One most likely thinks of fashion first when they hear the word, “Milan,” but the city’s cultural riches go deeper and much further into the past than when it became a fashion capital. Before Milan was known for her wealth of incredible design, she was already a great hub of creativity, where wealthy patrons supported talents that have stood the test of time. Da Vinci, for example, spent 18 years of his life at the court of Milan, producing art and working as a military engineer for Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.
He is not the only great master whose work can be enjoyed in Milan, however. The city’s great public art museum, the Brera Picture Gallery, or the Pinacoteca di Brera, boasts a truly extraordinary collection spanning six centuries of European art with artists like Rubens, Titian, Correggio, and Anthony Van Dyck all represented. For those who love art and find a vacation rental in Milan or a villa en Lombardía and plan to delve into the cultural riches of the city, this grand space with its impossible array of masterpieces is an unmissable attraction. Set aside several hours and come get lost in this incredible museum...
Housed in the 14th century former monastery that is the Palazzo Brera and surrounded by botanical gardens, the Pinacoteca di Brera is a truly enchanting space. Upon the dissolution of the Jesuits in 1773, the building was used as the site for the astronomical Observatory and the Braidense National Library, established by the Jesuits and then the site of a herbarium of the newly established botanical garden a year later. Then, in 1776, the esteemed architect Giuseppe Piermarini became a professor at the Academy, which was subsequently founded on the premises. Here they gathered plaster casts after the Antique that were used to educate students of architecture, sculpture, and various other arts.
As time passed, the initial collection of sculptures for educational purposes expanded to include paintings. Eventually, in the 19th century, the academy and the gallery were formally separated, and the gallery opened its doors to the public and is now the city’s largest and most important public art institution. Its collections have also expanded from antique plaster casts to include an exceptional curation of Italian paintings from the Middle Ages onwards, as well as artworks from various other periods and parts of the world. These additions from more recent periods and from other cultures and countries are all well worth seeing but the museum does remain one of the finest destinations to witness the evolution of Italian art in the world, in particular, and is one of the most important museums to visit in Europe, as a result. If you are interested in Italian art, it is truly unmissable.
An impressive, elegant, awe-inspiring space full of works by gifted artists and great masters, this gem of a museum is one of the best in Italy and a highlight of any vacation in Lombardy or holiday in Milan with Italy Villas.
