Day 18 - Mon 15 Sep 25: Milan

Mon 15 Sep 25: Milan 

We started the day by catching the Metro into the Duomo Square at 8am, for a 9:30 guided tour of the rooftop and inside the Milan Cathedral which we booked last week. To fill our time before the tour start at 9:30am, we had a wander through the oldest shopping arcade in Milan - the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, a very impressive building with very high end shops. It was a good time to look around too, as the crowds hadn't yet built up.  The 2 hour tour of the Duomo was far from cheap, but it was very informative, well delivered and very much worth the expense. We both enjoyed it very much (for Noel the roof top steps less so). Coincidentally, Robyn and Graham did the roof top component of the tour with our group, before departing for Stresa to start their shorter Italian tour. It's likely we will see them again in a few days. After our tour, Noel and I had coffee then continued on our discovery of Milan. We walked to Sforza Castle then through a large park to the City Gate of Milan. Then we caught a tram and walked a bit further to the Santa Maria delle Grazie Basilica. The Basilica was closed until 3pm, and we had an hour to kill, so we decided on a late lunch and coffee at a cafe across the road until the Basilica opened. The Last Supper painting is located in the refectory at the back of the convent adjacent, and you have to book months in advance to see it, so no Last Supper for us today, but we were more than happy to be able to walk through the Basilica. From this basilica, we walked another km to another Basilica - The Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio, commissioned in 379-386, one of the oldest churches in Milan. At about 4:30, we decided that we'd had enough for the day, found the nearest metro and returned to Central Station and back to our room. Neither of us were hungry, so we gave dinner a miss tonight, but we did go out for another short evening walkjust to to get out of the room. 

Early stroll through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy's oldest active shopping arcade and a major landmark of Milan. Housed within a four-story double arcade in the centre of town, the Galleria is named after Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Monument to Leonardo daVinci in the Plaza della Scala


Milano Duomo - Milan Cathedral. Construction began in 1386 and completed in 1965 - Thats more than 600 years (hope builders were't being paid an hourly rate). It's the largest church in Italy (St Peter's Basilica is bigger, but is in a different country (The Vatican City)

A skip the line Duomo and roof top tour of the cathedral 

Duomo Tour - more than 3,400 statues adorn the outside of the cathedral

Duomo Tour

Duomo Tour

Duomo Rooftop Tour

Duomo Rooftop Tour

Duomo Rooftop Tour

Duomo Rooftop Tour

Duomo Rooftop Tour

Duomo Rooftop Tour

Duomo Rooftop Tour

Duomo Tour

Duomo Organ - Largest in Italy, 2nd largest in Europe and 7th largest in the world (what you see is 25% of it)


Duomo Tour

Duomo Tour - there are a lot of stunning windows in the cathedral, but this one depicts the story of Jesus beginning from the bottom right weaving left and right looking up

Duomo - Foundation Stone

Duomo

A service was being conducted while doing our tour.  The Milan Duomo Sacred Nail, (placed on the cross on the pedestal) is believed to be one of the nails used in Christ's crucifixion and is usually kept high above the alter. Every September during a special three-day ceremony known as the Rite of the Nivola it is lowered for 3 days - Today was one of those days.

Duomo Tour

Duopmo Tour and Service

Walking the streets of Milan


Walking the streets of Milan


Sforza Castle - Milan built in the 15th Century

Sforza Castle

Sforza Castle

Sforza Castle

Sforza Castle

Sforza Castle

Sforza Castle

Sforza Castle

City Gate of Milan

City Gate of Milan

Santa Maria delle Grazie Basilica

Santa Maria delle Grazie Basilica

Santa Maria delle Grazie Basilica

Santa Maria delle Grazie Basilica

Santa Maria delle Grazie Basilica

Santa Maria delle Grazie Basilica

Santa Maria delle Grazie Basilica

The Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio

The Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio

The Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio

The Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio

The Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio

An evening stroll past the Milano Centralo Railway - probably the safest place to be in Italy with all the armoured military and police patrols around.

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