Photo from tourism.milan.it

Milan boasts a richness and unique variety of museums. Over the centuries, the long literary, artistic, musical and scientific tradition has made this city into a propeller centre, a crossroads of culture that has left behind numerous traces, now preserved in important museum collections.

Amongst these is the most prestigious, the Pinacoteca di Brera, that preserves artworks of extraordinary artistic value inside its walls, and also the Castello Sforzesco (Sforza Castle) one of the symbols of Milan.

The latter hosts Michelangelo’s Pietà Rondanini in its museums and offers visitors some of the most varied collections, including musical instruments, the Egyptian Collection, the Prehistory and Protohistory Collections and the Museum of Ancient Art.

Worthy of note are the lovely museum houses, testimony to a long tradition of private collection in Milan. They preserve works of art, furniture, jewellery and objects of yesteryear in striking buildings of great historical value, such as the Poldi Pezzoli, the Bagatti Valsecchi, the Villa Necchi-Campigli and the Boschi di Stefano.

The ample scope of cultural museum collections also covers the naturalistic and scientific fields with the Museo di Storia Naturale (Museum of Natural History), the Acquario Civico (Civic Aquarium), the Planetarium and the Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia (Museum of Science and Technology), which is dedicated to the great Leonardo da Vinci and has sections devoted to transport, materials and even the new frontiers of biotechnology and telecommunications.

Milan’s museum network is a sign of cultural vivacity in continuous renewal that involves various subjects, from public, private and ecclesiastical entities to foundations.