Frommer's Review
When Milanese think something is taking too long, they refer to it as la fabricca del duomo -- the making of the Duomo, a reference to the 5 centuries it took to complete the magnificent Gothic cathedral that rises from the center of the city. The last of Italy's great Gothic structures -- begun by the ruling Visconti family in 1386 -- is the fourth-largest church in the world (after St. Peter's in Rome, Seville's cathedral, and a new one on the Ivory Coast), with 135 marble spires, a stunning triangular facade, and 3,400-some statues flanking the massive but airy, almost fanciful exterior. (A long restoration project has kept the facade under scaffolding, a project that has dragged on well past its projected finish. Tourism officials now say it should be done by the beginning of 2006. Let's hope so.)
The cavernous interior, lit by brilliant stained-glass windows, seats 40,000 but is unusually spartan and serene, divided into five aisles by a sea of 52 columns. The poet Shelley used to sit and read Dante here amid monuments that include a gruesomely graphic statue of St. Bartholomew Flayed and the tombs of Giacomo de Medici, two Visconti, and many cardinals and archbishops. Another British visitor, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, rhapsodized about the view of the Alps from the roof (elevators on the church's exterior northeast corner; stairs on the exterior north side), where you get to wander amidst the Gothic pinnacles, saintly statues, and flying buttresses. You are joined high above Milan by the spire-top gold statue of Madonnina (the little Madonna), the city's beloved protectress.
Back on terra firma, the crypt contains the remains of San Carlo Borromeo, one of the early cardinals of Milan. A far more interesting descent is the one down the staircase to the right of the main entrance to the Battistero Paleocristiano, the ruins of a 4th-century baptistery believed to be where Saint Ambrose baptized Saint Augustine.
You can rent an audio guide wand that covers the interior and the crypt for 2.60€ ($3.25), or 2.05€ ($2.55) per person for two or more people.
The Duomo houses many of its treasures across the piazza from the right transept in the Museo del Duomo section of Milan's Palazzo Reale. Among the legions of statuary saints there is a gem of a painting by Jacopo Tintoretto, Christ at the Temple, and some riveting displays chronicling the construction of the cathedral. Adjoining this is the Museo Civico d'Arte Contemporanea (with works by living artists and such masters as De Chirico and Modigliani).
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