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From the 16th century, various top architects submitted designs for the façade, but it wasn’t until 1805–13 that the Neo-Gothic frontage with its bronze doors and reliefs was finally built. In 2002, the Duomo’s exterior went under scaffolding for a major cleaning set to last a few years.

The interior is a thicket of 52 pilasters ringed with statues of saints in niches. The Gothic “tracery” on the vaulting of the four outer naves is actually ingenious trompel’oeil paintings dating from the 16th century. The gloom helps the illusion.

A stairway near the entrance leads down to Paleochristian excavations, which have uncovered traces of Roman baths from the 1st century BC, a baptistery from AD 287 and a 4th-century basilica.

Dozens of stained-glass windows create splashes of coloured light in the otherwise gloomy interior. The oldest, on the right aisle, date from 1470; the newest from 1988.

Leone Leoni created the 1560–3 Michelangelesque tomb of a local mercenary general, including a life-sized bronze of the man dressed in Roman centurion armour.

Marco d’Agrate’s gruesome carving of 1562 shows the unfortunate saint with muscles and veins exposed and his flayed skin thrown rather jauntily over one shoulder.

The ambulatory is now open only to worshippers, but you can see a lovely example of a 14th-century Lombard sacristy door. Stairs nearby lead down into the crypt, where the body of Saint Charles Borromeo rests in a crystal coffin, and to the treasury, which is filled with elegant reliquaries and liturgical devices.

Climb or take the lift up to the roof to explore the cathedral’s remarkable Gothic crown of spires, gargoyles, statues and tracery – and for the views (see Exploring the Roof of Milan’s Duomo).

Perched at the top of the Duomo’s central spire, 108 m (354 ft) above ground level, the gilded copper “Little Madonna” has governed over Milan’s best panorama since 1774. For centuries she reigned as the highest point in the city until the Pirelli Tower stole her title.

The museum, housed in the neighbouring Palazzo Reale, contains stained-glass windows and tapestries removed from the Duomo for safekeeping. There is a masterpiece by Tintoretto, The Infant Christ among the Doctors , and wooden models of the Duomo.