Duomo di Milano
Gothic marble cathedral of soaring spires and thousands of statues, built over nearly six centuries.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Milan's Duomo starts with a hidden detail among the thousands of marble statues crowding its spires: a figure dressed as a saint who was never actually canonized. It traces back to 1805, when Napoleon was crowned King of Italy inside the cathedral and ordered its unfinished facade completed within days. You'll hear how the cathedral's builders repaid him and the invented identity they gave him to get away with it, and how that figure has outlasted the empire that put him up there. Look south along the spires to find him.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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