Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Begun by Giangaleazzo Visconti in 1387, the cathedral's design was originally con-
sidered unfeasible. Canals had to be dug to transport the vast quantities of marble to the
centre of the city and new technologies were invented to cater for the never-before-at-
tempted scale. There was also that small matter of style. The Gothic lines went out of
fashion and were considered 'too French', so it took on several looks as the years, then
centuries, dragged on. Its slow construction became the byword for an impossible task (
fabrica del Dom
in the Milanese dialect). Indeed, much of its ornament is 19th-century
neo-Gothic, with the final touches only applied in the 1960s. Crowning it all is a gilded
copper statue of the Madonnina (Little Madonna), the city's traditional protector.
The most spectacular view, though, is through the innumerable marble spires and pin-
nacles that adorn the rooftop. On a clear day you can see the Alps.
Museo del Novecento
ART GALLERY
( 02 8844 4072;
www.museodelnovecento.org
;
Piazza del Duomo 12; adult/reduced €5/3;
9.30am-7.30pm Tue-Sun, 2.30-7.30pm Mon; Duomo)
Overlooking the Piazza del Duomo, with
Duomo)
, from where he would harangue huge crowds in the glory days of his regime. Now
it houses Milan's museum of 20th-century art. Built around a futuristic spiral ramp (an
ode to the Guggenheim), the lower floors are cramped, but the heady collection, which in-
cludes the likes of Boccioni, Campigli, De Chirico and Marinetti, more than distracts.
02 7209 3814;
www.giacomoarengario.com
; Via Guglielmo Marconi 1; meals €30-40;
noon-midnight;
Duomo)
overlooking the Duomo.
Palazzo Reale
MUSEUM, PALACE
(
www.comune.milano.it/palazzoreale
; Piazza del Duomo 12; exhibitions €5-12, Museo della Reggia free;
exhibitions 2.30-7.30pm Mon, 9.30am-7.30pm Tue, Wed, Fri & Sun, 9.30am-10.30pm Thu & Sat,
museo 9.30am-5.30pm Tue-Sun; Duomo)
Empress Maria Theresa's favourite architect Gi-
useppe Piermarini gave this town hall and Visconti palace a neoclassical overhaul in the
late 18th century. The supremely elegant interiors were all but destroyed by WWII bombs;
the
Sala delle Cariatidi
remains unrenovated as a reminder of war's indiscriminate destruc-
