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About this activity

Though the Duomo (as they say in Italian) was built to give glory to God, it stands as a staggering example of human endeavor. It’s grand, magnificent and imposing, took more than five centuries to complete and drained the purses of many a ruler along the way. You too will find it a bit of a handful and with millions visiting each year it’s very much a Milanese must-do.
You’ll be thoroughly impressed as you approach Italy’s largest church. It’s 108 meters high and drips with gothic gravitas. However, it truly hits you when you’re inside. It’s vast. 160 meters long, 92 meters wide and it holds 40,000 people.
The art and adornments that you’ll admire are similarly epic too. There are sarcophagi of luminaries from centuries gone by – exotic sounding names and titles of Milanese dignitaries – and countless Renaissance statues. It even has Italy’s largest organ, which has 15,350 pipes.
Though the building sits on the site of a much more ancient church, work began on it in its present form in 1386. Rulers and rich men over the centuries tried to finish it. Napoleon arrived in 1805 and even the Little Emperor failed to get it over the line (he also failed to pay for any of the work he ordered. Classic Napoleon).
There are also treasures to be seen in the nearby Duomo Museum (the ticket gets you in here too). There’s art, statues and tapestries galore – all related to the Duomo’s rich history. But there’s one curiosity in particular that you might want to check out: the modellone . This is an architectural model of the Duomo itself, one twentieth its size. And that alone took 300 years to complete!