An open-air museum of sculpture and Art Nouveau
The Cimitero Monumentale of Milan, opened in 1866, is not just a cemetery but an open-air museum of sculpture and architecture, where the city's great families competed to build ever more original and spectacular tombs. Its entrance is the Famedio, a great neo-medieval building of marble and stone in black and white stripes, the "temple of fame" where illustrious Milanese are buried or remembered, including the writer Alessandro Manzoni.
Behind it extends a vast city of the dead, with chapels shaped like Egyptian temples, Gothic churches, small pyramids and classical temples, and statues ranging from neoclassical to Liberty (Art Nouveau), Symbolism and contemporary art. Among the most famous are the Campari family tomb with a bronze Last Supper, the Bernocchi tomb with a spiral of figures climbing to the sky, and the column of the Toscanini family. Artists such as Medardo Rosso, Adolfo Wildt, Giò Ponti, Lucio Fontana and Arnaldo Pomodoro worked here.
Tip: entry is free and maps of the most important tombs are available at the entrance; guided tours on specific themes are organised by the municipality.
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