Milan Monumental Cemetery: Architecture and Sculpture Tour

Explore Milan’s Monumental Cemetery – Cimitero Monumentale – on a 2-hour walking tour with an expert local guide! Living up to its ‘monumental’ name, the cemetery is one of Milan’s true hidden gems, with elaborate 19th- and 20th-century architecture and sculptures forming a lavish open-air museum. Admire bronze angels draped over ornate gravestones, marble mausoleums and touching statues inscribed with poetic verse, while learning about the illustrious Italians who are buried here.

Meet your guide in the center of town, and set off by coach to Cimitero Monumentale. Designed by the prestigious Italian architect Carlo Maciachini in the early 19th century, the cemetery is famous for its vast collection of artistic tombs, funerary shrines and ostentatious sculptures – akin to an open-air museum.

Enter the cemetery through the Temple of Fame (Famedio) – a large Romanesque memorial chapel made almost entirely of marble – and see tombs of the country’s most illustrious citizens like the poet Salvatore Quasimodo and novelist Alessandro Manzoni, author of The Betrothed.

Head through to the main cemetery with your guide, passing bronze and marble statues, stunning mausoleums and tombstones with poetic inscriptions. Your guide will point out graves of famous Italian actors, philosophers, politicians and musicians, while explaining the Italian artistic styles throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of the art and architecture in the cemetery reflects the Art Nouveau period, and the extravagant graves are said to be the result of one-upmanship between wealthy Milanese families who wanted to make grand gestures of love for their deceased relatives.

After two hours of exploring the grounds and soaking up the peaceful ambiance and artwork, head back to the coach and return to the start point where your tour ends.

• Transport by air-conditioned coach
• Professional guide

• Food and drinks
• Gratuities (optional)
• Hotel pickup and drop-off