I have been to many wonderful cathedrals in Europe with the ones in Chartres, Reims, Segovia and Troyes amongst my favourites.

What makes the fine cathedral in Milan unique in my experience is the fact that you can walk around the roof area to get a great perspective of the colossal building and fine views across the city.

I did just this on my last visit to the city in 2014 during a fabulous weekend in which Mrs Wilbur and I also saw Giselle at La Scala, the Last Supper mural by Da Vinci and the Milan football derby in the San Siro Stadium.

Milan Cathedral is dedicated to St Mary of the Nativity and took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the third largest in the world (though some list cathedrals in Seville & New York as bigger) behind St Peter’s in the Vatican City and the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Aparecida in the São Paulo municipality of Brazil, measuring a cavernous 158.6 metres in length, a width of 92 metres and height of 108 metres.

Rather than face hundreds of steps, we took the easy option of the elevator to the roof terraces for the fantastic experience of clambering along the roof top.

The views were excellent despite the afternoon being on the cloudy side and to get up close to all the statues that adorned the cathedral’s pinnacle was wonderful fun. The cathedral also has an astonishing 135 spires pointing majestically to the heavens.

Where is your favourite cathedral?