Milan Duomo

Milan Duomo tickets: which one to buy

The Milan Duomo tickets we sell come in three kinds, and the choice comes down to the roof. One ticket takes you into the cathedral and the Duomo Museum, another pairs the entry with the rooftop terraces, and the third is for the terraces alone, going up on foot or by lift.

The cathedral ticket, at €12.50, also opens the Duomo Museum in the Palazzo Reale. The museum closes on Wednesdays, so pick another day if you want both. You choose the date when you book, and the ticket can’t be cancelled.

The entry ticket with rooftop access, at €27, pairs the entry with the terraces, reached by lift or stairs. On a first visit, if you want the roof, it’s the one to get, since it does both in one go. It can’t be cancelled either.

If you’ve already seen the inside, or you have a pass that stops at the cathedral, the terraces ticket is €19.50 by the stairs and €23 by lift. That one can be cancelled up to the day of your visit.

Up to the Duomo terraces: the lift or the 251 steps

On foot it’s 251 steps up to the terraces. The lift doesn’t save you all of them: it stops at the first level, the second level is on foot either way, and everyone walks down.

Up there you’re walking between the spires, and the statue of the Virgin known as the Madonnina stands on the tallest one.

There are no toilets on the terraces, children under 12 must be with an adult, and shoes with metal soles aren’t allowed. Wheelchair users can reach the first terrace by the south lift, every day from 10:00 to 17:00.

Which Milan passes include the Duomo, and which part of it

Four of the passes we sell include part of the Duomo, and not the same part.

A YesMilano booking gives you a time, but it doesn’t skip the queue. Two passes leave a gap that the tickets above fill: The Milan Pass has no cathedral, so add the cathedral ticket, and the Milan City Card has no terraces, so add the terraces ticket. No pass includes the archaeological area under the square or the Scurolo of San Carlo, and the rest of what each one gives you is in Milan Pass and Milan’s city passes.

What to wear at the Duomo, the security check and the hours

The cathedral has a dress code: no sleeveless or low-cut tops, shorts, miniskirts or hats. If you’re caught out, the Duomo sells disposable capes for €3.

Until the end of December 2026, the cathedral and the rooftop terraces open from 9:00 to 19:00, with the last entry at 18:00. The Duomo Museum keeps the same closing time and last entry but opens at 10:00, and stays shut on Wednesdays. The hours for January to March 2027 haven’t been published yet.

Inside Milan Cathedral: St Bartholomew, the Holy Nail and San Carlo’s tomb

Inside, a nave and four aisles run 158.6 metres under Gothic vaults about 45 metres high. The church is built of marble from Candoglia and holds 40,000 people. Stained glass made between 1829 and 1858 replaced the older windows.

Among the statues, look for St Bartholomew Flayed, the sculptor Marco d’Agrate’s 1562 figure of the apostle stripped of his skin. The Trivulzio candelabrum is two ages in one: its base is attributed to the goldsmith Nicholas of Verdun, in the 12th century, and its stem dates from the middle of the 16th.

High in the vault over the choir, a red light marks where the Holy Nail is kept. The relic comes out for a ceremony called the Nivola. The Scurolo of San Carlo holds the remains of Carlo Borromeo, the 16th-century archbishop of Milan venerated as San Carlo.

The Duomo Museum and San Gottardo in Corte

The Duomo Museum is in the Palazzo Reale, at Piazza Duomo 12, with ramps for wheelchairs. The museum keeps the original structure of the Madonnina, from 1774, along with statues, stained glass, paintings, tapestries, architectural models, terracottas, plaster casts and the treasury of the cathedral chapter.

Beside it, San Gottardo in Corte was the court chapel of Azzone Visconti, whose family held Milan before the Sforza. He built it from 1330 to 1336, with an octagonal bell tower. Inside are the remains of a Crucifixion by Giotto’s school and Azzone’s own tomb, and there’s a step-free way in from Via Palazzo Reale.

Six centuries of building the Duomo

Work on the cathedral began in 1386, under Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo, and the next year the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo was founded. It still runs the cathedral today, and it’s the Fabbrica that issues the tickets. Carlo Borromeo consecrated the building in 1577, long before it was finished.

The façade waited until Napoleon decreed it on 20 May 1805, and it went up in about seven years. Even then the work wasn’t over: the last of the cathedral’s doors was inaugurated on 6 January 1965.

Getting to the Duomo: the metro comes up on the square

Visitors with disabilities and one companion go in free. Inside the cathedral, the Cappella Feriale, the chapel used on weekdays, the baptistery of St Stephen and the Scurolo can only be reached by steps.