Milan Monumental Cemetery, a true open-air museum

Why visit the Monumental Cemetery

Milan’s Monumental Cemetery with its score of white and gray stones, a symbolic reminder of the neo-medieval style, stands out and is remembered in the urban context of a modern city of gleaming steel and glass. To really get to know the city, visiting the Monumental Cemetery is a must. Inside rests all the historical figures who made the fame and greatness of the city of Milan, both economically and artistically. Alessandro Manzoni, Franca Rame, Enzo Iannacci, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Arturo Toscanini, Alda Merini. These are just some of the illustrious names that the heart of the Monumental hides in the silence of its walls. Carlo Maciachini himself, the architect who designed the Monumental Cemetery in the 1860s, rests here in his greatest work. The guided tour of Milan’s Monumental Cemetery aims precisely to start from here, from the personalities and from its entrance, the Famedio, initially conceived as a church and transformed in the process into the Pantheon of the illustrious Milanese, as a metaphorical gateway to the discovery of the true beauty concealed and guarded by the Monumental.

An outdoor art “collection”

Yes, because in this guided tour of the Monumental, our tour guide will show you how this is not just a big and important cemetery full of famous names, but rather how it is a real “open-air museum” representative of the great themes, artistic masterpieces and major artists of the last two centuries. Works that are not only artistically beautiful but also engineered. Mysterious at times, fascinating at others, full of pitfalls and stratagems that you will be invited by our guides to touch upon.
As you read those famous names engraved on the tombstones, our licensed guide will also tell you about how here, in one place, along a vast timeline, art, economic, social and religious history of an entire city is merged. An open-air book from neoclassical architecture, to Art Nouveau, to late-Romantic expressions and the neo-avant-garde, from Canova to Pomodoro to Giò Ponti and Gae Aulenti, peppered with anecdotes and curiosities that animated the discussions of high-society Milanese and shed light on a vivid cross-section of Milan’s customs. A guided tour of Milan’s Monumental Cemetery not to be missed if you want to learn in depth about the mystery and foundations of the city of Milan, those who made it great and those who celebrated it.

Visit the Monumental Cemetery by candlelight

An unmissable guided tour, among the profiles of the great tombs of the Monumental Cemetery, to which is added the experience of lighting our own candle in the outer square of the cemetery, at the end of the tour. Light has always had a clear meaning in pagan and Christian tradition; it is an element of purification capable of giving comfort and showing a way even in the darkest and most difficult moments; hence its ritual value, both as an element of commemoration of the dead and as a symbol of hope and purification. With the intention of evoking ancient traditions, what better destination than the Monumental Cemetery.