The Monumental Cemetery is one of the symbolic places of the city, a sacred place where the greatest Milanese figures are buried. Among the most important tombs we mention Alessandro Manzoni, Giuseppe Verdi, and Salvatore Quasimodo.
Address Piazzale Cimitero Monumentale, 20154 Milano MI Metro Line 5 – Stop: Monumentale
Tickets and opening times
Free entrance. Tuesday to Sunday, from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm. For more information please call +39 02 884 45706.
The Monumental Cemetery is one of the most beautiful places in Milan, a historical and cultural heritage, which was born in 1866 as a cemetery open to all Milanese “to all forms and all fortunes”.
Over the years the meaning has changed a bit and now it is a hymn to the Milanese, a place where the greatest exponents of the city rest. The Monumental Cemetery was designed by architect Carlo Maciachini, it covers an area of 250 thousand square meters in which we find Gothic, Romanesque, Lombard, and Pisan influences with Byzantine inserts, a place of worship and beauty also called an “open-air museum”.
The cemetery is divided into 3 distinct areas: the central one dedicated to the deceased Catholics which is the largest, the right one reserved for non-Catholics, and the left one which is the rectory of the Israelites. One of the most significant areas is the Famedio, or temple of fame, a place where the most illustrious personages are buried, but also the place where the names of the characters that are not buried inside are engraved but have nevertheless contributed to the history of the city, new names are added every year on 2 November.
Inside the Famedio are buried Alessandro Manzoni, Carlo Cattaneo, Luca Beltrami, Leo Valiani, Bruno Munari, Carlo Forlanini and Salvatore Quasimodo, among the names engraved on the outside are Ugo Foscolo, Cavour, Eugenio Montale, De Chirico, Fontana and Boccioni. To get to the Monumental Cemetery you can take the subway, “Monumentale” stop of the metro line M5 Lilla.
At the entrance, there is an Info Point, established in 2013, where you can request the map of the cemetery where the most famous tombs are reported: the cemetery is very large and without a trace, you may run empty for hours. Guided tours lasting an hour and a half are also provided.