Museums in Milan Italy

14x Best Milan museums and exhibitions to visit

Milano is a city full of museums, such as the well-known museum Pinacoteca di Brera. An overview of the 14 best museums in Milan Italy:

14x Best Milan Museums

In terms of culture, the city of Milan Italy has a lot to offer, from atmospheric neighborhoods and cozy squares with restaurants and bars, to musical events – such as an opera or concert – and fascinating museums. In addition to the various museums in Castello Sforzesco, the football museum Casa Milan and the Pinacoteca di Brera Milan has a lot more to offer if you like visiting museums during your holiday. Within the boundaries of the city center there is a wide range of interesting Milan museums:

1. Pinacoteca di Brera

The Pinacoteca di Brera is an art gallery in the Brera district. This art gallery with mainly classical art is divided into 36 different rooms and each room showcases a specific period, movement or type of art. The Pinacoteca is located in the Palazzo Brera, where you can also visit the Brera library, the astronomical observatory and the surrounding botanical gardens.

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2. Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia

^{Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia}

^{The science and technology museum in Milan}

A former monastery now houses a gigantic science and technology museum and is one of the most impressive and best museums in Milan. Here you can view objects based on Leonardo da Vinci's sketch work, including various real models (and scale models) of submarines and other ships, steam trains and airplanes. You will find seven departments with more than 16,000 objects spread over them. With more than 50,000 square meters of museum, you can easily spend a few hours here – especially when you visit this museum with a family with younger children.

• Location: Via San Vittore 21, Milano (near metro station S. Ambrogio)
• Tickets: 10 € (book your tickets) / 3 - 26 years and 65+ 7.50 €. Tip: When you buy the popular Milan Pass the tickets for the Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia are included.
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 9:30 am - 5:30 pm and Saturday to Sunday 9:30 am - 6:30 pm. Closed on Mondays.
• Website

More info & tickets

3. Pinacoteca Ambrosiana & Da Vinci Code

While visiting the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana you will learn about artists such as Raphael, Botticelli, Caravaggio and Tiziano through the artworks on display. The collection in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, which is located just 200 meters from the Milan Cathedral, contains not only paintings but also manuscripts. Here you can see the Codex Atlanticus - twelve leather-bound manuscripts with texts and drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. Read about Leonardo da Vinci's inventions and see his sketches from airplanes to musical instruments and from nature to weapons.

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^{Library of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana}

^{See Leonardo da Vinci's drawings}

4. Museo del Novecento

This museum is located near the Milan Cathedral and the Palazzo Reale Milano. The museum is located in the Palazzo dell'Arengario and you can mainly see Italian works of art from the twentieth century here. There are more than 4,000 works and, in addition to the permanent art collection, there are also changing exhibitions. The museum is proud of all contributions from private art collectors and continues to receive works that grow the collection. You will feel this pride and passion for modern and abstract Italian art as soon as you step through the doors of this museum.

• Location: Piazza del Duomo, Milano
• Tickets: Tickets 5 € / 13 - 18 years 3 € / 18 - 25 years and 65+ 3 € (Included in the Yes Milano City Pass)
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 9:30 am - 6:30 pm, Thursdays until 8:30 pm. Closed on Monday.
• Website

^{The museum is near the cathedral}

^{Museo del Novecento}

5. Villa Necchi Campiglio

In the east of Milan you will find - surrounded by beautiful gardens - Villa Necchi Campiglio. This museum is a villa from the 1930s and not only will the architecture appeal from the outside, the interior is also worth a visit. You will see furniture from the same period in which the villa was built, but also statues, paintings and a large library. What you will especially notice is the windows at the veranda, which was very innovative in design for that time. Because of the surrounding gardens, these windows (with plants just outside the windows) make you seem to be in the middle of nature. You will forget for a moment that you are in the center of Milan.

• Location: Via Mozart, 14 (200 meters from Palestro metro station)
• Tickets: 15 € and 6 - 17 years 9 € (book your tickets)
• Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
• Website

More info Necchi Campiglio

6. Museo Poldi Pezzoli

This museum – an old residence with a private collection – is located near the Teatro alla Scala and a visit to both can be easily combined. Museo Poldi Pezzoli is a reminder of Poldi Pezzoli who left this house (including all collected art) to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. Fortunately, during the bombing raids in the Second World War, all works of art that could be moved were safely stored and therefore well preserved. When you go to Museo Poldi Pezzoli, you will probably recognize a number of other art objects and their makers in addition to Italian works, because Flemish and Dutch artists are also well represented here. You can see here not only paintings and sculptures, but also furniture, jewellery, glassware, fabrics and timepieces.

• Location: Via Manzoni 12 (200 meters from the Duomo)
• Tickets: 14 € and reduced tickets 10 € (book your tickets)
• Opening hours: Daily from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm (closed on Tuesdays)
• Website

7. Gallerie d'Italia

Museum Gallerie d'Italia is located in three locations: in Milan, Naples and Vicenza. The museum in Milan is also called Gallerie di Piazza Scala, because it is located on this famous square. You can recognize the architecture of a sofa from both the outside and the inside. It used to be, before it displayed Italian art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The special thing about this museum is that a balanced balance between the artwork and the rest of the space has been sought in each space. This is reflected in the colors of the walls and how lighting is applied. The property itself is interesting for its richly decorated floors, pillars and ceilings.

• Location: Piazza della Scala (200 meters from the Duomo)
• Tickets: 5 € / 65+ 3 € / Till 26 years 3 €
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 am to 7:30 pm, Thursday until 9:00 pm
• Website

8. Museo Storico Alfa Romeo

This museum requires you to leave the city. The official museum of Alfa Romeo is located about ten kilometers outside Milan, in the place Arese. As an admirer of Alfa Romeo's past or as a car enthusiast in itself, you can see various cars and motorcycles of this brand here. The building in which the museum is located used to be the production factory of cars. Spread over six floors, you will not only look at the history and car models of Alfa Romeo, but also at their contribution to other modes of transport, such as locomotives, tractors, buses and trams. The Alfa Romeo race cars and the prizes they have won have also been given a place here.

• Location: Viale Alfa Romeo, 20020 Arese (10 km outside the city)
• Tickets: 15 € / 65+ 12 € / 6 - 18 years 8 €
• Opening hours: Wednesday to Monday from 10:00am to 6:00pm, Thursday until 10:00pm and Tuesday closed
• Website

9. Bagatti Valsecchi Museum Milan

Not far from Museo Poldi Pezzoli is Museo Bagatti Valsecchi, a museum in the former House of Baron Bagatti Valsecchi. The house dates back to the sixteenth century and is valuable in its own right in terms of construction and lavish decorative elements, but the exhibits on display include paintings, weapons, armour, furniture, glassware and objects in leather. The most special, however, is the library, where the ceiling is sure to grab your attention. It is a heavenly blue with golden stars. Apart from the ceilings, the former house itself is also impressive because of the fireplaces, stairs and floors.

• Location: Via Gesù, 5 (500 meters from Duomo near Montenapoleone metro station)
• Tickets: 12 € and reduced price 9 € (book your tickets)
• Opening hours: Friday to Sunday from 1:00pm - 5:45pm
• Website

10. Armani/Silos

The Armani/Silos museum has four floors and you should visit it if you are interested in fashion in general, or if you are a fan of the designs of Armani. The museum is located in an old grain silo, hence the name Armani/Silos. Interesting fact is that Armani himself led the renovation of the building. That's why it's even more special to see the museum with a total of nearly a thousand of its garments and accessories. In terms of light, colors and use of materials, each room is designed in such a way that each design (or group of garments in the same style) comes into its own perfectly.

• Location: Via Bergognone, 40 (200 meters from P.Ta Genova FS metro station)
• Tickets: 12 € / Under 26 years 8.40 € / Students and over 65s 6 €
• Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday 11:00 am - 7:00 pm
• Website

11. Pirelli Hangar Bicocca

In this old Pirelli (tyre) factory – which is still easily recognizable from the outside – you will be amazed as a lover of modern art. Almost ten years ago, this location, at a considerable distance from Milan city center, opened with no less than 11,000 square meters of space for exhibitions, partly permanent, partly variable in nature. Visitors are especially excited because of the space (both height and surface) that art objects can get here. The large hall can accommodate towering works of art and the purity of the main structure of the property makes every work stand out perfectly. In the garden around the old factory you can also see a few art objects.

• Location: Via Chiese 2 (600 meters from metro station Sesto Marelli)
• Tickets: Free entry
• Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday 10:30 am - 8:30 pm
• Website

12. Casa Museo Boschi di Stefano

In the Zona Buenos Aires neighborhood, you'll find Casa Museo Boschi di Stefano, a museum housed in the apartment of the former owner who lived here with his wife and collected art. It mainly concerns artworks from the twentieth century. You can be fascinated not only by the private collection of works of art, but also by the Art Deco apartment itself and the furniture pieces that are still in the interior. The many prints, such as in the fabrics that are used, are special, but the use of color that can be seen in the bathroom also remains special.

• Location: Via Giorgio Jan, 15 (next to metro station Lima)
• Tickets: Free entry
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
• Website

13. Leonardo3 Museum – The World of Leonardo da Vinci

The Leonardo3 Museum is close to other attractions such as the Teatro alla Scala and the Gallerie d'Italia. The entrance to the museum is at the entrance to the covered shopping arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Have you always been interested in how an inventor arrives at his designs? Then this is the museum you want to visit. All the instruments and machines you see in this museum are based on the drawings and ideas of Leonardo da Vinci. Often these are real designs, sometimes they are only presented digitally.

• Location: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
• Tickets: 15 € and 7 - 18 year 9 € (book your tickets)
• Opening hours: Daily from 10am to 6pm.

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14. Natural History Museum of Milan

The Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano has been around for almost 200 years, after Giuseppe de Cristoforis (nature lover) handed over his entire collection to the city. In order to properly display the collection, a building was set up in a corner of the Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli. You can view five different collections in the Natural History Museum, covering mineralogy, paleontology, the human body and animals. This last category is still divided into animals with and without a skeleton. Especially the dioramas attract attention, because animals are shown in their natural habitat. The property itself and the gardens surrounding it are also worth a look.

• Location: Corso Venezia, 55 (next to metro station Palestro)
• Tickets: 5 € and reduced tickets 3 € (Included in the Yes Milano City Pass)
• Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm

More museums in Milan Italy