Milan, the city of the Duomo: the back story

About Milan, the city of the Duomo: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Milan Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Milan grew around the Piazza del Duomo. The cathedral, begun in the late 14th century, was finished only in the 19th; around it the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II leads to the Piazza della Scala and the opera house. West of the centre, the Castello Sforzesco recalls the Visconti and Sforza dukes, and in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Leonardo painted The Last Supper.

The Duomo

The Duomo di Milano is built of pink-veined white marble from Candoglia, with a forest of spires topped by the gilded Madonnina. Its terraces, reached by stairs or lift, let you walk among the pinnacles; tickets on the Veneranda Fabbrica’s official site.

The Galleria and La Scala

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the glass-roofed arcade of the 19th century, links the Piazza del Duomo with the Piazza della Scala, where Giuseppe Piermarini’s opera house faces the statue of Leonardo.

Book the Last Supper weeks ahead on the official site; nothing else in Milan sells out so fast.

The Castello and the Last Supper

The Castello Sforzesco holds the city’s museums, among them Michelangelo’s last work, the Rondanini Pietà. A short walk west, The Last Supper fills the end wall of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie: visits last fifteen minutes, in groups of up to forty, and must be booked on the official site.

Sant’Ambrogio

The basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, named after Milan’s patron saint, has a Romanesque atrium and one of the oldest churches in the city behind it.

Our advice: climb to the Duomo’s terraces late in the afternoon, then take an aperitivo in the Galleria.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Milan, the city of the Duomo: the back story before you go.