Top 10 Best Photospots in Milan: Capture the City’s Charm!

The best photo spots in Milan are Piazza del Duomo, the rooftops around it, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Piazza dei Mercanti, Brera, Castello Sforzesco, the Arco della Pace, the Navigli canals, the Colonne di San Lorenzo and Porta Nuova with the Bosco Verticale. These are also the Instagram spots in Milan you will recognise from your feed. We are photographers based in Milan and shoot at most of these places with clients; below is what each one looks like in a photo, when to go and what to watch for.

1. Piazza del Duomo

The cathedral facade is the photo everyone comes for, and the square in front of it is wide enough to fit the whole building in one frame. Stand slightly to the left of the centre, towards the Galleria, and the facade rises straight behind you without the side buildings cutting in.

Come early. First thing in the morning the square is close to empty and the white marble is soft; by late morning it is full of tour groups, pigeons and selfie sticks, and no lens hides that. See a couple photoshoot at the Duomo. If you want to know what each hour looks like, see our guide to the best time to take pictures in Milan.

2. The Rooftops Above the Duomo

The Duomo terraces put you among the spires, with the city below and, on a clear day, the Alps behind it. Tickets are sold on the cathedral’s official site, by stairs or by lift. They are fine for your own photos, but staff stop professional photo sessions up there, so we do not take clients to the terraces.

For the same height with the cathedral in front of you, look at the terraces and bars around the square: the rooftop of the Rinascente department store looks straight at the spires, and the big window of the Museo del Novecento, on the square itself, looks straight at the facade. That window is where we photographed this proposal above Piazza del Duomo.

3. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

The nineteenth-century arcade next to the Duomo has a glass dome, a mosaic floor and shop fronts lit like stage sets, which makes it the easiest place in Milan to get a good photo in any weather. It is a public street, open day and night and free to walk through. Early in the morning it is almost empty, and you can shoot the full symmetry of the arms of the cross from the centre under the dome.

Later in the day the light comes from the cafés and the windows: the terrace of Savini and the Prada windows give the warm glow you see in most Galleria photos, like in this couple session at Savini.

Under the dome, look down: the mosaic bull of Turin is set into the floor, and the custom is to spin round on your heel on it for luck, so there is often a small queue. Walk out of the other end of the Galleria and you are on Piazza della Scala, with the opera house on one side and the statue of Leonardo da Vinci in the middle. The theatre is plain from outside, but the square is calm and makes a quick extra stop.

4. Piazza dei Mercanti

Two minutes from the Duomo towards Cordusio, this small medieval square hides behind the main street, and most visitors walk past it. The arcade of Palazzo della Ragione, the stone well and the Loggia dei Mercanti give you columns, arches and shade, which is useful when the sun on the Duomo is already hard. It is one of our favourite quiet corners for couples during a session: see a couple photoshoot under its arcades.

5. Brera

Brera is the old artists’ quarter north of La Scala: cobbled lanes like Via Fiori Chiari and Via Madonnina, ivy on the walls, small cafés with tables on the street. The courtyard of the Palazzo di Brera, with the bronze Napoleon in the middle and two floors of arcades, is the most elegant backdrop in the area. Go in the morning, when the shops are still shut and the lanes are empty.

6. Castello Sforzesco and Parco Sempione

The Sforza Castle is fifteen minutes on foot from the Duomo along Via Dante, and its brick towers and courtyards are free to walk into. Through the far gate you step into Parco Sempione, the city’s central park, with lawns, a small lake and long paths. It is the greenest frame you will find in the centre.

Most visitors photograph the main tower from the fountain and walk on. Go further in: the inner Corte Ducale has a Renaissance loggia and the frescoed arcade called the Portico dell’Elefante, and it is far quieter than the big front courtyard. The brick looks warmest when the sun is low.

7. Arco della Pace

At the far end of Parco Sempione stands the Arco della Pace, a neoclassical arch from the Napoleonic years. The best angle is from the avenue in front of it, where the tram tracks lead your eye straight to the arch. Combine it with the castle and the park and you have a second walk of about an hour.

8. Navigli

The canal district south of the centre is where Milan goes for aperitivo. The Naviglio Grande has pastel houses on both banks, iron bridges and the old covered wash house at Vicolo dei Lavandai. It is quiet in the morning and lively from about six in the evening, when the reflections in the water and the lights of the bars make it the best evening spot in the city.

9. Colonne di San Lorenzo

Sixteen Roman columns stand in a row in front of the Basilica di San Lorenzo, on the way from the centre to the Navigli. Trams run right past them, and in the evening the steps fill up with students. It is a good stop between the centre and the canals, with ancient stone in the foreground and the basilica behind.

10. Porta Nuova and the Bosco Verticale

For modern Milan, go to Piazza Gae Aulenti: a raised round square with fountains, surrounded by glass towers. A few minutes away is the Bosco Verticale, two residential towers covered in trees, and the Biblioteca degli Alberi park at their foot. The area looks good at any hour, which makes it a useful place to go when the historic centre is crowded.

How to Plan Your Photo Walk

Two short walks cover seven of the ten spots. The first, in the morning: the Duomo and its rooftops, the Galleria, Piazza dei Mercanti, Brera. The second, later: Castello, Parco Sempione, Arco della Pace. Leave the Navigli and San Lorenzo for the late afternoon, and Porta Nuova for whenever you have an hour left. Wear shoes you can walk in on cobbles; Milan’s centre is flat but the stones are hard. Keep an eye out for the old wooden trams from the 1920s that still run through the centre, past Piazza della Scala and Cordusio: one passing in the background is the most Milanese detail a photo can have.

Every spot above looks different with people in the frame. Our galleries show real sessions at the Duomo, in the Galleria and under the arcades of Piazza dei Mercanti, and the Milan photoshoot guide has more on light, outfits and places.

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