Milan Duomo lift access

I expect if someone has very impaired mobility the guards would take you down in the lift. The stairs down were not bad as there was a decent sized landing every flight so I could step to the side and let the faster folks go around me. I'm in my early 70's.

BTW, the rooftop access lift only gets you to part of the roof top but not the very top which is accessed by steepish stairs. I did not see an elevator to access this. I have a fear of heights and this scared me but I was determined to get up there. The roof itself is quite flat and I could stay pretty far in from the stone walls. Coming down I thought I might have to sit on my butt and bump down but I just got behind some folks so I could not see the steepness and was OK.

Unless things have changed since 2017, you can take the lift back down. I went both ways. Why would they go down empty? I would not have been able to go up if I'd had to walk down.

Note the following based on my experience:

The entrance to the lift is outside back behind the building. Your bag will be security checked. Having a smaller one is better.

The lift is small and can take only a few people at a time. It does not go all the way to the very top. There are still a few steps up to and down from the main roof level. There are even more and steeper (I think) steps if you want to go all the way to the top. I didn't. I found the views from and close proximity to the gargoyles and buttresses on the main roof level perfectly adequate to my needs.

From the Sonoran Desert SW of Tucson 😉

Thank you so much! I think I get now the purpose of stairs down - if you take a lift down you'll be on the outside of the Cathedral and won't be able to get back inside on the same ticket... am I right?

to answer my own question - the lift takes you up to a certain level of the roof, where you can walk the perimeter alongside the spears. Then you walk past the stairs entrance, where you flow into a group of those who took stairs up. Usually gets crowded from here. Then you start climbing up the steps to the rooftop. At this point you need to realize if you can do it or not. If not - go back to the lift access and talk to the staff. One person from our small group did just that. All the rest went up - and then came down by a lot of steps into the Cathedral. Those are two different flights of stairs - one to go up and one to go down, both quite narrow and steepish. With a constant flow of tourists there is NO way to descend from the rooftop back to the lower level where the lift is. And you can enter the Cathedral anytime during 72 hrs after the date on the ticket. Steps have nothing to do with it. BTW, the roof experience was awsome, but very crowded ( end of September, a weekday, around 11 am).

Our recent experience. It’s a one way route on the roof. You’d have to decide very quickly to go back down. There are a number of steps once on the roof. And then you’re funneled down approx 250 steps back into the cathedral. Not a spiral staircase thank goodness.

I just did this last week. I took lift up. Saw no option for lift down, or would have done that. 95% of the stairs down have no handrails and not much cool air. As someone who did quite a bit of hiking the week before, I found the stairs down challenging due to lack of handrails. They weren't spiral stairs thank goodness.