Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Floors
Before you wander among the cathedral's many treasures, look down at your feet
and marvel at the design of the polychrome marble floors that sweep across
12,000 sq metres. The design was conceived by Pellegrino Tibaldi and took 400
years to complete. The pink and white blocks of Candoglia marble came from the
cathedral's own quarries at Mergozzo (bequeathed in perpetuity by Gian
Galeazzo), and are inset with black marble from Varenna and red marble from
Arzo.
The Sun Dial
On the floor by the main entrance you may notice a brass strip lined with signs of
the zodiac. This is, in fact, an 18th-century sun dial, installed by astronomers from
the Accademia di Brera in 1768. A hole in the vault of the south aisle casts a ray of
