28 of the best · Milan, Italy
Mantegna and Raphael at Brera, Leonardo’s Codex at the Ambrosiana, the house museums, the Triennale and the Fondazione Prada, Kiefer at the HangarBicocca, and opera at La Scala.
Our 28 favourites, listed A–Z · Updated October 2026
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Three of our favourites from this list, vetted by people who know and love Milan.
Mantegna, Raphael, Caravaggio
Milan’s great picture gallery, now the Grande Brera with Palazzo Citterio.
Via Brera 28, 20121 MilanoExplore View on map
OMA’s gold and white
Prada’s art foundation in a former distillery, transformed by OMA with a sixty-metre tower.
Largo Isarco 2, 20139 MilanoExplore View on map
Opera and ballet
Milan’s opera house: the season traditionally opens on 7 December, the feast of Sant’Ambrogio.
The newest official trailers and upcoming films, updated automatically as they are released. In Milan, look for “versione originale” screenings to see films in their original language.
Trailers play from the official YouTube channels of Rotten Tomatoes Trailers and the studios, and update automatically. Use the playlist button in each player to browse more.
In-depth stories behind the list.
The back story
Mantegna and Raphael at Brera, Leonardo’s Codex at the Ambrosiana, the house museums, and the Milan of design: the Triennale, the Fondazione Prada and the HangarBicocca.
Visual arts
Collectors’ houses, design and the Last Supper.
In the Tortona district
The museum of world cultures in Tortona, home also of Enrico Bartolini’s three stars.
Via Tortona 56, 20144 MilanoExplore View on map
A Renaissance dream
Two brothers’ 19th-century house furnished as a Renaissance palace, on the Via Gesù.
Leonardo’s machines
Italy’s great science and technology museum, with models of Leonardo’s machines.
A collector’s palazzo
A 19th-century collector’s house, with Pollaiolo’s Portrait of a Young Woman.
Book on the official site
Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie: fifteen minutes, up to forty people, booking compulsory.
Design and architecture
The Palazzo dell’Arte at the edge of the Parco Sempione, home of the Italian design museum.
A 1930s villa (FAI)
A 1930s villa with garden, tennis court and swimming pool, run by the FAI.
Old masters at Brera and the Ambrosiana, and the contemporary Milan of the Fondazione Prada.
OMA’s gold and white
Prada’s art foundation in a former distillery, transformed by OMA with a sixty-metre tower.
Largo Isarco 2, 20139 MilanoExplore View on map
In the Villa Reale
19th-century art in the neoclassical Villa Reale, facing its English garden.
20th-century Italian art
Italian art of the 20th century in the Arengario on the Piazza del Duomo.
Great exhibitions
The former royal palace beside the Duomo, now the city’s great exhibition venue.
Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus
The gallery and library founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, with Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus.
Mantegna, Raphael, Caravaggio
Milan’s great picture gallery, now the Grande Brera with Palazzo Citterio.
Via Brera 28, 20121 MilanoExplore View on map
Kiefer’s Seven Heavenly Palaces
Contemporary art in a vast former industrial plant, with Anselm Kiefer’s towers.
Great buildings, old and new.
Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà
The Sforza dukes’ castle, now the home of the city’s museums and Michelangelo’s last sculpture.
Complete
The district of the three towers by Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki and Daniel Libeskind, on the old Fiera site.
Milan’s “Sistine Chapel”
A Renaissance church whose walls are covered in frescoes, split into a church for the public and a hall for the nuns.
Walk among the spires
Milan’s marble cathedral, and the terraces among its spires, below the gilded Madonnina.
Milan’s drawing room
The glass-and-iron arcade between the Duomo and La Scala, with its mosaic floors and historic cafés.
Performing arts
The Conservatorio and the Blue Note.
Plays, musicals and the playhouses.
Europe’s theatre
Milan’s great repertory theatre, with stages near Brera and the Castello.
Musicals and concerts
A large modern theatre for musicals, dance and concerts.
The Teatro alla Scala.
Opera and ballet
Milan’s opera house: the season traditionally opens on 7 December, the feast of Sant’Ambrogio.
Writers, libraries and bookshops.
Herzog & de Meuron
The library and cultural centre in Herzog & de Meuron’s long glass building at Porta Volta.
