The Duomo Museum was opened to the public in 1953. My travel guide to Milan and the Lakes (2010) claimed the museum was closed for renovation, but it seems to have reopened in 2013. Although it is not as impressive as, for instance, the Duomo Museum in Florence, the Museo…
It took us at least an hour and a half to get inside the Duomo. Security measures were pretty tight and there was an awfully long queue outside the cathedral. Soldiers in combat fatigues with machine guns were patrolling the streets and guarding the Duomo, one of Milan’s most famous…
The San Gottardo in Corte is a small church near the Duomo of Milan. It was built as a chapel between 1330 and 1336, on the orders of Azzone Visconti, who was Lord of Milan from 1329 until his death in 1339. It was originally part of the Palazzo del…
The church of Sant’Eustorgio can be found some 400 metres south of the San Lorenzo Maggiore. The church dates back to Late Antiquity and is named after the man who was bishop of Milan between 344 and 349, Saint Eustorgius. Also part of the complex is an interesting museum, which…
The name “Brera” apparently derives from a Germanic word, braida, which means “field of grass”. In this part of the city of Milan, traditionally home to many artists, we find the world-famous Pinacoteca di Brera. It can be found in a palazzo that was built for the Jesuit Order in…
The Castello Sforzesco is a huge castle in the centre of Milan, measuring some 190 by 190 metres. Behind it is the Parco Sempione, one of the largest public parks of the city. The Castello houses a handful of a museums that together are called the Musei Civici. You can…
The driving force behind establishing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana was Federico Borromeo, archbishop of Milan from 1595 until his death in 1631. Borromeo, cousin of Saint Carlo Borromeo, was an important figure in the counter-Reformation movement. In 1609 he founded the Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, one of the first public libraries in Europe.…
What a wonderful museum! We had not planned to visit the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, but ended up there by chance. Originally we wanted to go and see the famous Chiaravalle Abbey on the outskirts of Milan. However, the abbey was quite far away and since it was our last day…
One of my travel guides calls the San Simpliciano a “little jewel”. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but the church is worth a visit nonetheless. It is one of the three or four churches in Milan founded by Saint Ambrosius (ca. 340-397). The church was completed in 401…
Saint Ambrosius (ca. 340-397) is credited with founding three or four churches in Milan in the late fourth century. The Basilica Martyrum (now the Sant’Ambrogio) was one of them, the Basilica Virginum (now the San Simpliciano) another. The third church was the Basilica Apostolorum, or the Basilica of the Apostles.…
The Sant’Ambrogio is one of the oldest and most important churches in Milan. Built between 379 and 386 by Saint Ambrosius (Anglicised as Ambrose; ca. 340-397) and later named after him, the church is even older than the San Lorenzo Maggiore. According to a brochure provided by the church itself,…
The San Lorenzo is one of the oldest churches in Milan, and certainly one of the most interesting. It is a centrally planned church, and has often been compared to the San Vitale in Ravenna because of its shape. It is more than a century older though. It pays to…