Milan Cathedral Entry Tickets

Self-guided entry to the Duomo di Milano's Gothic interior, from its 52 pillars to its stained glass, vaults, and sculptures.

Getting started

Arrive at the main entrance of the Duomo di Milano on Piazza del Duomo and show your voucher for direct entry, bypassing the ticket-office queue. All visitors pass through airport-style security before entering the cathedral. Once inside, the visit is self-guided, so you choose the route and how long to spend at each stop, starting with the central nave.

What to expect

Nave and Pillars

The visit begins in the central nave, which rises 45 metres and sets the scale for everything else inside.

• Walk between the 52 pillars that divide the five naves, each rising about 24 metres, and look up to the capitals, where statues sit in niches.

• Find the brass meridian line inlaid in the floor near the main entrance, set in 1786 by astronomers from Milan's Brera Observatory, where a beam of sunlight from a small hole in the roof crosses it at midday.

• Follow the nave toward the high altar to take in the full depth of the interior, where the five naves meet the transepts.

Windows and Vaults

Above floor level, the cathedral's windows and vaulting carry much of its craftsmanship, so lift your eyes from the floor.

• Study the stained glass windows, whose panels show scenes from biblical history and local tradition, and notice how they color the light along the aisles.

• Look up at the ribbed Gothic vaults that span the nave and aisles and meet above each pillar.

High Altar and Apse

At the far end of the nave, the high altar marks the focal point of the church, with the apse behind it.

• Look toward the vault above the high altar, where the Holy Nail relic is kept about 40 metres up.

• Find the apse windows, home to the oldest surviving glass in the cathedral, installed in the 1400s and showing the Apocalypse.

Statues and Sculptures

Statues and sculptures stand throughout the interior, and a few reward a deliberate stop on the way round.

• Stop at Marco d'Agrate's St. Bartholomew Flayed in the south transept, a 1562 statue of the saint carrying his own skin over his shoulders.

• Find the Trivulzio Candelabrum, a seven-branched 12th-century bronze about five metres tall, older than the cathedral itself.

• Pass the other statues of saints and martyrs set throughout the interior, each tied to Milan's religious and artistic past.

Wrapping up

To add context as you walk, choose an audio guide in English, German, French, Italian, or Spanish, or pick up a guidebook covering the architecture, windows, and sculptures. Because the visit is self-guided, you can double back to anything you passed. This ticket covers the interior only, so the terraces are not part of the visit.