Duomo di Milano.

“Do you Duomo?” That’s what a new crowd-sourced fundraising campaign is asking the world as it attempts to raise money to complete the restoration of the Duomo di Milano, Milan’s wedding cake-like cathedral, dating back to 1386.

Through “For Italy”, the crowdfunding platform for Italian heritage, the International Patrons of the Duomo di Milano charity hopes to finish the ongoing project in advance of the the Universal Exposition in Milan, which opens May 1, 2015.

“The beauty of this place is not Milanese or Italian or European,” claims the campaign video in an appeal to art lovers around the world. “The beauty of this place is human. It belongs to all of us, wherever we are.”

Duomo di Milano.
Photo: Sarah Cascone.

The campaign is singling out one of the Gothic cathedral’s 3,400 Candoglia marble statues, featuring Italian American Saint Frances Cabrini, as in specific need of restoration. It runs through December 22, with a goal of raising $188,000.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Eataly, the popular upscale Italian supermarket/restaurant chain, which is sponsoring the crowdfunding campaign, has brought a little piece of the Milan Duomo to its New York flagship this fall, hosting an exhibition of sculptures on loan from the Milanese cathedral.

For the next sixth months, the store will display three gargoyle sculptures, as well as an over-one-ton statue of St. Lucia, all original to the cathedral, and a replica of the golden Madonna statue that overlooks the city from its perch atop the Dumo’s pinnacle.

Watch the “Do You Duomo” campaign video: