---
node: spot_milan_milan_cathedral
type: spot
slug: milan_cathedral
destination: dest_milan
title: "Milan Cathedral"
lead: "The Duomo took nearly six centuries to build, from 1386 to the last gate in 1965, and carries about 3,400 statues on the outside alone. Its roof terraces are open, and walking among the spires is the point of visiting."
published: 2026-08-12
updated: 2026-08-12
image_file: spot_milan_milan_cathedral.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duomo_di_Milano_2022-09-28_12.jpg"
image_author: "Leonhard Lenz"
image_license: "CC0"
---

## Overview

It is the largest church in Italy after St Peter's, built of Candoglia marble that the cathedral works still quarry under a concession granted in 1387. The style is Gothic that kept being resumed by later centuries with their own ideas, so the facade is a negotiation between the fourteenth and the nineteenth. Inside, a brass line set into the floor is a meridian of 1786, with a hole in the vault that puts a spot of sun on the correct date all year.

## Highlights

Take the stairs to the roof rather than the lift; it is 250 steps, cheaper, and you arrive among the flying buttresses rather than above them. The archaeological area under the nave holds the fourth-century baptistery where Ambrose baptised Augustine. Dress code is enforced at the door, and the security queue at the piazza is separate from the ticket queue.