In 1386 Milan began building a white marble cathedral so ambitious that the Milanese still describe any endless job as being like the fabbrica del Duomo. Napoleon had the facade finished in a rush, and the last bronze doors were only hung in 1965. Twelve stops take in the emperor's facade, the nave of fifty-two pillars, the flayed saint and the nail of the Cross, the rooftop terraces among spires and statues, the old dock where the marble arrived, the arcade whose architect died before it opened, the theatre built over a church, the Brera palace and its naked Napoleon, the Sforza castle, Michelangelo's last sculpture, the refectory of The Last Supper and Cardinal Borromeo's library. Approximate audio duration: 22 minutes.
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Milán: la catedral que tardó casi seis siglos en terminarse
En 1386 Milán empezó a construir una catedral de mármol blanco tan ambiciosa que los milaneses todavía dicen que algo interminable es como la fábrica del Duomo. La fachada la terminó a las apuradas Napoleón, y las últimas puertas de bronce se colocaron recién en 1965. Doce paradas entre la fachada del emperador, la nave de los cincuenta y dos pilares, el santo desollado y el clavo de la cruz, las terrazas entre agujas y estatuas, el muelle donde llegaba el mármol, la galería del arquitecto que murió antes de inaugurarla, el teatro levantado sobre una iglesia, el palacio de Brera y su Napoleón desnudo, el castillo de los Sforza, la última escultura de Miguel Ángel, el refectorio de La Última Cena y la biblioteca del cardenal Borromeo. Duración aproximada de audio: 22 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~22 min of audio · 5.94 km on foot (~1 h 30 min walking) · about 2 h in total
You are standing in Piazza del Duomo, facing the cathedral. Look closely at the colour: it is not pure white. The marble has pink and grey veins that change with the light of the day.
Work began in 1386 under the lord of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti. A year later the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo was set up to build it. That institution still exists, and still looks after the cathedral.
Construction dragged on for centuries, with interruptions, quarrels and changes of style. For a long time this facade stood half done, its brick exposed.
In 1805 Napoleon was crowned King of Italy inside, wi…
2
A Forest of Fifty-Two Pillars
You are inside. Stand still for a moment and let your eyes adjust to the half-light. This is one of the largest churches in the world: about one hundred and fifty-eight metres long, with five aisles.
Look at the pillars. There are fifty-two, as massive as towers. Above each capital is a ring of statues of saints, as if the stone were turning into people.
That size caused trouble from the start. Milan had no tradition of Gothic cathedrals, and the Fabbrica called in masters from France and Germany to give their opinion on the structure.
In 1400 a French engineer, Jean Mignot, clashed with th…
3
The Flayed Saint and the Nail of the Cross
You are in the right arm of the transept. Look for a statue that at first sight seems a muscular man with a cloth over his shoulders. Go closer. It is not a cloth: it is his own skin.
This is Saint Bartholomew, the apostle who according to tradition was flayed alive. Marco d'Agrate carved him in 1562. Every muscle, tendon and vein is there, as precise as an anatomy textbook.
Read the inscription on the base. In Latin it says that Praxiteles did not make this, Marco d'Agrate did. Praxiteles was the most famous sculptor of ancient Greece. Marco wanted no one to be confused about who deserved t…
4
Walking Among the Spires
You are on the roof of the cathedral. You walk on marble slabs, surrounded by spires like a forest of stone. This is one of the few Gothic roofs in the world where you can stroll.
The spires, the guglie, number one hundred and thirty-five. Each is topped by a statue. Counting everything inside and out, the cathedral holds an estimated three thousand four hundred statues, not including reliefs and gargoyles.
Look at the faces. Many were carved in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the sculptors took liberties. Every statue that wears out or breaks is replaced, and the Fabbrica still …
5
The Dock Where the Marble Arrived
You are on Via Laghetto, a quiet street behind the university. Nothing suggests there was ever water here. But the name gives it away: laghetto, little lake.
Here stood a basin, the Laghetto di Santo Stefano, linked to Milan's canals, the Navigli. Barges loaded with marble blocks for the Duomo came all the way to this spot.
The marble came from the quarries of Candoglia, near Lake Maggiore, almost a hundred kilometres away. In 1387 Gian Galeazzo Visconti granted the Fabbrica the use of those quarries. The cathedral is still repaired with stone from the same place.
The whole journey was by w…
6
The Arcade of the Architect Who Fell
You are at the centre of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, under the great dome of glass and iron. This is the octagon where the arcade's two arms cross. Look up: the dome rises about forty-seven metres.
The Galleria was built between 1865 and 1877 to link Piazza del Duomo with Piazza della Scala. Italy had just been unified, and Milan wanted an urban salon worthy of Europe's great capitals. It was named after the first King of Italy.
The architect was Giuseppe Mengoni. On 30 December 1877, just days before the work was completed, he fell from scaffolding on the entrance arch facing the Duo…
7
The Theatre Built Over a Church
You are in Piazza della Scala. In the centre stands the monument to Leonardo da Vinci, from 1872. Opposite is a sober, almost modest Neoclassical facade. This is the Teatro alla Scala, one of the most famous opera houses in the world.
Its name comes from a church that once stood here, Santa Maria alla Scala. It had been founded in the fourteenth century by Beatrice Regina della Scala, wife of Bernabò Visconti. The church was demolished to make room for the theatre.
Milan previously had a theatre inside the Royal Palace next to the Duomo, but it burned down in 1776. Empress Maria Theresa of A…
8
The Naked Napoleon of Brera
You are in the courtyard of the Palazzo di Brera, ringed by two tiers of arcades. In the centre, on a tall pedestal, stands a completely naked bronze man holding a small winged Victory. It is Napoleon.
The statue follows a model by Antonio Canova, who portrayed him as Mars the Peacemaker, in the manner of the ancient gods. The bronze was cast in Rome in 1811.
This palace was once a Jesuit college. When the order was suppressed in 1773, Maria Theresa of Austria turned it into a centre of learning: an academy of fine arts, a library, a botanical garden and the astronomical observatory that lai…
9
The Dukes' Castle
You are in front of the Castello Sforzesco, with the fountain behind you. Ahead is a wall of red brick and, in the middle, a tall tower with a clock. This is the Filarete Tower.
The Visconti built their fortress here in the fourteenth century, the same lords who began the Duomo. Cathedral and castle were the two faces of their power: faith and force.
When the last Visconti died in 1447, the Milanese proclaimed a republic and tore down part of the castle. It did not last. In 1450 the condottiero Francesco Sforza, married to the last Visconti's daughter, entered the city and began rebuilding i…
10
Michelangelo's Last Sculpture
You are by the Ospedale Spagnolo, at the far end of the castle. In the room inside there is a single work on a pedestal: a block of marble with two elongated figures, almost melted into each other. This is the Rondanini Pietà.
Michelangelo began it in Rome as an old man and returned to it again and again. He changed his mind several times: you can still see a detached, polished arm that belonged to an earlier version.
He worked on it until a few days before his death in February 1564, at eighty-eight. It is his last sculpture, and it was left unfinished.
Look at how the figures stand. This …
11
The Wall That Survived the Bombs
You are in front of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Look at the church: red brick, terracotta decoration and, behind, a great domed tribune. It is a world apart from the Duomo's white marble.
The Dominican church was begun in 1463. A few years later Ludovico il Moro decided to make it the Sforza mausoleum and had the east end rebuilt. The tribune is attributed to Donato Bramante.
In the convent's dining hall, to the left, Ludovico commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint the end wall. Leonardo worked on it roughly between 1495 and 1498. It is The Last Supper.
Leonardo did not paint in true fresco,…
12
The Cardinal's Library
You are in Piazza Pio XI, in front of the Biblioteca and Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. The facade is discreet, but inside lies one of Milan's greatest cultural treasures.
It was founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan and cousin of Charles Borromeo, the saint of the holy nail. The library opened in 1609 and was one of the first in Europe open to the public. In 1618 a picture gallery was added.
Here is the Codex Atlanticus, the largest collection of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings and notes: more than a thousand sheets of machines, calculations and studies. In 1796 Napoleon's soldier…
How long does the "Milan: the Cathedral That Took Almost Six Centuries to Finish" audio tour take?
It has about 22 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 5.94 km walking route (~1 h 30 min on foot). Plan roughly 2 h in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "The Facade Napoleon Finished" (coordinates 45.4641, 9.1896). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Milan and pick "Milan: the Cathedral That Took Almost Six Centuries to Finish". No account required to start.
