Duomo Milan Weather, Month by Month

The weather here does not just change how comfortable a visit is. It changes whether the best part of it is open at all — the terraces are unroofed marble, and the Fabbrica can close them when the sky turns. The figures below are the Milan city normals, and what you do with them is the rest of this page.

What the weather does to a visit here

Three consequences, in the order they will affect you. The roof closes in bad weather, at the Fabbrica's discretion, and October is the month that becomes likely. There is no shade on the terraces, no shelter and no water, so a 29-degree July afternoon is a physical decision rather than an aesthetic one. The season changes the hours: from 5 June to 13 September the whole complex runs to 8pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and Thursday evenings carry live music on the roof.

The interior is unaffected by all three. On a wet or a very hot day you still have the cathedral floor, the museum and the archaeological area, and you come back for the roof. Your ticket is valid across two days, so splitting it costs you nothing. A Duomo Milan guided tours that refunds up to 24 hours out is the practical answer to an uncertain forecast.

Duomo Milan month by month

January

5.9°C / -0.9°C · 59 mm across 6.7 days. The coldest month, and the clearest. Fog sits in the Po valley but burns off by mid-morning, and on a bright January day the Alps are visible from the terraces — the only time of year that is reliable. Dress for standing still on open marble; you will not be moving fast up there.

February

9.0°C / 0.3°C · 49 mm across 5.3 days. The driest month of the year, at 49 mm across 5.3 days. Queues are at their shortest and the roof is quiet enough to walk without stepping round anybody. Cold on the terraces in wind, mild by noon in the square.

March

14.3°C / 3.6°C · 65 mm across 6.7 days. The month the city warms up and the coaches come back. Highs reach 14 degrees and the light lengthens fast, which matters for the apse windows. Book the roof before the Easter fortnight rather than during it.

April

17.4°C / 7.2°C · 76 mm across 8.1 days. Rain on eight days out of thirty, more than any month so far, and showers that pass rather than settle. Comfortable for the climb and busy with it. Easter shifts the liturgical calendar and can close the nave to visitors at short notice.

May

22.3°C / 11.4°C · 96 mm across 8.9 days. The wettest spring month at 96 mm, and still the best all-round month to come. Twenty-two degrees is warm enough for the terraces and short of the heat that makes them hard work. Book ahead; May is the first properly busy month.

June

26.2°C / 15.4°C · 67 mm across 7.7 days. Serate d'Incanto starts, putting live music on the terraces on Thursday evenings, and extended Friday-to-Sunday hours begin on the fifth. Twenty-six degrees by afternoon. Go up in the evening rather than at two o'clock and you will enjoy it more.

July

29.2°C / 18.0°C · 67 mm across 5.4 days. The hottest month, at 29 degrees, and one of the driest. There is no shade anywhere on the roof and no water on it either. Reviewers of the walking tours here describe 35-degree days; take a two-hour indoor tour instead if you can.

August

28.5°C / 17.7°C · 89 mm across 7.1 days. Barely cooler than July and wetter, with thunderstorms building in the afternoon. Milan empties of Milanese, so the city is quieter and the cathedral is not. Terrace evenings run at 8pm this month rather than 8.30.

September

24.4°C / 14.1°C · 93 mm across 6.1 days. The month to come if you can choose. Twenty-four degrees, the light softening, the summer crowds gone by the second week. The Rite of the Nivola falls on the days closest to the fourteenth and the last terrace evening is on the tenth.

October

17.8°C / 9.8°C · 122 mm across 8.3 days. The wettest month of the year by a distance, at 122 mm across 8.3 days. The terraces close in bad weather and October is when that becomes a real risk. Book something that refunds and keep the roof for a clear morning.

November

10.7°C / 4.4°C · 77 mm across 6.4 days. Grey, damp and cheap, and the quietest the cathedral gets all year. Highs of eleven degrees mean the interior is the comfortable half of the visit. The Quadroni di San Carlo are often still hanging in the nave.

December

6.4°C / 0.4°C · 62 mm across 6.3 days. Sant'Ambrogio on the seventh and the Immaculate Conception on the eighth turn the square into the start of Milan's Christmas. Cold, six degrees by day, and clear enough for the Alps on a good morning. The cathedral runs full feast-day timetables both days.

The seasons, and which one you want

Spring is your best compromise: April and May are comfortable for the climb and you get long light for the glass. Summer buys you the evening openings and costs you the afternoons. Autumn gives you September, which is the single best month here, and then October, when you should keep a refundable booking. Winter is cold, quiet and clear, and the only season in which you can count on seeing the Alps from the roof.

Best time of day

• 9am — doors open, the coaches have not arrived, and your queue is at its shortest.
• Late afternoon — the apse windows take the low sun, and you share the nave with fewer people as the 6pm cut-off approaches.
• Thursday evening in summer — the terraces open late with live music, at €20 by lift.
• Avoid 11am to 3pm between March and October if you are going up onto the terraces.

Frequently asked questions