Monumental Cemetery

Monumental Cemetery is a beautiful open-air museum cemetery with admirably decorated graves. Not just tombs, the museum also extends its grounds to Italian sculptures, Greek temples, obelisks and even a tiny version of Trajan's Column. Renowned artists or architects decorate some of the tombs.

It might seem otherwise, but visiting the Monumental Cemetery in Milan is not gloomy or macabre.Some strikingly decorated tombs are—a white carved column depicting the life and death of Jesus Christ, a bronze recreation of the "Last Supper", and the tomb of Arturo Toscanini. The cemetery is trifurcated so that the central part hosts the tombs of Catholics, the right part hosts tombs of the Jewish, and the left hosts tombs of the non-Catholics. The sculptures and paintings adorning the cemetery are works of great talents such as Floriano Bodini, Adolfo Wildt, Mario Palanti, Giacomo Manzù, Giò Ponti, Lucio Fontana, and others. It was initially designed to bury prominent citizens; some famous people buried here include the renowned writer Alessandro Manzoni, Milanese painter Francesco Hayez, Herbert Kilpin, founder of football club A.C. Milan, etc.