Milan was capital of the Western Roman Empire before it was a fashion capital. Three days trace its layers: 4th-century basilicas and Roman columns, the Visconti-Sforza dukedom, Napoleonic and Risorgimento Milan, and the Piazzale Loreto of 1945.
Founded by Bishop Ambrose in 379-386 AD over a Christian martyrs' cemetery, rebuilt in Lombard Romanesque brick in the 11th century. The crypt holds the skeletons of Ambrose, Gervasius and Protasius in a silver-and-crystal urn. Open 10:00-12:00, 14:30-18:00.
Sixteen Corinthian columns, salvaged from a 2nd-century Roman temple or bath, stand before a basilica begun around 370 AD. Inside, the Cappella di Sant'Aquilino keeps 4th-century gold-ground mosaics of Christ among the Apostles.
Housed in the ex-convent of San Maurizio, this museum sits on the Roman walls: the Ansperto tower and a polygonal tower with 3rd-century frescoes survive in the garden. Collections cover Mediolanum's silverware, the Diatreta Trivulzio cage cup and Lombard grave goods.
The 'Sistine Chapel of Milan', a 1503 Benedictine nunnery church frescoed wall-to-wall by Bernardino Luini and his sons. A dividing wall separated cloistered nuns from the public; the nuns' hall behind it is the more complete cycle. Closed Mondays.
Built 1358 by the Visconti, rebuilt by Francesco Sforza from 1450, later a Spanish and Austrian garrison. The Museo d'Arte Antica holds Michelangelo's unfinished Rondanini Pietà, carved until six days before his death in 1564.
Begun in 1807 as Napoleon's Arch of Victories on the road to Paris, halted at his fall, and completed in 1838 by Austria's Ferdinand I as an Arch of Peace. The bronze Sestiga della Pace on top was turned to face the city as a deliberate snub.
Traces Italian unification from Napoleon's 1796 arrival to Rome in 1870, with the Cinque Giornate of March 1848 at its heart — barricade relics, tricolours and Garibaldi's poncho. Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-17:30.
On 10 August 1944 fifteen anti-fascist partisans were shot here and left on display; on 29 April 1945 Mussolini's body was hung at the same Esso station. A plaque and the Casa della Memoria's records mark both dates.
Beneath Stazione Centrale, the loading dock where 774 Jews were deported to Auschwitz on 30 January 1944; only 27 returned. Original wagons stand on the tracks under the word INDIFFERENZA carved in stone. Sunday to Friday, guided visits.
A 1695 ossuary chapel lined floor to ceiling with skulls and femurs from the 13th-century hospital cemetery next door, arranged in crosses and pilasters. The rococo ceiling fresco was added by Sebastiano Ricci around 1695.
Opened 1866 as the burial ground of Milan's industrial bourgeoisie: Liberty and Art Deco tombs, the Bocconi and Campari family monuments, Manzoni's Famedio, and a memorial to Milanese killed in Nazi camps. Tuesday to Sunday 08:00-18:00.
Cistercian abbey founded by Bernard of Clairvaux in 1135, its brick nolare tower rising over rice fields the monks drained. Alternatively, end at the Vicolo dei Lavandai washhouse on the Naviglio Grande, dug from 1179 to haul Duomo marble.