80.000 square meters of art and culture are Milan's answer to those who say it is too prosaic and too focused on industry, economy and enterprise and that it doesn't have a true soul: Milan's museums art galleries, temporary exhibitions and splendid monuments attract millions of tourists every year.
To fully understand and love Milan, the best guide to the city would be Leonardo da Vinci, whose Last Supper in the Refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie is one of the six most visited works of art in Europe. Then there is the Castello Sforzesco with its halls covered in frescoes by Leonardo and where the pages of his Codex Trivulziano can be admired (along with the moving and poetic Pietà Rondanini sculpture by Michelangelo).
The Museum of Science and Technology, named for Leonardo, houses a splendid collection of Leonardo miniatures (and the Toti submarine); the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana exhibits his Atlantic Codex and his enchanting Ritratto di Musico, while an enormous horse, also by Leonardo, welcomes smiling visitors to the Trotter. Milan also boasts Leonardo's extraordinary open-air engineering achievement: the Navigli.
But Milan isn't only Leonardo and its museums celebrate two city landmarks: the Scala Theater and the absolute masterpiece, the Duomo, unique in the world and a treasure-trove of priceless artistic and spiritual significance. Not to mention the extraordinary collection in the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Civica Pinacoteca in the Castello Sforzesco, home to works of art by Raffaello, Mantegna, Lotto, Tintoretto, Bramante, Carracci, Reni, Guercino and Hayez and including modern works by Boccioni, Carré, De Pisis, Modigliani and Morandi.
Neither should the great teaching value of our permanent museums be forgotten: the Archeological Museum, the Astronomical Museum of Brera, the Natural History Museum and the Planetarium, the Aquarium and the Alessandro Manzoni Museum in his former residence. Milan also has many smaller yet valuable museums, such as the ones dedicated to Cinema, Toys, the Milan Risorgimento and the Boschi Di Stefano Museum in his former residence.
Visitors also enjoy the private collections in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and in the Bagatti Valsecchi Palace. Milan is filled with splendid art in the basilicas of Sant'Ambrogio, Santa Maria delle Grazie, San Maurizio, San Sepolcro, Sant'Eustorgio and San Lorenzo and large public and private exhibition centers; hold very popular shows dedicated to the most celebrated ancient and contemporary artists: Palazzo Reale, the Triennial, Spazio Oberdan, the Mazzotta Foundation and the Pavilion of Contemporary Art.
All this, along with a rich and varied program of cultural and artistic events, makes Milan one of the most lively and fascinating exhibition cities in Europe and, therefore, in the world.
80,000 square meters of museums and exhibition centers.
15 museums.
5 exhibition centers.
An average of 40 shows per year.
2,000,000 visitors per year.
USEFUL ADDRESSES:
Milan Municipality -Museum and Exhibition Sector, Via Tommaso Marino 7 - Ph. +39 02.88462345.
Milan's Aquarium and Marine Biology Station, Via Gadio 2 - Ph. +39 02.88465750.
