 Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore
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
Basilica of Saint Ambrose
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.
Sforzesco Castle
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 "Pietà 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 "Pietà" 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.
"Cenacolo" of Leonardo da Vinci ("The Last Supper")
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.
Church of San Nazaro Maggiore
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.
Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie
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.
Church of Sant' Eustorgio
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.
Duomo
The Cathedral is the principal religious monument in the city and the largest Gothic building in Italy. It stands in Piazza del Duomo covering an area of 11,500 square metres, and is 158 metres long, 93 metres wide and surmounted by innumerable spires, the highest of which is 109 metres. Its construction was begun in 1386, during the rule of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and work continued up to the 19th century. In its vast interior, divided into five naves, you will see the tombs of Ariberto of Intimiano, the Archbishop of Milan who created the famous "Carroccio", and of Gian Giacomo Medici, by Leone Leoni (1563). The Cathedral's valuable collection of pieces in ivory, silver and gold is in a room beside the crypt. You can climb up to the roof terrace, in the forest of spires, from where you will have a wide panoramic view of the city. You should also visit the adjacent musuem wich has twenty one rooms with exhibits illustrating the origins of the Cathedral and important periods in its history.
Antonio Mazzotta Foundation
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.
Gallery of Modern Art
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.
Museum of Contemporary Art
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 (Carrà, Martini, Sironi, Funi, Rosai, Tosi, Campigli, Guidi, Morandi, De Pisis). Also documented are aspects of the twentieth-century reaction.
Ambrosiana Art Gallery
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, "The Music" by Leonardo.
Brera Art Gallery
The Brera Palace, housing the Gallery, is composed primarily of works of the Lombard and Venetian schools of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries.
Via Monte Napoleone
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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