Milan's Christmas season has two fixed points: the Christmas market around the Duomo, which the city has set for 1 December 2026 to 6 January 2027 (in 2025 it opened daily from 9:00 to 21:00), and the Oh Bej! Oh Bej! fair around the Sforza Castle, held over the Sant'Ambrogio weekend (5 to 8 December in 2025, 9:00 to 21:00). As of October 2026 only the Duomo market's 2026 dates are fixed, by the city's tender covering the 2025 and 2026 editions; the Oh Bej! dates and the opening times in this guide are from the 2025 edition and should be checked against the Comune di Milano's announcement, which usually comes in late November or early December. Around both markets the city lights more than thirty Christmas trees and street illuminations, from Piazza Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II to Piazza Gae Aulenti.
Milan is not an Alpine market town. Its Christmas is spread across the centre rather than packed into one square, and the best days to come are the long weekend of 7 and 8 December, when the city's patron saint, Sant'Ambrogio, and the Immaculate Conception fall back to back. This guide covers each market and tree, when to go, and how to combine them in a day or two.
Oh Bej! Oh Bej!: Milan's oldest Christmas fair
The Fiera degli Oh Bej! Oh Bej! is Milan's own fair, tied to the feast of Sant'Ambrogio (Saint Ambrose) on 7 December. Lombardy's official tourism site describes it as the most traditional event of Sant'Ambrogio week, held for five centuries; some accounts put its origins as early as 1288. The name is Milanese dialect, usually translated as "oh, how lovely!".
The Oh Bej! fair in the 1950s, when stalls of prints and pictures still lined the pavements. Image: Federico Patellani, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Despite the link to the saint, the fair is not held at the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio. It fills the streets around the Sforza Castle and Sempione Park. In 2025 the Comune di Milano listed Piazza Castello, Piazza del Cannone and Via Minghetti, with around 250 illuminated white gazebos and some 45 different kinds of goods.
What you find is a mix that has not changed much: local craft products, roasted chestnuts and sweets, second-hand books, prints and paintings, frames, flowers, toys, wrought iron and copper, clothing and costume jewellery, and Christmas decorations. Look for the stalls selling firunatt, smoked chestnuts threaded on a string to make a long necklace, the fair's traditional snack.
The Sforza Castle fountain on 8 December 2008, the last day of the fair, with the crowds in Piazza Castello. Image: Marco Assini from Italia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Practical info: Around the Sforza Castle (Piazza Castello, Piazza del Cannone, Via Minghetti). 2025 edition: Friday 5 to Monday 8 December, 9:00 to 21:00. Free entry. The 2026 dates had not been announced at the time of writing. Nearest metro stops: Cairoli (M1), Lanza (M2) and Cadorna (M1, M2).
A smaller satellite market, the Alter Bej, ran from 7 to 10 December 2025 on the Bussa overpass (cavalcavia Bussa).
When is the Oh Bej! Oh Bej! fair in 2026?
The fair is built around 7 December, so it falls on the nearest long weekend. In 2026, 7 December is a Monday and 8 December, a public holiday across Italy, is a Tuesday. The organisers have not yet confirmed whether the fair will run over four days as in 2025 or stretch across the whole long weekend. Check the Comune di Milano website (comune.milano.it) or the Lombardy tourism site (in-lombardia.it) in late November.
Go in the morning if you can. By mid-afternoon on the Saturday and on 7 December itself, the main alleys between the gazebos move at walking-in-a-queue pace.
The Christmas market around the Duomo
The Christmas market in Piazza Duomo is the one most visitors see first. In 2025 it had 78 wooden huts and wound along the first stretch of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, around the side of the cathedral (Via ex Camposanto) and along Via Carlo Maria Martini. It opened on 2 December and ran every day until 6 January, from 9:00 to 21:00.
Piazza Duomo at night, with the cathedral's facade behind the Christmas tree. Image: Pjhooker, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The stalls sell nativity figures, decorations and blown-glass baubles, wooden toys, holiday tableware, handmade jewellery and natural cosmetics. Food stalls bring regional products from across Italy: cheeses, nougat (torrone), bottarga and smoked meats. A traditional nativity scene is set up at the market, and there is a Father Christmas house for children.
Part of the stallholders' takings go to charity. In 2025 the beneficiaries included the Opera San Francesco per i Poveri, the Carlo Besta neurological institute's paediatric department and the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, which looks after the cathedral itself.
Practical info: Behind and beside the Duomo (Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, Via ex Camposanto, Via Carlo Maria Martini). 2026 edition: 1 December 2026 to 6 January 2027 (2025 hours: daily 9:00 to 21:00). Metro: Duomo (M1, M3).
The Christmas tree in Piazza Duomo
The tree in front of the cathedral is the centre of Milan's Christmas. In 2025 it was a 29-metre Norway spruce from the forests of Dimaro Folgarida in Trentino, lit on the evening of Saturday 6 December and decorated with 100,000 LEDs and pearl-white baubles carrying the symbols of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games. The tree is sponsored and its theme changes each year; the city's Christmas trees and lights stay up until Epiphany on 6 January.
The Piazza Duomo tree beside the entrance arch of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Image: Luisaugusto.polimiit, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The square is at its busiest on the evening of the lighting and on the weekends after it. For a calmer look, come after 21:00 on a weekday, when the market stalls have closed and the cathedral facade is lit.
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
A few steps from the tree, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II has its own Christmas tree under the glass dome. In 2025 the tree and the vaulted ceiling of the arcade were lit in red. Walk through it from the Duomo to Piazza della Scala, where another tree stood in 2025.
The Christmas tree under the glass dome of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Image: ParsonsPhotographyNL, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The season also brings the opening night of the Teatro alla Scala, at the far end of the Galleria, which Italy's national tourism site lists among the city's traditional Christmas-season events.
Piazza Gae Aulenti and the trees around the city
North of the centre, Piazza Gae Aulenti in the Porta Nuova business district is where Milan's modern skyline meets Christmas. The raised circular square, surrounded by glass towers, had a tree of its own in 2025 run by the Porta Nuova district. It is a good stop in the early evening, when the towers are lit, and the walk from there along Corso Como and Corso Garibaldi leads towards Brera, which has its own street lights.
In 2025 the city's programme listed more than thirty trees and illuminations: in the centre at Piazza Duomo, the Galleria, Piazza della Scala, Piazza Cordusio, Piazza dei Mercanti, Piazza San Carlo and Piazza San Babila; further out at Piazza Gae Aulenti, Piazza Tre Torri in CityLife and Piazza Venticinque Aprile. Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, Corso Buenos Aires and the old Porta Venezia toll houses were among the streets with lights. Traders' associations also light Brera, Via Monte Napoleone, Porta Romana and the Navigli and Darsena canal area.
Practical info: Piazza Gae Aulenti, Porta Nuova. Metro: Garibaldi FS (M2, M5) or Gioia (M2).
One of Milan's trams decorated with Christmas lights, December 2014. Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/psteve/, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sant'Ambrogio: the basilica and the feast
The fair takes its date from Sant'Ambrogio, bishop of Milan in the fourth century and the city's patron saint. His basilica, a short walk south-west of the castle, is one of the oldest churches in Milan, and its brick atrium is a quiet contrast to the market crowds. 7 December is the city's patron saint's day, and 8 December, the Immaculate Conception, is a national holiday.
The atrium of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, the patron saint whose feast on 7 December gives the fair its date. Image: Óðinn, CC BY-SA 2.5 ca, via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Christmas markets and events in Milan
Beyond the two main markets, the 2025 programme included several smaller ones:
- Villaggio delle Meraviglie, the Christmas village in the Indro Montanelli Gardens (Giardini Pubblici), from 15 November to 6 January in 2025, with an ice rink, merry-go-rounds, shows, a Father Christmas house and stalls. It is aimed at families with children.
- Artigiano in Fiera, a large crafts fair at Fieramilano Rho-Pero, held from 6 to 14 December in 2025, with free admission. It is an exhibition-centre event rather than an outdoor market, with exhibitors from around the world.
- Christmas in the Cloister of the Diocesan Museum (Corso di Porta Ticinese 95), a two-day market on 13 and 14 December in 2025.
- Banco di Garabombo, a fair-trade market in the car park on Via Mario Pagano, open through the Christmas season.
- The Christmas Market at Portello (Via Grosotto 7), open until 6 January.
- Palazzo Lombardia's ice rink, in the covered square of the regional government building, from 23 November to 18 January in 2025.
Each December, Palazzo Marino, the city hall on Piazza della Scala, also shows a single masterpiece in its Sala Alessi with free entry. In 2025 it was the Monte San Martino polyptych by Carlo and Vittore Crivelli, on show until 11 January.
A one-day plan for the Sant'Ambrogio weekend
Start at the Oh Bej! Oh Bej! in the morning, when the gazebos are open but the crowds are thinner, and walk through Piazza Castello and Piazza del Cannone. Have lunch near Cairoli, then walk down Via Dante to Piazza Cordusio and the Duomo. Spend the afternoon at the market behind the cathedral, walk through the Galleria to Piazza della Scala as the lights come on, and end the evening at Piazza Gae Aulenti, a short metro ride north.
Tips for visiting Milan at Christmas
- Book early for 5 to 8 December. The Sant'Ambrogio and Immaculate Conception holidays make this one of Milan's busiest weekends of the year.
- Dress for the cold and the damp. December evenings in Milan are often foggy and near freezing; the markets are outdoors.
- Try panettone in a pastry shop. Lombardy's tourism site notes that the city's bakeries are busy baking it in exactly these days.
- Mind your bag. Piazza Duomo and the fair alleys are crowded, and pickpockets work both.
Christmas markets beyond Milan
For a more traditional Alpine market, head north-east by train via Verona to Trento and Bolzano. Our South Tyrol and Trentino Christmas markets guide covers Bolzano, Merano, Bressanone and Trento in detail. Closer to Milan, Lombardy's tourism board lists the Christmas village on the Sentierone in Bergamo and the "Città dei Balocchi" light festival in Como, both easy day trips by train.
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