Sublime Gothic masterpiece

Word to the wise: Take the elevator on the left flank of the duomo up to the roof to admire views over Milan’s orange rooftops to the mountains in the north.

Milan’s vast Gothic duomo soars above the city. The world’s third largest cathedral (beaten by the Vatican and Seville Cathedral) has a pink-hued façade encrusted with around 2,300 gargoyles, a roof bristling with pinnacles and a spire topped with the five-metre golden figure of Milan’s much-loved mascot, the Madonnina.

Inside, the space is divided into five aisles supported by 52 huge marble pillars. The flooring is of complex marble patterning, illuminated with dappled shafts of light reflected through the jewel-like stained-glass windows, and the side chapels are dotted with Renaissance and Mannerist tombs.

In the crypt is the tomb of Counter-Reformation leader Carlo Borromeo and 'Via Doloroso' by conceptual artist Mark Wallinger, a flickering metaphor for Christ’s last journey to the Cross. Around 500 years in the making, the cathedral was consecrated in 1418 but was not declared complete until the mammoth bronze entrance doors were finished in 1965.