The beautiful woman with the olive-colored bikini and long black hair kisses the man in her arms as passionately as if the next moment he was swimming through the cold English Channel. However, the water line at your feet is only the edge of the pool in Milan's “Bagni Misteriosi” (“Mysterious Baths”). With a short dive, the man finally slides into the water. He covers the first lane almost completely diving. Then it is petted, it looks elegant. Hardly a splash of water, it's really impressive, not even at the turn. The beautiful looks on, plays a little with her hair, then picks up a book and lies down in the sun. She stretches one leg over the edge of the pool into the cool water - and you really don't have to have a lot of imagination to guessWhat will happen next - in Italy, too, couple scenes of this kind follow a universal script: the man will dive to the leg, gently embrace it in a playful gesture, which in turn will take her as an opportunity to stand up in fright - possibly with a sharp point Scream. But the man is still swimming his laps. One measures 25 meters. To keep fit, he still has to go back and forth quite often.
Karen Kruger
Editor in the features section.
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This swimming pool in Via Carlo Botta is not big either. There is a pool for swimmers and a smaller one for children. Still, this bathing establishment is wonderful. Anyone who spends a day in the “Bagni Misteriosi” sees sophisticated exhibitionism; unintended elegance; temporary loneliness; well-groomed body; more skin than tattoos; more bikinis than swimsuits; great attention to detail and - as in all swimming pools in the world - the subtle tyranny of young children. You can also see things that might cause loud reactions elsewhere in Italy: Today about two men kissing and two short stature. The "Bagni Misteriosi" are often visited by people who are often not tolerated. Most of the guests, however, visit it for other reasons:In the other urban baths in Milan, the average age feels like 16 years. Even now, in these months of reopening, it is easy to find each other on the skin. You can't relax there. In the "Bagni Misteriosi", however, it is.
A godsend
Wedged between residential buildings, a disused factory chimney and the “Teatro Franco Parenti”, it looks like a bright blue water hole for exhausted and overheated city dwellers. The giraffe, which has been stretching its long neck from the roof of the theater building since the end of April, also fits in well. It is the work of the Florentine artist Sedicente Moradi and for the director of the house, Andrée Ruth Shammah, a symbol of looking together over uncertainties and fears into the future after the months of the pandemic. André Ruth Shammah founded the theater together with Franco Parenti in 1972, and has been its director since 1989. In addition, she is certainly the only woman in the world who runs a municipal swimming pool in addition to a theater. The combination may sound strange, but it's a godsend. Especially,as this made a very close interweaving of the two facilities possible: The theater is directly accessible from the bathing establishment. After a day full of sun and bathing pleasure, you just change your clothes and go to a theater performance - or after a performance outside to the pool and have a drink with friends. Entry is then free, but taking off your shoes is compulsory.