a stone wall identifying the actual restaurant “El Brellin”, where inside you’ll find fascinating remnants of those times. Reading some articles I also learned that “Vico” is dedicated to washermen and not laundresses because it was men and not women who performed this job. They were so well organized and important that they had their own association.

Interesting notice.