© Scoprire Milano
© E. Bonnici
Cimitero Monumentale (Monumental Cemetery), Northeast Milan
A rich heritage of funerary art in a 19th-century cemetery
Carlo Maciachini built the Monumental Cemetery between 1863 and 1866. The 250,000 m2 cemetery grounds are home to an eclectic assortment of memorial headstones, sculptures and monuments.
The cemetery is a tribute to the memory of the rich and famous of Milanese society. The most illustrious bodies are buried around the Famedio, 'Temple of Fame', including novelist Alessandro Manzoni, Luca Beltrami (restorer of the Castello Sforzesco), conductor Arturo Toscanini, poet Salvatore Quasimodo and many others. You can check the main highlights on this map.
Sculptures and architecture reflect the eclectic taste of the era, with echoes of neo-Gothic, neo-Romanesque and neo-Byzantine styles.
Visitor comments
- "Found this to be one of the main highlights of our holiday. We walked from the centre (Duomo) but it is a fair way out. Worth seeing as the art in the cemetery is overwhelming. We found it fascinating." - Trip Advisor
- "You could easily spend hours walking around this place. Fascinating statues & gravestones. Some of the mausoleums are over the top, but that make's it so interesting, like the Campari family one set out like the last supper... It was closed on Monday's when we went. Best go early AM & limit yourself as it's easy to spend longer than planned." - Trip Advisor
- "I told my traveling buddies (including 2 teenage boys) I wanted to visit the Monumental Cemetery. They all said "Really"? We all went and spent a couple of hours admiring the stonework, the sculptures, and the iron work. It's totally beautiful. And in the end, they said, it was their favorite destination in Milan." - Trip Advisor
When to come
Open Tuesday to Sunday from 08:00 to 18:00. Closed on Mondays, as well as on January 1st, Easter Sunday & Monday, May 1st, June 2nd, August 15th, December 8th, 25th & 16th.
