Inside the Duomo

The walk, from the doors to the apse and back

This is our order of stops, not an official route. Unlike the terraces and the Museum, the cathedral has no one-way route listed, though parts of it can close during celebrations.

1. The floor just inside the doors: the meridian line

Look down before you look up. A meridian line crosses the pavement, the cathedral's own sundial: a beam of sunlight through a small opening in the vault falls on the line at solar noon.

2. The nave and the glass

The aisles are lined with stained glass, 55 windows in the official count. The piers carry statues where you would expect plain capitals, and the stone is the same Candoglia marble as the outside. Expect a darker interior than the pale exterior suggests.

In winter, from 4 November to Epiphany, the St Charles paintings hang here too. Their restoration began in October 2026, so expect gaps.

3. South transept: Christ at the Column

Solari's Cristo alla colonna stands in the south transept, in the place St Bartholomew used to occupy. Older guides still send you here for the wrong statue.

4. The retrochoir: St Bartholomew Flayed

Walk behind the choir for the most unsettling statue in the building. Marco d'Agrate carved the martyred saint, about 1562, with his own skin draped over his body and every muscle on show. This is the single piece to find if you see nothing else.

5. Under the presbytery: the St Charles Crypt

Below the altar is the Scurolo, which holds the remains of St Charles Borromeo. It costs €3.50 as an add-on, keeps shorter hours than the cathedral and is often closed on feast days. Stairs make it hard to reach. Its story and hours are on the Archaeological Area page.

6. The high altar and the organ

Pope Martin V consecrated the high altar on 16 October 1418, when most of the building was still to come. A new altar was dedicated in 1986 under Cardinal Martini.

The organ was built by Mascioni and Tamburini in 1938 and has 15,800 pipes. The cathedral calls it the largest in Italy, the second in Europe and the seventh in the world. Sunday Mass is the obvious way to hear it.

7. The red lamp high in the vault

Look up for a small red light high in the vault. It marks the tabernacle of the Holy Nail, in the Duomo since 20 March 1461. The relic is reached in the September rite described on the Mass page.

8. Left transept

Coming back up the north side, you pass the altar of the Madonna dell'Albero, where confessions are heard, and the great bronze Trivulzio Candelabrum.

9. Down the stairs: what was here before

Before you leave, 27 steps from the main entrance lead under the square to the Archaeological Area, a €5 add-on with the baptistery of 378.

If you have half an hour

Do stops 1, 4 and 7, in that order. You get the sundial, the statue and the lamp, and you cross the full length of the building twice.

Before you go in

• Each ticket gives one entry per visit area. Once you have left, you cannot go back in.
• Keep the ticket: it is validated at the exit.
• Check the dress rules first, and cover shoulders and legs before you reach the door.
• The Audio Guide Desk is inside the cathedral. A free manual wheelchair is available at the DuomoInfopoint, leaving ID.