Duomo, Milan

Construction of the Duomo di Milano began in 1386. Napoleon Bonaparte finalised it in 1805, 419 years later, partly because he wanted a completed cathedral as the setting for his coronation as King of Italy. The result is the third-largest cathedral in the world, with 135 spires, around 3,400 statues, and the Madonnina gold-plated statue at 108 metres that serves as Milan’s weather vane: when the Alps are clear, Milanese say they can see la Madonnina from the mountains.

What to See

The rooftop is the main event. Take the elevator (EUR 15 with the combination ticket). You emerge at eye level with the forest of spires and can examine stone carvings that no one was ever meant to see up close: grotesques, saints, biblical scenes cut into every surface. The view across Milan on a clear morning reaches the Alps. Go before 10am.

The nave is free to enter, though the queue at the main door stretches to 40 minutes in summer. Use the side entrance on Via dell’Arcivescovado. The 55 stained glass windows covering 1,900 square metres, the oldest from the 15th century, justify a few minutes of standing still in the middle of the nave.

The Battistero Paleocristiano, accessible below the cathedral floor via the combination ticket, is genuinely overlooked: 4th-century ruins of the baptistery where Saint Ambrose baptised Saint Augustine in 387 CE. It is one of the oldest Christian structures in northern Italy and almost no visitor bothers with it.

The combination ticket (rooftop, museum, baptistery, crypt) costs EUR 20. Buy at duomomilano.it to avoid the piazza queue.

The Square

Piazza del Duomo at 7am before the pigeons are being fed is a different place from Piazza del Duomo at noon in July. The equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II is fine; the cathedral facade behind it is the photograph. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, connecting the Duomo square north to Piazza della Scala, opened in 1877 and is one of the finest glass-and-iron arcades in Europe. The mosaic bull in the central octagon: standing on it and spinning your heel supposedly brings luck; the marble there is polished to a visible hollow.

Teatro alla Scala, via the Galleria, is one of the world’s most prestigious opera houses. Tickets for major productions sell out months ahead. The museum (EUR 9) gives access to the working stage from the boxes and is worth an hour.

Where to Eat

Luini on Via Santa Radegonda sells panzerotti (fried dough pockets with tomato and mozzarella) for EUR 2 to 3 each. It has been there since 1949. The queue is short. This is the best EUR 2.50 you will spend in Milan.

For aperitivo, Bar Basso in Porta Venezia invented the Negroni Sbagliato (prosecco instead of gin) and still serves it correctly, from 5:30pm with complimentary food.

Sforza Castle, free to enter the courtyard, holds the Museo della Pieta Rondanini with Michelangelo’s last sculpture, unfinished at his death. Do not skip it.