LucadeaLuca is the creator of this site. He travels the world for work and loves taking photographs and sharing them with all his visitors.

Spikes and arches on Milan Cathedral.
Standing on the rooftop terraces of Milan Cathedral, I found myself surrounded by an extraordinary amount of carved stone, with arches, spires and decorations appearing in almost every direction. It is a completely different perspective from the one you get from the square below, because here you are almost inside the architecture itself.
The main subject of this photograph is the collection of spires and arches on Milan Cathedral, but deciding what to include in the frame was not easy. Every time I moved my eyes, another detail appeared: a statue, a decorative element or a new overlapping arrangement of lines. Photographing such a dense architectural scene without losing the balance of the composition felt like a small challenge.
What struck me most was the feeling of being surrounded by a kind of stone maze. From street level, we are used to seeing the Duomo as one enormous cathedral, while from the rooftops the perception changes completely. The shapes become closer, the proportions are harder to read and the sheer number of architectural elements makes it difficult to understand where one structure ends and another begins.
I took this photograph while visiting the cathedral terraces. I was not trying to make another general picture of Milan Cathedral. Instead, I wanted to preserve the sensation of standing among all those arches and spires, with the carefully worked stone surrounding me.
If you are wondering what to see at Milan Cathedral, the terraces offer a particularly interesting perspective. They are not only a place from which to look across Milan from above, but also an opportunity to get close to architectural details that remain distant and difficult to distinguish from the street.
Milan Cathedral is one of the major examples of Gothic architecture in Italy, and its construction developed over several centuries. One of its most recognisable characteristics is the extraordinary number of spires, pinnacles and decorative elements that shape its silhouette. The famous Madonnina, standing on the highest spire, has also become one of the enduring symbols of Milan.
For this photograph, however, I wanted to stay much closer to the architecture. Rather than looking for the classic image of the cathedral, I chose to concentrate on a small section of the rooftops. Sometimes a detail can tell the story of a building more effectively than a complete view, especially when the architecture is as complex as this.
The biggest difficulty for me was finding a composition that did not become visually confusing. The terraces are filled with architectural elements, and moving only a little can completely change the image. Arches and spires overlap, creating depth while also producing an enormous number of lines that the camera has to organise.
That is one of the things that makes photographing Milan Cathedral so interesting from close range. It is not simply about photographing a famous monument. It is about constantly searching for another point of view. The same building can look completely different depending on the distance, height and portion of the architecture included in the frame.
Standing on the rooftops also makes you realise how much work lies behind the seemingly continuous surface of the cathedral. From a distance, the stone appears almost uniform. Up close, countless details emerge, each with its own shape and position.
I wanted this photograph to retain some of that sensation. I was not simply trying to show that I had visited the terraces. I wanted the image to communicate what it felt like to stand inside that extraordinary collection of forms.
This photograph also connects naturally with other images I have taken over the years of Milan and its landmarks. I enjoy returning to familiar places and looking for a different detail each time, because even a building we know well can reveal an entirely new perspective when we change the way we observe it.
Here, it was the spires and arches that caught my attention. Together they create an almost abstract scene, even though every shape belongs to one of the most recognisable monuments in Italy.
Perhaps that is the real challenge, and also the pleasure, of photographing Milan Cathedral. When there is so much architectural richness in front of the camera, the difficult part is deciding what not to include.

Which detail of Milan Cathedral’s rooftops would have caught your eye first? Add a comment or go to the bottom of the site to read what other visitors have written.

Photo taken with a Canon EOS M100 camera and Canon EF-M 11-22 lens.

To see all the photos I took on the roof and inside the Duomo, click here:

This is the official website of the Duomo: duomomilano.it.

Here is where the Duomo is located:

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