Milan’s must-see architectural masterpiece: Duomo di Milano

As part of our epic journey from Baltimore to the Maldives, and after our mind-blowing First Class flight on Emirates Airbus A380, we landed in Milan, Italy. We rented a car at the airport and drove into town to check out some of the must-see tourist attractions in Milan during our 9-hour layover. Driving in Italy is easy and we were able to see everything we wanted in a day. At the top of our list was Duomo di Milano, one of the best things to see in Milan. We have loads of information and photos of the Duomo di Milano to help you plan your visit to Milan. To save time and get inside secrets, you can buy skip the line small group tour tickets here.

This architectural masterpiece is a must-see in Milan. In fact, 75% of foreign visitors to Milan come to see the Duomo. It sees 6 million visitors every year. We hope you make it there to experience it for yourself, because it is awe-inspiring. The cathedral is the best known symbol of Milan and is one of the biggest Gothic cathedrals in Europe. It is Italy’s largest church and the 5th largest in the world. Its construction began in 1387 over the Santa Maria Maggiore, the old cathedral at that site, and continued until the 19th century with the completion of its facade. In 1805 Napoleon Bonaparte, about to be crowned King of Italy, ordered the facade to be finished and as a thanksgiving, a statue of him was placed on top of one of the spires. Napoleon was crowned King of Italy at the Duomo.

Today restoration work is being done to preserve this invaluable historical gem made from Candoglia marble. It was described as a “crossroads of people and cultures, a lively place for exchange of the most widely differing ideas, experiences, and manual skills by workers” from around the world who contributed to its construction. There has been an ongoing production of sculptures for 6 centuries consistent with the cultural climate of each individual historical moment. In fact, it’s the only collection of sculptures of its kind in the world. The sculptures were designed to convey a message of Christian salvation and were a means of educating people about Christianity. Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano is the historic organization that has been taking care of all the operational aspects of the cathedral since 1387, so they are responsible for its preservation and restoration, which is an extremely important job so this treasure remains for generations to come.

Let me tell you about our wonderful visit to the Duomo. We somehow managed to find a parking spot right in the Piazza del Duomo, or “Cathedral Square”, which is the main city square of Milan and the top tourist attraction of the city. The piazza is the center of the city, both geographically and from an artistic, cultural and social perspective. It includes some of the most important buildings in Milan and Italy. Here you will find the Royal Palace, which now is a museum, the Duomo, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which is one of the world’s oldest shopping malls and named after the first king of the Kingdom of Italy. The piazza also has a monument to King Vittorio Emanuele II, who was given the epithet Father of the Fatherland.

The piazza is an experience in itself with hundreds of pigeons vying for bird seed that some unfortunate tourist will have poured in her hand by a local hoping for a few dollars. That poor tourist was me, and the pigeons pecked at my hand which freaked me out a little bit. I shutter to think of the germs they must have transmitted to my hand, but thank goodness for hand sanitizer.

The piazza was filled with thousands of people, hundreds of whom were children dressed in princess costumes who were throwing confetti into the air. I never found out what that was all about- if it was a special day or if that’s just something kids do when they visit the Duomo. It was really cute and made me wish for a moment that we had our children with us to experience the fun. We also saw a couple that had just gotten married and they must have had some incredible wedding photos with that backdrop.

We took a few moments in the piazza to watch was a street performer dressed like a genie in a bottle. I love that about Europe- street artists.

There are shops and cafes lining the piazza and it’s a lovely spot to have some gelato (like we did) and enjoy people-watching. If shopping is your thing, remember Milan is one of the fashion capitals of the world, and offers some incredible stores like Dolce & Gabbana. If architecture is your passion, then you will have a heyday with the gorgeous buildings of neo-classical design. If photography is your thing, you will be drooling over the amazing shots you will be capturing everywhere you look. I had to seriously limit the number of photos I included in this article since I had hundreds of photos just of the Duomo and Piazza del Duomo.

We came prepared with several different lenses for our camera to capture its magnificent beauty and to be able to zoom in on some of the 3400 statues, each of which is unique. It’s a shame we didn’t have time for a guided tour since we barely knew anything about it in advance, but learned so much about it afterwards online. We actually bought tickets that included the museum but after visiting the terrace and inside the cathedral, we had to leave to catch our flight. So plan to spend most, if not all of your day, at the Piazza and Duomo. 

The doors were massive and intricately carved with depictions from the Bible.

Next we took the elevator up to the terrace of the Duomo and then walked along the top of the cathedral, taking in breathtaking views of Milan at sunset. The duomo has 135 spires and pinnacles, which are a typical element of Gothic architecture and cathedral architecture. They convey the idea of spirituality by appearing to reach toward Heaven, but also had structural purpose as well.

There were what seemed like a million stairs and I was kicking myself for wearing high heeled boots all day, but somehow managed to make it up to the top without falling down.

On the terrace we had some close up views of the gargoyles and statues of the Duomo.

On the highest point of the Cathedral, we had a closer view of the Madonnina, or Virgin Mary, a symbol of Milan and patroness of Milanese people. The statue was added to the main spire in 1774 and is composed of embossed and gilded copper plates.

We found the best spot in Milan to watch the sun set over the city.

After feeling like Quasimoto on top of Notre Dame, we made our way back down to explore the inside of the cathedral. We had a different perspective of the Duomo at night with the night sky behind it.

We barely made it inside in time before closing, and had to rush through in order to make it back to the airport in time for our flight to Dubai. Luckily the guards let us past the barrier just a few minutes after they closed it off, and we were very grateful for their kindness. They look intimidating with their military uniforms and giant guns, but they were very nice.

Thank goodness we made it inside in the knick of time, because the interior was quite a sight to see. The Cathedral was designed to express man’s devotion to God, and we definitely felt closer to God inside the beautiful house of worship.

We hope you are inspired to visit Milan and see the Duomo di Milano, one of the most beautiful cathedrals we’ve ever visited. Like I mentioned before, plan to spend all day there soaking in the sights of the Piazza del Duomo, visiting the Cathedral’s terraces and inside, the museum, archeological area, and Santa Maria Annunciata in Camposanto (graveyard). There are many guided tour options available for purchase, which we normally do, but regrettably didn’t have enough time for this visit. While there, make sure to check out some of the shops and cafes lining the Piazza, and then head through the Galleria to see the famous Teatro alla Scala, Milan’s opera house. Check out our post about how we spent the rest of our day in Milan. If you’ve visited Milan, what was your favorite thing to do or see there? If you liked this post and want to get our tips to travel like a millionaire, please sign up for our email newsletter and RSS feed.

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