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Landmarks & Sights

VEDERE · 11 of 16 free

Sixteen Milan sights, one page each, free ones first — eleven cost nothing, and those are the ones with no queue at all.

Piazza del Duomo with the arched entrance to the Galleria and people crossing the square
Photograph by Yurivane89, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Sixteen places, one page each. They are ordered the way this site argues the city works: the 11 that cost nothing to enter first, the 5 you buy a ticket for after.

That order matters more in Milan than in most cities on this network, because the free ones are also the ones with no queue. Nobody books the Galleria, the Colonne, the Monumentale or Sant'Ambrogio, and all four are better than several things people queue for.

⛔ The five that charge are the ones to decide about first. The Last Supper goes months ahead in fifteen-minute slots and is the single hardest ticket in Italy; the terraces and La Scala want days or weeks. See Booking Ahead.

⚠️ And the day of the week decides the list: nearly every museum here closes on Monday, including the Castello, the Pinacoteca and the Monumentale. A Monday goes to the churches, the streets and the canals.

⚠️ Two honest notes on the photographs. Milan's black-and-white archive is very large and very well catalogued, so these sets had to be filtered hard — and the eye still had to reject a 1:25 model of the cathedral in a Japanese theme park, a Jeep showroom held inside one of the Porta Nuova towers, and an Alfa Romeo named after Brera. And the Last Supper set is all exterior, because photography in the refectory is forbidden: what you see here is the building, which is what a visitor can actually photograph.

The full marble front of Milan Cathedral under a blue sky, its spires and statues in rowsPiazza del Duomo⭐ Free · the middle of itThe triumphal arch entrance to the Galleria from Piazza del Duomo, crowded with peopleGalleria Vittorio Emanuele II⭐ Free · walk throughThe Naviglio Grande with boats moored along it and bars lining both banksThe Navigli⭐ Free · the canalsThe arcaded courtyard of the Palazzo di Brera with its two tiers of columnsBrera⭐ Free · walk itPeople lying on the grass in Parco Sempione with the Arco della Pace at the end of the lawnParco Sempione⭐ Free · the big parkThe Darsena basin from the quay, with the market hall along one sideThe Darsena⭐ Free · the old dockThe sixteen Roman columns in front of the basilica of San Lorenzo, with the square beyondColonne di San Lorenzo⭐ Free · Roman MilanThe atrium of Sant'Ambrogio looking through to the brick front and its two unequal towersBasilica di Sant'Ambrogio⭐ Free · 4th centuryThe Unicredit Tower and the two planted towers of the Bosco Verticale seen across the parkPorta Nuova & the Bosco Verticale⭐ Free · the new cityThe Famedio at the Monumental Cemetery, its brick and stone front behind the entrance gatesCimitero Monumentale⭐ Free · extraordinaryThe ossuary chapel of San Bernardino, its walls lined floor to ceiling with human bones around a lit altarSan Bernardino alle Ossa⭐ Free · the bone chapelThe brick church of Santa Maria delle Grazie with Bramante's ribbed tribune behind itThe Last Supper⛔ Book months aheadMarble spires and statues rising close together on the roof of Milan CathedralThe Duomo TerracesTicketed · stairs or liftThe front of the Castello Sforzesco with the Filarete tower over the gateCastello SforzescoCourtyards free · museums ticketedCanova's marble Napoleon standing under a circular skylight in a gallery at the BreraPinacoteca di BreraTicketed · the great collectionThe auditorium of La Scala from a box, six tiers of red and gold boxes around the stallsTeatro alla ScalaTicketed · museum or a seat

Photographs above, in order, from Wikimedia Commons: Francesco Crippa from San Francisco, USA (CC BY 2.0) · Jakub Hałun (CC BY-SA 4.0) · FlavMi (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Miguel Hermoso Cuesta (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Alessandro Perazzoli (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Nelson Pérez (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Blackcat (CC BY 3.0) · Óðinn (CC BY-SA 2.5 ca) · Angelino1975 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Ivan Stesso (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Zairon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Latinboy (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Dimitris Kamaras from Athens, Greece (CC BY 2.0) · CastelloSforzesco-MainCourtyardPanorama.jpg : chris 論 derivative work: Conte di (CC BY-SA 3.0) · SunOfErat (CC BY 3.0) · This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder . Feel free to use my photos, but pleas (CC BY-SA 3.0). Each sight page repeats its own credit beside the image.

The square seen along the arcade, crowds crossing towards the cathedral at the end of it
Photograph by Ank kumar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sixteen places, and eleven of them are free

This site covers sixteen sights in Milan, one page each, and eleven cost nothing to enter. In this city that ratio matters more than usual, because the free ones are also the ones with no queue. Nobody books the Galleria, the Colonne, the Monumentale or Sant'Ambrogio, and all four are better than several things people queue for.

The Galleria's glass dome seen from the cathedral roof, with the city and hills beyond
Photograph by High Contrast, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 de

They come in three clusters

Porta Nuova and the Monumentale sit together to the north and make a good half-day of their own.

The front of the basilica of Sant'Ambrogio with its arcaded gable
Photograph by Randi Hausken from Bærum, Norway, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Two rules that save a wasted trip

⛔ Book the rationed things before you come — see Booking Ahead.

⚠️ Milan's museums close on Mondays, nearly all of them, including the Castello, the Pinacoteca and the Monumentale. A Monday here goes to the churches, the streets and the canals.

Eleven Free Things in Milan, and Exactly When They’re Free

by Access Milan Editorial Team
Naviglio Grande canal in Milan with street life

Eleven sights in Milan cost nothing to see, and most of them are open every day of the year. But “free” in this city has a schedule. Several churches lock their side doors during Mass. One museum waives its fee for a single window a month, on a date the Ministry of Culture sets, not … Read more