Duomo Cathedral is Milan’s symbol par excellence. Visitors are ravished by its Gothic pinnacles and by the statues which populate its wide façade. In Piazza del Duomo - Milan’s most important square, a lion enriches the monument dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele II. Its magnificence embodies royal power, military victory, alertness, resistance and will. I deemed this spot the best perspective for my painting. 

What I used 

Cattail. In Baltic cultures, cattail is variously used in cooking, medicine and ornamental arts. Its fluff is used to stuff pillows, make fabric, art pottery, as a natural water filter or fuel. 
Vine leaf Vine is the Evangelical figure of Christ: “I am the vine; you are the branches”. While shoots represent the disciples, the vine and the grape bunches symbolise sacramental bread and wine - the body and blood of Christ. 
Vine emblematizes the Promised Land in the Old Testament; it is identified with paradise in the New Testament. As for ornaments, It has largely been used in consonance with the latter meaning. Still, you can easily spot a threat to paradise: the Japanese Beetle left its mark on these leaves. It is a bug belonging to the scarab beetle family which feeds on leaves, flowers and fruits of a wide range of plants and is active on warm, summer days. Summer 2022 was swarming with them. I kept these few leaves to remind us of the importance of taking care of the environment. Nature is our earthly paradise, after all.