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MILANO Things to see
In this page:
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Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore
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 The most important testimonial to paleochristian art in Milan, it was built in the fourth century with materials taken from Roman buildings. At the end of the sixteenth century the central part was rebuilt.
It is on a central plan with four squared towers and three chapels. At the front are 16 columns from the Imperial period, perhaps formerly part of a temple that was rebuilt in front of the church to form a quadruple-corniced doorway. Inside, of particular interest is the chapel of Saint Aquilino from the fourth century, which still has its original shape |
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Basilica of Saint Ambrose
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 Together with the Duomo it is the most famous sacred building in Milan.
The original basilica dates to the time of Saint Ambrose (386), was rebuilt and enlarged in the eighth and ninth centuries, and assumed its romanesque appearance between the eleventh and twelvth centuries.
The facade is imposing, with two loggias, one above the other. The sides are flanked by two bell towers: the one on the right, called "dei Monaci," is from the ninth century; the one of the left, called "dei Canonici," with its lesene (fake pillars protruding from the walls) and arches, is from the twelfth century.
The interior, with three naves, holds precious works of art. Those most worthy of mention are the "Sacello di San Vittore in Ciel d'Oro" (Chapel of San Vittore in the Golden Sky), which dates back to the fourth century and is covered with splendid fifth-century mosaics, and the Main Altar, the work of the master Volvinio (835), done entirely in gold, silver, enamel, and hard stone (pietra dura).
From the left nave one arrives at the Canonical Doorway, that part of the basilica built by Bramante in 1492. |
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Sforzesco Castle
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 The castle was Milan's most important secular Renaissance building.
The building began in 1450, upon a preceding construction dating from the fourteenth century. Francesco Sforza wanted it to be his royal domain. It Was enlarged and decorated under Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Ludovico The Moor.
Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Spanish transformed it into a veritable fortress. Later fallen into abandon, it was restored by Luca Beltrami. The complex houses the Castle Museums, which include collections of sculptures, paintings, applied arts, prints, and the historical archive of the commune. Among the artwork worth mentioning are the "Pietą Rondanini", Michelangelo last sulpture; and the following paintings: the "Madonna and the Saints" by Mantegna, a polyptych by Benedetto Bembo, "Madonna with Child" by Giovanni Bellini, the "Pietą" by Bergognone, the "Portrait of a Man" by Correggio and the "Soranzo Portrait" by Tintoretto. Behind the castle extends a beautiful English park, within which one finds the Civic Arena, the Civic Aquarium, the Peace Arch and the modern Art Palace. |
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"Cenacolo" of Leonardo da Vinci ("The Last Supper")
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On the back wall of the refectory in the ex-convent of the Dominicans, one can admire one of the most famous frescoes in the world.
Leonardo painted it for Ludovico the Moor between 1495 and 1497.
It represents the last supper of Jesus at the moment in which he announces that he is about to be betrayed by one of his apostoles. |
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Church of San Nazaro Maggiore
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This church was originally built in the time of Saint Ambrose (386), who gathered there the reliquaries of San Nazaro.
Most of the cruciform structure is from the fourth century, but the apse and the tiburium (surrounding the dome) are from the eleventh century. In front of the church is the Trivulzio Chapel, built by Bramantino between 1512 and 1550.
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Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie
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This is one of the most beautiful churches of the Renaissance. It was built between 1466 and 1490 in Gothic-Lombard style by G. Solari and then modified by Bramante, who planned the apsidal part in the form of a large cube with three angles,as well as the polygonal gallery around the base of the dome) . The interior, with three naves, owes its fascination above all to the Renaissance altar of Bramante, surmounted by a white cupola formed by four grandious arches and made even more precious by its decorative engravings. From the altar one passes to the little chapel, also by Bramante, surrounded by a small porch.
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Church of Sant' Eustorgio
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The church was built in the eleventh century on the site of an ancient basilica, and was later rebuilt, except for the apse, around 1190. The side chapels and the splendid Portinari Chapel, an architectural jewel with Tuscan outlines from the early Renaissance, date to the fifteenth century. Near the apse is the bell tower, built between 1297 and 1309. The interior, with three naves, contains frescoes from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries as well as various funeral monuments.
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Duomo
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 This is the principal religious monument of the city and largest construction of Gothic architecture in Italy. Situated in Piazza del Duomo, geographic center of Milan, it measures 11,500 square meters, is 158 meters long and 93 meters wide, surmounted by countless spires, the highest of which measures 109 meters. Construction began in 1386 during the reign of Gian Galeazzo Visconti and continued until the nineteenth century. The name of the architect who drafted the plans is unknown.
The works were directed by a succession of master architects from Lombardy, Campione, France, and Germany. The facade was begun by Pellegrini in the second half of the sixteenth century and finished in 1813 by order of Napoleon. Five sixteenth-century doorways with modern bronze doors open out from corresponding sides of the naves. Higher, above the small gothic windows, the play of spirals begins.
 Both the doorways and the bases of the pilasters are rich in bas reliefs dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The sides of the cathedral, erected between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, are articulated by forty "flying buttresses" (supports united to the pillars by uplifting arches). Of particular interest, in the back, is the transept and the fourteenth-century apse, crowned by spirals rising ever higher, culminating in the central one, placed over the central altar. Throughout the entire edifice are statues made between the fourteenth and the nineteenth centuries. The vast interior, subdivided into five naves, is illuminated by light penetrating the splendid polychrome windows, creating an atmosphere of mystical solemnity.
In the right nave one finds the sarcophagus of Ariberto da Intimiano, archbishop of Milan, creator of the Carroccio (a large four-wheeled chariot, symbol of Milan's independence, and as such carried into battle). In the right transept is the huge monumental gravestone of Gian Giacomo Medici, the work of Leone Leoni (1563).
The main altar is situated at the center of the transept, after which one arrives at the presbytery, planned at the end of the sixteenth century by Pellegrini. A magnificent wooden cantorium on three levels surrounds the altar. Under the presbytery the Crypt opens up. In an adjoining room is the Treasure, with precious ivories, silvers and goldwork. It is possible to climb onto the terraces, in the forest of spirals, and from this point to enjoy a vast panorama of the city. |
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Antonio Mazzotta Foundation
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| The Antonio Mazzotta Foundation was opened to the public in 1994 in a large exposition space recovered during the reconstruction of a silk warehouse from the nineteenth century (Foro Bonaparte, 50). The Foundation is the museum headquarters for the Mazzotta Collection, consisting primarily of works on paper by great masters beginning with the Secessionist period. Klee, Klimt, Schiele and Grozs are among the authors represented. The Foundation is inspired by the model of private American foundations and is continuously organizing expositions of famous modern and contemporary artworks. |
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Gallery of Modern Art
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| In the Civic Gallery of Modern Art, located in the Villa Reale of the via Palestro, the development of nineteenth-century art is documented, from Milanese neoclassicism to the Italian Romantic movement, the realistic program of the "schools" (Piedmont, Lombard, the Tuscan Macchiaioli, Posillipo), the French Impressionist influence in Italy, Realism and Divisionism. The exhibition rooms of the villa have been decorated with paintings, sculptures, furniture, and candelabra consistent with the atmosphere, thus exemplifying the refined Lombard style of decoration from the Neoclassical Age to the Romantic Age. |
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Museum of Contemporary Art
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The CIMAC (Civic Museum of Contemporary Art), inaugurated in 1984, occupies the second-floor rooms of the Palazzo Reale. On exposition are works of Boccioni and of Futurism; of Modigliani, Gino Rossi, Severini; of artists belonging in varying degrees to the twentieth century or to the period falling between the two wars (Carrą, Martini, Sironi, Funi, Rosai, Tosi, Campigli, Guidi, Morandi, De Pisis). Also documented are aspects of the twentieth-century reaction: from the first Italian abstractionism (Licini, Soldati, Rho, Radice, Galli), to the Roman School (from Scipione and Mafai to Pirandello), until the recent works of the Italian panorama.
Also worth mentioning is the recent acquisition of the Jucker collection, with 40 works, among the most important of the panorama of twentieth-century artists, like Mondrian, Kandinsky, Picasso, Matisse, Klee, Sironi, Morandi.
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Duomo Museum
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A visit to the Duomo should be followed by a visit to the Museum beside it (Palazzo Reale, Piazza Duomo, 14). Occupying 21 palace rooms, it contains the most lively and direct documentation of the origins and salient phases of the famous construction: studies, designs, original projects of reformulations and additions (the most notable being old wooden models from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, reproducing the building in its entirety and in its particulars), as well as the best offerings from the period between 1886 and 1888, for the famous worldwide competition for the new facade.
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Ambrosiana Art Gallery
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| The Ambrosian Gallery, together with a library rich in precious manuscripts, is located in the palace constructed by order of Cardinal Borromeo (that of the Promessi Sposi) in 1609. Here one finds paintings, scuptures and objects, especially from the Lombard and Venetian schools of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, and a collection of drawings. Among the most important works: "Madonna with Child" by Botticelli, "Madonna, Angels and Saints" by Bergognone, "Adoration of the Shepherds" by Bramantino, "The Music" by Leonardo, "Beatrice d'Este" by De Pretis, the drawings of the School of Athens by Raphael, "Basket of Fruit" by Caravaggio, "Epiphany" by Tiziano, "Rest during the Flight from Egypt" by Bassano, "Presentation at the Temple" by Tiepolo. |
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Brera Art Gallery
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| The Brera Palace, housing the Gallery, is composed primarily of works of the Lombard and Venetian schools of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. Among the most important are the "Portrait of Portia" and "San Girolamo" by Tiziano, the "Pietą" by L. Lotto, "Dinner in the House of the Pharisee" and "Jesus in the Garden" by Veronese, "Discovery of the Body of Saint Mark" and the "Deposition" by Tintoretto, "Madonna with Child among the Cherubin" and "Dead Christ" by Mantegna, the "Pietą" by Bellini, "Adoration of the Magi" and "Nativity" by Correggio, the "Crucifixion" by Bramantino, "Wedding Ceremony of the Virgin" by Raphael, "Madonna Enthroned, Angels, Saints, and Federico da Montefeltro" by Piero della Francesca. |
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Teatro alla Scala
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It is one of the most famous lyric theaters in the world.
It owes its name to the fourtheenth-century church of Santa Maria della Scala that once stood here. It was built between 1775 and 1778 by G. Piermarini in neoclassical style.
Partially destroyed during the Second World War, it was successively rebuilt. Of the original construction only the interior structures remain. At present it can hold about 3000 spectators, between orchestra level, four rings of boxes and two galleries. |
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Via Monte Napoleone
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| Opened up primarily during the nineteenth century, this is the most luxurious road in the city, with neoclassical palaces and beautiful Milanese shops lining it on either side. |
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