Milan Cathedral
You start in front of the white marble mass of Milan Cathedral, the Duomo, dedicated to the Nativity of Saint Mary and seat of the Archbishop of Milan. It took nearly six centuries to finish: building began in 1386 and the final details were completed in 1965. It is the largest church in the Italian Republic; St Peter's in Rome is bigger, but it stands in the Vatican, a separate state.
Look at the street plan around you. Milan's streets either radiate from the Duomo or circle it, because the cathedral occupies the most central site of Roman Mediolanum, where the public basilica faced the forum. A first cathedral, the basilica nova dedicated to Saint Thecla, stood here by 355, and the octagonal baptistery from 335 can still be visited beneath the cathedral. After a fire in 1075, the old churches were rebuilt as the Duomo.
The present building was a political statement. Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo began it in 1386, just as his cousin Gian Galeazzo Visconti took power. It was meant as a gift to nobles and workers who had suffered under the tyrant Barnabò Visconti, and as a reminder that Milan, not Pavia where the new lord kept his court, was the centre that mattered.
Going inside is worth the ticket on a first visit, and reduced tickets are available. Come early in the morning and you have the nave before the day gets going.
From the cathedral square it is only 230 m, about 3 minutes, to the great glass arcade on its northern side.
