Duomo di Milano - 579 Years in the Making

March 3-4, 2026

“And they have gelato…”

- Colleen Dobbs,  reading to me on the train from a guidebook

This fabulous gothic masterpiece is the Duomo di Milano, or simply the Duomo.  It is the centerpiece of Milan and its most recognizable landmark, particularly after the recent Winter Olympics.  Admittedly this post is a bit of a photo dump. There was a lot to see.

The central train station in Milan built by Mussolini

The central train station in Milan built by Mussolini

The central train station in Milan built by Mussolini

Archeologists digging at this spot have found an ancient Roman temple to Minerva (The Roman equivalent to Athena) beneath the Duomo.  .  So worship has taken place here for millennia.  Local rulers wanted to build a church here that would rival other great cities.  In 1386 construction began and would continue until 1810.  This amazing sculpted bronze door was added as a finishing touch in 1965 - 579 years after the ground was first broken.

The great bronze door

The Olympic television studio sets to cover the games , using the Duomo as a backdrop

The Duomo is the largest church in Italy and one of the largest gothic style cathedrals in the world. It is surpassed only by the Seville Cathedral in Spain - See our visit by clicking here.  St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican (A country of its own) is the largest church building in the world.  A look back at our visit can be found here & here.

We have Napoleon Bonaparte to thank for the fantastical front facade.  After he had invaded and defeated Italy in the 17th century he wished the great church to be the site of his coronation as King of Italy.  So he funded and hurried the stalled construction of the great edifice for his ceremony.

The details of the 3,400 individual statues that adorn the building are astounding.  They are posed in a realistic fashion denoting action and emotion.  There are 135 spires that adorn the building many with statues perched precariously on the pinnacles.  The exterior walls are festooned with gargoyles and great flying buttresses that are a classic feature of the gothic style.

The symbol of the Olympics

The whole structure covers a city clock and in its interior it can hold 40,000 people (Which was the population of Milan when the project started in the 14th Century.  As perspective - Gainbridge Field House, the home of the Pacers and the Fever, at best can only hold approximately 17,274 to 18,165 people.

The cathedral is made from unique Candoglia marble, giving it a pink-white hue, sourced specifically from Lake Maggiore.  You can see it best at the golden hour near sunset as it shines of the facade.

At sunset

Walking in the interior of the nave you appreciate the enormous size of the church.  The style is classic gothic with the supporting pillars reaching 100 feet tall.  It is a gigantic space.  The classic stain glass windows adorn the area near the altar and tell bible stories for a population in that time that was largely illiterate.

The altar itself was done by a different designer who moved away form the simplistic gothic look to the far more flamboyant Baroque style.  Baroque was more common in the 17th century and featured emotion and movement.  Figures shown are dynamic, dramatic, and full of motion (unlike the calm balance of the Renaissance).  Light and shadow are used to heighten drama and effective in the themes of religious fervor, mythological grandeur, and theatrical storytelling.

St Bartolomeo - martyred by being skinned alive. The drapes are his skin. Statue sculpted by a student of Leonardo DaVinci

The beautiful canopy at the center of the altar houses the holy communion.  Here on the altar as well is a religious relic - a nail from the cruxifixction of Christ reportedly gifted to the church by the wife of the Emperor Constantine when she visited Milan.  Milan was then the most important city in the western part of the Byzantine Empire, ruled initially by Constantine from Constantinople - present day Istanbul.

You can visit the roof of this great cathedral.  Here you find a forest of pinnacles, balconies, and flying buttresses that are straight out of a scene from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

As you descend to the square you will find Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.  This is a glass domed shopping arcade that is reportedly the world’s oldest.  It is filled with very high end stores that are so expensive you can only look in the windows.

For David and Sara - A taste of home

A display of chocolate

The opening to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II mall

Milan is a place that can attack your self esteem quickly.  It is the home of high fashion and beautiful people breathing rarefied air.  It is easy to feel rather troll like as you shuffle along in your t shirt and very comfortable orthopedic shoes.

A super model posing in front of the Duomo

Here is a statue to Leonardo DaVinci.  Leonardo had some of his most productive years here working as a resident artist for the Sforza Family.  The Sforza’s were the power and defunct rulers here when Milan was a city state amongst many city states here in Italy.

One more thing —

I have long been a fan of electric cars.  BYD is a Chinese company banned in the US that sells some of the most sophisticated alternate energy cars in the world.  They are beautiful, affordable, and very advanced. They are banned in the US mainly to protect the US car companies from such a potent competitor.  Anyway, I was surprised to find a dealership just behind the Duomo.

I had a pleasant chat with the sales lady who was sympathetic to my lament that Americans cannot obtain these wonderful cars.

She offered me some candy that had the BYD logo on it .

People ask, do you ever bring home souvenirs? "Yes". I wanted this chair very much. I thought I could check it on the plane. I asked Colleen. She said, "No". So, did I get it? also, "No"