Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Roof Terraces & Lantern
Climb to the roof terraces from where you are within touching distance of the elab-
orate 135 spires and their forest of flying buttresses. In the centre of the roof rises
the 15th-century octagonal lantern and spire, on top of which is the golden
Madonnina (erected in 1774). For centuries she was the highest point in the city
(108.5m) until the Pirelli skyscraper outdid her in 1958.
The Interior
Initially designed so Milan's then-population of around 40,000 could fit within,
the cathedral's elegant, hysterical and sublimely spiritual architecture can even
transport 21st-century types back to a medieval mindset. Inside, once your eyes
have adjusted to the subdued light and surreal proportions (there are five grandi-
ose naves supported by 52 columns), stare up, and up, to the largest stained-glass
windows in all of Christendom.
