Saint Napoleon belongs more than anything to the political history of Milan. Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio on August 15, 1769, and after about thirty years he manifested his desire to use this date to consolidate and bring back to memory his prestige; so this new date was used to celebrate the founder of the Nouveau Régime. The cult of Saint Napoleon was therefore imposed on the faithful, and the first official celebration took place in 1806. The cult of this saint gave rise to many complaints and protests, as it was a clear abuse of temporal power that even the Pope should have opposed. The birth of this martyr was therefore born from the imagination of Napoleon’s supporters rather than from historical reality.

Tales of the statue in Dome’s building site:

This spire is positioned in correspondence with the central terrace towards the south side. On the top of the spire there is a reproduction of the original. Napoleon is depicted as a holy martyr, bare-chested and with the drape covering his body only partially. The original statue must have had a spear in his right hand, as evidenced by some period photographs.