Milan Cathedral, known locally as the Duomo di Milano, is one of the most ambitious Gothic buildings ever conceived — and one of the few that actually got finished. Construction began in 1386 under Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti and sprawled across nearly five centuries, leaving fingerprints from dozens of architects, sculptors, and political regimes on its white Candoglia marble facade. The result is something that defies tidy categorisation: a building that is simultaneously medieval and Baroque, Italian and Northern European, deeply religious and unapologetically theatrical. Standing in the Piazza del Duomo and looking up at its 135 marble spires and 3,400 statues is one of those rare moments in European travel that actually lives up to the hype.
Religious Place