The vast majority of tradition and superstition holds that the black cat will bring you certain bad luck, so much so that you are discouraged from crossing one on the street to the point of screeching to a halt with the risk of being rear-ended. On a busy and frenetic road in Milan, two steps from the Prefect and the Provincial offices, there is a special one that doesn’t slow anybody down but rather brings out a smile.
It’s on corso Monforte number 43, waiting for you every day at any hour next to the front entrance of a beautiful, liberty style building. It looks you straight in the eyes, immobile with a curious and penetrating gaze which shines from its black outline, obviously complete with long and curled tail.
You can’t miss it because it is a sheet metal cat which adorns a wolf ‘s mouth positioned to the right of the entrance of the house. They say that on the opposite and furthest corner of the building there was a mouse, of which unfortunately only the frame remains. The decoration is the work of the iron master Ugo Ojetti and dates back to the beginning of the 1900s.
We don’t know whether it brings luck or not, but it certainly makes you smile!