The Duomo of Milan, the cathedral heart of the city, is the symbolic place of Milan.
Its construction, begun in 1386 and lasted more than six centuries, was commissioned by the lord of Milan as a symbol of the strength and greatness of the city.
It is the largest and most complex Gothic building in Italy, made of white pink marble.
It is 157 meters long and on the main spire, 108.5 meters high, stands the golden statue of the Madonnina.
Entering the Duomo, a short distance from the door in the floor is a brass line that crosses the entire width of the Cathedral. Along this line, at regular intervals, you can find marble tiles on which the zodiac signs are represented. The sundial was built in 1786 by the astronomers of the Brera Astronomical Observatory.
In the central nave, towards the ceiling of the apse, there is a small red light in front of a large circular metal shape. It is the tabernacle set in the ceiling at a height of 40 meters that houses the relic of the Holy Nail, one of the nails used during the crucifixion of Christ.
The nail is removed from the reliquary and brought to the altar of the Duomo only once a year, in September, thanks to one of the most evocative and curious ceremonies of the Milanese tradition: the rite of the Nivola.
The Duomo of Milan has 55 monumental stained-glass windows, the first of the late 1300s while the last are from the late 1900s. They represent stories from the Old and New Testaments (the two lateral) and the Apocalypse (central).
I advise you to climb the terraces of the Duomo for an unforgettable experience and to have a splendid view of the whole of Milan in fact, the Duomo of Milan is the largest Gothic building in the world on which you can walk on the roof.
During the Second World War, to prevent the reflections of light on the golden surface from serving as a reference point for bombers, the Milanese covered the statue of the Madonnina with rags.
