Terrazza del Duomo

This guide to the Terrazza del Duomo in Milan follows the three-hundred-year argument over the gap in the cathedral's roofline, starting with Leonardo da Vinci's own sketch for a tower here in the 1480s, an idea set aside along with every other architect's proposal after him. It traces the moment in 1765 when Francesco Croce finally won the job, and the years he spent raising the Main Spire above the crossing before Milan needed something to crown it. Stand among the forest of statues and spires and look for the unwritten rule that followed once the Madonnina was set at the top.