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It can be overwhelming when visiting a new city for a short break, especially when trying to decide what places are the best to go visit.
I have created a guide to the main museums and exhibitions in Milan, which are followed by an honest review to offer an insight into the city from someone who has visited the museums.
Royal Palace of Milan
Key information:
P.za del Duomo, 12, 20122 Milano MI, Italy
A 2 min walk from cathedral
The Palace is open everyday, excluding Mondays, from 10am to 7:30pm, with longer opening hours on Thursdays in which it closes at 10:30pm
The price to enter the Palace is €15 or €10 if you are a student
Overall score - 3/5
The Palace is an example of 18th century architecture and was the seat of government in Milan.
The city of Milan purchased the palace in 1965 to use as a museum and temporary exhibitions.
The palace is home to contemporary art work collections, and more than 1,500 pieces of art are displayed annually.
The Palace hosts an array of exhibitions surrounding a host of topics from art, photography, fashion and notable Italians, making it a great place to soak in both culture and history in an impressive building.
A current exhibition named ‘Philippe Halsman. Flash of genius’ focuses around his career in photography, offering a greater insight into one of the greatest portrait photographers in history, having photographed some of the most famous names in the world, including Marylin Monroe, Winston Churchill and Judy Garland.
Some of Halsman’s most famous photographs include those where his subjects jump in the air offering a true insight into the character of some of the most notable faces.
I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Royal Palace of Milan, particularly the exhibitions which were held as they were thoughtfully created and offered a real insight into famous Italians’ lives in a provoking and interesting manner.
A visit to the Royal Palace of Milan is wholly worthwhile, given the mixture of history, architecture and culture in one museum.
Brera Art Gallery
Key information:
Via Brera, 28, 20121 Milano MI, Italy
A 12 min walk from cathedral
The gallery is open everyday, apart from Monday, where it opens at 8:30am and closes at 6pm
The ticket price is €15 to enter
Overall score - 5/5
The Gallery is the main public gallery in Milan and is home to some of the most famous Italian masterpieces and art from as early as the 13th century.
The Gallery opened in 1809 was created to display the finest artworks and was ultimately dedicated to improving the education of students, and since the mid-18th century, it has housed the Academy of Fine Arts.
The art pieces are displayed in chronological order throughout the first floor of the building, making the museum both well organised and extremely easy to navigate.
While the Brera Art Gallery is noted as one of the most important art museums in Italy, many visit Milan being unaware of its mere existence despite it boasting a fascinating collection of some of the most talented European artists, such as Piero della Francesca and Caravaggio.
The Gallery is a must see for those art enthusiasts who wish to see a real mixture of iconic paintings alongside some less well known paintings situated in a stunning building which really reflects the artwork it accommodates.
If you visit the museum, make sure you see ‘The Marriage of the Virgin’ by Raphael and ‘The Lamentation over the Dead Christ’ by Andrea Mantegna, which are among some of the most impressive and revolutionary pieces of art in the world.
The Brera Art Gallery was one of the most organised and well explained museums I visited in Milan, making it really captivating and interesting.
The mixture between iconic must see paintings, as well as lesser known pieces, made for a really insightful visit.
Palazzo Morando Costume Museum
Key information-
Via Sant'Andrea, 6, 20121 Milano MI, Italy
A 12 min walk from cathedral
The museum is open everyday from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10am to 5:30pm, and it is free entry to visit the museum
Overall score - 4/5
Located in the heart of the shopping district of Milan, the Palace has housed fashion and artworks that display the city’s societal evolution from the 17th century up to the early 20th century since it opened in 2010.
The museum is housed in a Palace which was built in the late 16th century, and throughout history has been occupied by significant aristocratic families until 1903.
Within the museum, there is a real mixture of art pieces, furnishings and costumes which illustrates the development of Milan, as well as offers a reminiscent tour through the decoration which showcases elite 18th century Milanese taste.
The layout of the museum is impeccable, as it both highlights the history and evolution of the city through clothing which is particularly unusual.
Furthermore, both the building and the displays are aesthetically pleasing which makes it an ideal place to visit, particularly if you enjoy learning about the origins of modern Milanese culture which is clearly emulated throughout the Palace.
There is simply no other museum quite like the Palazzo Morando Costume museum, which perhaps can make it a rather niche visit, however as my visit continued I became much more knowledgeable about both the history of Milan, as well as how that connects to the fashion of the day.
The museum can sometimes lack extra information, meaning that background research is useful, yet it was well considered and incredibly impressive.
Fondazione Prada Museum
Key information-
L.go Isarco, 2, 20139 Milano MI, Italy
A 45 min walk from cathedral or a 20 min journey on metro
The museum is open every day of the week, from 10am to 7pm
The ticket price is €15 or €12 if you are a student
Overall score - 5/5
The Fondazione Prada museum in Milan was opened in 2015, having been designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.
Koolhaas is widely regarded as a deconstructivist which is shown through his use of asymmetry and colour.
In 2008, Time magazine named him in their top 100 list of ‘The World’s Most Influential People’.
The building itself is situated in a former factory, which included warehouses and a brewery, and was built in the 1910s.
Strikingly when you enter the museum you are greeted with a building, named the ‘haunted house’, which is seemingly covered in gold paint.
However, the building is actually clad in 4 kilograms of gold leaf, which cost roughly £75,000 and took over three months to complete, making a journey just to see the architecture well spent.
Koolhaas’ architecture eloquently mirrors the museum which is filled with bold modern and contemporary art.
The museum is vastly covered in diverse, compelling and well designed exhibitions, both permanent and temporary.
A hidden gem inside the museum is the cafe named Bar Luce, which was designed by filmmaker Wes Anderson.
The interior of the cafe, which is based around the aesthetic of the 1950s, is strikingly opulent whilst feeling warm and comfortable, making it the ultimate place to visit for lovers of all things vintage.
For me, the most striking part of the museum was both the architecture which all blends together creating the most modern, yet luxurious, feel.
I found the layout of the exhibitions to be extremely simple to navigate, even though it is a larger museum which is crammed with striking contemporary art.
Sitting within Bar Luce I felt I was on a film set, as everything appeared and felt very authentic, making it a real highlight of the museum.
The museum is a little out of the centre of Milan, meaning that the museum is not nearby other attractions or shops, so I would ensure that you plan your day around this fact.
Mudec Museum
Key information:
Via Tortona, 56, 20144 Milano MI, Italy
A 40 min walk or 30 min tram to Duomo
The Mudec museum is open every day but opening times vary
It is free to enter the Mudec museum
Overall score 4/5
Opened in 2015, the Mudec Museum of Cultures focuses solely on ethnography and art.
The museum is located within the former Ansaldo factory, in the Tortona District of Milan.
The museum is dedicated to the preservation and analysis of cultures throughout history, notably assessing globalisation and imperialism.
Mudec has a permanent exhibition, which is set across five rooms and focuses on how modern Milan is linked to an array of communities and cultures worldwide.
The museum contains over 9000 artworks, textiles and artefacts from all around the world which help to represent the constant diversity within human cultures within a specific time period.
A temporary exhibition which is currently being displayed is named ‘Exposure - Art, culture, fashion in and out of the showcase’, and this offers a greater look at objects of historical significance from a different perspective.
The concept around the exhibition is to reflect on the importance of a typical museum display, involving a glass display case which helps to neutralise an object, whilst simultaneously exposing it for public view.
Towards the end of the exhibition, there are less and less glass cabinets to amplify the importance of particular objects, creating a symbolic and thought provoking exhibition.
I found the Mudec museum to have the most engaging and engrossing displays and exhibitions, as they not only focused on the history of Milan but how this connects to the wider world.
The variety of objects within the displays made the whole museum more interesting, as there was artworks, clothing and artefacts which were all linked together by the theme of the exhibition.
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