The Best Free Walking Tour in Milan

Piazza del Duomo is where this walk begins, standing beneath a cathedral that took nearly six centuries to finish and a facade crowded with more than 3,400 statues. From there your guide leads you into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II — Milan's glass-roofed 19th-century shopping arcade — past the mosaic bull tourists still spin a heel on for luck, and on to La Scala, the opera house that has opened Verdi and Puccini premieres since 1778.

The route continues to Sforza Castle, the red-brick Renaissance fortress the Sforza dukes built to rule and that 19th-century planners once slated for demolition before a restoration saved it, before finishing near Santa Maria delle Grazie, the church that has guarded Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper on its refectory wall since the 1490s. Along the way your guide balances Milan's medieval history with its modern reputation as Italy's fashion and finance capital.