Overview
Visitors are not drawn to Milan for its culture, which is a pity
since in the centre od the city there are many museums and a particularly
good selection of world-class art exhibitions and individual pieces.
Everyone has heard of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper,
recently restored and in the Dominican convent of Santa
Maria delle Grazie.
However, the less famous Brera Gallery is an international
treasure house (on a par with the Uffizi Gallery in Florence or
London’s National Gallery) and Michelangelo’s last work,
the extraordinary Pieta Rondanini, in the civic
galleries of the Sforza Castle, is a surprise find for many of the
city’s visitors.
Sightseeing is made easier in Milan by the proximity of attractions
to the city’s Duomo (Cathedral). Visitors
should not be afraid to explore on foot, ignoring the efficient
transport services whenever time permits. The centre has an attractive
number of pedestrianised quarters where a cocktail of architectural
styles often stand shoulder to shoulder with the very modern, to
a very stylish effect.
The pace of Milan can be unrelenting. Visitors embracing the invigorating
tonic of city life will need to balance their time just as the Milanesi
do. Urban romantics will enjoy wandering the southern stretch of
the historic centre, taking in the canal banks of the Naviglio
Grande, where the old wash houses can still be seen, exploring
the University district and the historic collection of basilicas
Sant’Eustorgio and Sant’Ambrogio.
The city parks, Parco Sempione and the Giardini
Pubblici, are to the north and pleasant enough for a break
on a sunny day.
Tourist
Information
Azienda Promozione Turistica del Milanese (APT)
Via Marconi 1
Telephone number: 02 7252 4301. Fax number: 02 7252 4350.
E-mail: apt.info@libero.it
or apt.milano@trentino.it
Website: www.milanoinfotourist.com
Opening hours: Monday-Friday 0845 hrs-1900
hrs, Saturday 0900 hrs-1300 hrs and 1400 hrs-1800 hrs, Sunday 0900
hrs-1300 hrs and 1400 hrs-1700 hrs (winter); Monday-Friday 0830
hrs-2000 hrs, Saturday 0900 hrs-1300 hrs and 1400 hrs-1900 hrs,
Sunday 0900 hrs-1300 hrs and 1400 hrs-1700 hrs(summer).
There is another tourist information office in Stazione Centrale,
Piazza Duca d’Aosta, on the first floor (telephone number:
02 7252 4360), open Monday-Saturday 0800 hrs -1900 hrs, Sunday 0900
hrs -1230 hrs and 1330 hrs-1800 hrs.
Passes
The Welcome Card includes a one-day public transport
pass, a short history of the city, a map of the city (and includes
public transport routes), discount vouchers for selected shops and
a CD compilation of classical music. Unfortunately, no discounts
or free entrance to tourist sights are currently offered. The card
can be purchased at a cost of €8.00 from the tourist information
office.
Key Attractions
Duomo (Cathedral)
In the heart of the city, Milan’s Duomo is the world’s
largest Gothic cathedral, begun in 1386 and added to each century
thereafter. The best time to come and visit is in bright sunshine,
when the windows create a kaleidoscope of colour through the cavernous
interior. St Charles Borromeo, its most important
benefactor and lies buried at its heart. A champion of the Counter
Reformation, he commissioned the wooden choir and many of the statues
plus the nivola, the peculiar basket that is used in one of Milan’s
stranger ceremonies. Twice a year (May and September), Milan’s
most important relic, a nail from the cross of Christ, which has
been displayed over the high altar since 1461, is brought down by
the bishop who is then hoisted up there in the nivola. Visitors
should explore the underground octagonal chamber where Borromeo
is buried (Lo Scurolo di San Borromeo) and the adjacent Treasury.
World War II bombs thankfully just missed the Cathedral’s
roof, which nests amid a majestic web of flying buttresses, spires
and pinnacles. Above the forest of 135 spires and more than 3,400
statues, the small gilded copper statue of the Virgin, the
‘Madonnina’, erected in 1774, stands over the
central lantern, 108.5m (119ft) above the city; the statue is lit
at night. Visitors should take the lifts outside the apse to avoid
climbing the 158 stairs. On a clear day, the view north extends
as far as the Alps. Il Museo del Duomo
next door is well worth a visit. Tickets cost €6 (concessions
are available).
The front of the Duomo is currently covered with 7,000 square metres
of plastic-faced scaffolding. This is the only way to reach the
12 spires of the upper facade. It may be two years or more before
this comes down, depending on the amount of restoration work needed
at the top of the front facade.
Piazza del Duomo
Telephone number: 02 7202 2656. Fax number: 02 7202 2419.
E-mail: fabbrica@duomomilano.it
Website: www.internetlandia.com/duomo
Transport: Metro Duomo; bus 2, 3, 8, 15, 18 or 19.
Opening hours: Daily 0700 hrs -1900 hrs.
Admission: Free (cathedral); €1 (treasury); €5 (terrace
by lifts); €3.50 (terrace by stairs); €3 (autoguide hire
- €5 if returned after 1730 hrs).
Galleria
Vittorio Emanuele II
Entered from the Piazza at the front of the Cathedral, the glass-domed
cruciform Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery is a vast Belle Epoque shopping
arcade. It was built to link the Piazza del Duomo to the Piazza
della Scala and soon became Milan’s conservatory. Winter and
summer, Milanesi can be seen here, escaping the rain, browsing the
exclusive shops and sipping Campari and soda in the bars.
Piazza del Duomo
Transport: Metro Duomo; bus 2, 3, 8, 15, 18 or 19.
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours (shops, bars and restaurants close
at various times).
Admission: Free.
Museo Teatrale
alla Scala (Theatre Museum at La Scala)
Opera lovers should visit this museum, crammed with rich mementoes
of the celebrated opera house, La Scala. Two halls are devoted to
Milan’s darling Verdi, whose ‘Slaves Chorus’ from
Nabucco remains the unofficial Italian anthem. Memorabilia include
the spinet on which he learned to play, scores in his own hand and
the jewel-encrusted baton presented to him after the triumphal reception
of Aida. Rossini, Puccini and Toscanini are honoured alongside him.
Palazzo Busca, Collegio San Carlo, Corso
Magneta 71
Telephone number: 02 4691249.
Website: www.lascala.milano.it
Transport: Metro Conciliazione or Cadorna. Tram: 19, 24, 29, 30.
Bus 94.
Opening hours: Daily 0900 hrs -1800 hrs.
Admission: €5.
Santa Maria
delle Grazie
The Last Supper (Il
Cenacolo) is one of the most famous paintings in the world. Lodovico
Sforza commissioned Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece
(1495-97) for the refectory adjoining the Dominican church of Santa
Maria delle Grazie. The painting depicts the moment of Christ’s
revelation of the betrayal. The 12 apostles are grouped into threes
with Christ at the centre, Judas (described by Vasari as a ‘study
in perfidy’) to the right, his hand frozen on the bag of silver
on the table. The positions of the figures are thought to relate
to the signs of the Zodiac. Over the years some paint flaked off
because Leonardo applied it directly to dry plaster (fresco secco)
instead of bonding the pigments with wet plaster (buon fresco).
Controversy rages over the recent removal of layers of corrective
overpainting during the 18th and 19th centuries. Despite deterioration,
the painting is lucky to have survived as a bomb destroyed the refectory
roof in 1943, and the experience of seeing it for the very first
time is quite unforgettable.
Piazza Santa Maria
delle Grazie 2, Corso Magenta
Telephone number: 02 498 7588; reservations 02 8942 1146.
Transport: Metro Cadorna; tram 20, 24, 29 or 30.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 0815 hrs-1845 hrs, Sunday 0900 hrs-2000
hrs; visits are limited to 15 minutes, in groups of twenty; booking
is mandatory and reservations are only accepted 60 days prior to
visit (credit cards are not accepted). Opening times can vary.
Admission: €8 (plus €1 reservation fee); €11.25 with
guided tour, in English 0930 hrs and 1530 hrs.
Museo
d’Arte Antica del Castello Sforzesco (Museum of Historic Art
of the Sforza Castle)
Three municipal museums compete for attention within the redbrick
15th-century Sforza Castle on the edge of the Parco
Sempione, but the most venerable is the Museum of Historic
Art. Visitors come to see Michelangelo’s last work,
the unfinished Pietà Rondanina, depicting
the Virgin cradling the body of Christ, which was bought by the
museum in 1952. The sculpture’s rough surface and abstract
sinuosity is strikingly modern.
Upstairs, above the extensive sculpture galleries, there is a large
collection of paintings, including notable works by Mantegna,
Antonello da Messina and Leonardo da Vinci.
Besides the combined Museum of Historic Art and the Pinacoteca del
Castello which houses Italian paintings from the 13th to 18th century,
the other two museums, the Museum of Applied Arts
(exhibiting wrought-iron work, ceramics, ivory and musical instruments),
and the Archaeological Museum, are housed in the
fortress (Rocchetta).
Piazza Castello
Telephone number: 02 6208 3940.
Transport: Metro Cairoli or Cadorna; bus 43, 57 or 70; tram 1, 4,
12, 14, 20 or 27.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 0930 hrs-1730 hrs.
Admission: Free.
Museo Poldi-Pezzoli
(Poldi-Pezzoli Museum)
The Poldi-Pezzoli Museum’s varied and often exquisite collection
of art, furnishings and historic arms was put together by the 19th-century
aristocrat, Gian Giocomo Poldi Pezzoli (1802-79).
Milan’s favourite painting (after The Last Supper), Antonio
Pollaiolo’s Portrait of a Lady, hangs here. The profile
portrait of an elegant and well-attired lady has since become an
icon for Milan’s own style and elegance. The museum also hosts
paintings by Andrea Mantegna and Sandro
Botticelli.
Via Manzoni 12
Telephone number: 02 794 889 or 796 334. Fax number: 02 454 7384.
E-mail: info@museopoldipezzoli.org
Website: www.museopoldipezzoli.it
Transport: Metro Duomo or Montenapoleone.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 1000 hrs-1800 hrs.
Admission: €6 (concessions available).
Museo
Bagatti Valsecchi (Bagatti Valsecchi Museum)
The Palazzo Bagatti Valsecchi, built by two brothers
in 1883 as their ideal Renaissance household, but was only opened
as a museum in 1994. Avid collectors of antiques from the 15th and
early 16th centuries, they furnished all the rooms with their vast
collections. The result is a fascinating insight into the mentality
of 19th-century Milan, which had just recovered its independence,
nostalgically going back to the days of the Sforza. Highlights of
the collection include the fine painting of Santa Giustina
by Bellini and the exquisite majolica and Venetian
crystal glassware.
Via Santo Spirito 10/Via Gesù
5
Telephone number: 02 7600 6132. Fax number: 02 760 14859.
E-mail: info@museobagattivalsecchi.org
Website: www.museobagattivalsecchi.org
Transport: Metro Montenapoleone or San Babila; bus 54, 61 or 73
to San Babila; bus 94 to Piazza Cavour; tram 1 to Via Manzoni.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 1300 hrs-1745 hrs. By appointment
only in July and August.
Admission: €6 (€3 on Wednesday); concessions available.
Pinacoteca di Brera (Brera Picture
Gallery)
Napoleon, whose statue by Canova stands in the courtyard, opened
the Brera Picture Gallery in 1809, a collection that was enriched
with objects confiscated on his various Italian campaigns. Formerly
a Jesuit Academy of Science, the Brera’s name comes from the
meadows in which it once stood. The collection is best known for
its Venetian and Lombard masters. Particularly fine are the lyrical
Pietà by Giovanni Bellini,
depicting the death of Christ, and Mantegna’s
virtuoso treatment of the same subject, the body foreshortened and
viewed from the soles upward. Tintoretto’s gruesome depiction
of the spirit of St Mark hovering over his cadaver,
appearing to the Venetian merchants in the gloom of the Alexandrian
catacombs, is hard to miss. Raphael’s Wedding of the
Madonna and two rare works by the enigmatic Piero
della Francesca should also not be overlooked. The Baroque
masterpieces include Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus,
dramatically staging the New Testament scene in a pool of light.
Via Brera 28
Telephone number: 02 8942 1146. Fax number: 02 720 01140.
E-mail: brera.artimi@arti.beneculturali.it
Website: www.brera.beniculturali.it
Transport: Metro Cairoli or Lanza or Montenapoleone; tram 1, 4,
8, 12, 14 or 27; bus 61 or 97.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 0830 hrs-1915 hrs; Saturday until
2300 hrs (June-September).
Admission: €5 (concessions available).
Museo
Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnica Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo
da Vinci National Science and Technology Museum)
In the city of the Last Supper, interest in the creative genius
of Leonardo da Vinci is understandable. Most visitors
come to this museum, devoted to the history of science, to see the
Leonardo Gallery, with its host of models (both static and functioning)
that illustrate da Vinci’s intuitive genius. His designs for
war machines, flying machines, architecture and production awaken
admiration for a man whose ideas, even when not 100 per cent successful
(such as the rotating screw, claimed as a precursor to the helicopter),
display incredible foresight.
Via San Vittore
21
Telephone number: 02 485 551.
E-mail: museo@museoscienza.org
Website: www.museoscienza.org
Transport: Metro San Ambrogio; bus 50, 54, 58 or 94.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday 0930 hrs-1700 hrs, Saturday and Sunday
0930 hrs-1830 hrs.
Admission: €7 (concessions available).
Civica
Galleria d’Arte Moderna (Modern Art Gallery)
The Modern Art Gallery is a treat for lovers of 19th and 20th century
art. Housed in Napoleon’s former summer palace on the edge
of the Giardini Pubblici, the extensive collection covers neo-classicism
to the modern day. The Impressionists are well represented in the
Grassi collection, with works by Bonnard, Cézanne,
Corot, Renoir, Sisley and Vuillard. The
gallery also holds numerous works by Umberto Boccioni
(1882-1916), one of the founders of Futurism (approximately 1910).
Palazzo Reale, Via Palestro 16
Telephone number: 02 7600 2819.
Transport: Metro Palestro; tram 1 or 2; bus 94.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 0900 hrs -1730 hrs.
Admission: Free.
Further Distractions
Basilica de Sant’Ambrogio
Built by Saint Ambrose who was the Patron Saint
of Milan, and dedicated to the third-century Martyrs Gervasius and
Protasius, the original basilica dates back to the fourth century.
The three saints’ remains can be viewed in a glass case under
the main altar. Bishop Ambrose’s most famous convert was St
Augustine. The Sant’Ambrogio basilica (9th-12th centuries)
is one of Milan’s finest churches, a monumental building in
the mature Lombard Romanesque style, retaining its early Christian
basilica plan based on the architecture of ancient Rome.
The Chapel of St Victor (Sacello di San Vittore
in Ciel d’Oro), at the end of the south aisle, is a vaulted
funerary chapel built in the church cemetery in the fourth century.
It was lined (in the next century) with superb mosaics, of which
that of St Ambrose may be from living memory. The Museo della Basilica
di Sant’Ambrogio, which includes paintings, fabrics from the
fourth century, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass and mosaics,
has now been divided between the Museo Diocesano and the San Vittore
in Ciel d’Oro part of the Basilica.
Piazza
Sant’Ambrogio
Telephone number: 02 8645 0895.
Transport: Metro Sant’Ambrogio.
Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday-Friday 1000 hrs-1200 hrs and 1500
hrs-1700 hrs; Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday 1500 hrs-1700 hrs only.
Admission: Free.
Il Cimitèro
Monumentale (Monumental Cemetery)
East of Stazione Garibaldi, the Monumental Cemetery, which opened
in 1866, may appeal to romantic souls, happy to leave the bustle
and grime of Milan’s quick and ponder Milan’s dead instead.
Much of the funerary architecture is excellent Art Nouveau, celebrating
the passing of Milan’s rich and famous, including Toscanini,
novelist Alessandro Manzoni and poet Salvatore
Quasimodo. The Palanti Chapel is more poignant, commemorating
the 800 Milanesi killed in Nazi concentration camps. A guidebook
available at the entrance indicates the most notable monuments.
Piazzale Cimitèro Monumentale 1
Telephone number: 02 659 9938.
Transport: Metro Garibaldi; tram 3, 4, 11, 12, 14, 29, 30 or 33;
bus 41, 51, 70, 94.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 0830 hrs-1715 hrs.
Admission: Free. |
