5 Art Museums in Milan Worth Your Time

Milan’s Pinacoteca di Brera puts Mantegna within a collection of Italian painting, while across the city, Pirelli HangarBicocca makes room for installations on an industrial scale. If you have time for only one museum, choose by the art you want to spend time with, then consider whether you can stay near the Duomo or make a separate journey.

Which art museum should you choose?

Criterion	Brera	Ambrosiana	Novecento	Fondazione Prada	HangarBicocca
Choose for	Italian Old Masters	Caravaggio and Raphael	20th-century Italian art	Changing contemporary art	Large installations
Full-price admission	€20 combined	€20 combined from 1 October 2026	€10	€15 combined	Free
Time inside	About 1½–2 hours	About 1½–2 hours	About 1½–2 hours	About 2–3 hours	About 1½–2 hours
Weekly closure	Monday	Wednesday	Monday	Tuesday	Monday–Wednesday
Individual reservation	Required	Optional; saves queue	Not required	Not required	Optional; priority entry
From the Duomo	Central	Central	On the square	Separate journey south	Separate journey north

For a first encounter with Italian painting, start at Brera, but choose Ambrosiana instead if Caravaggio and Raphael’s individual works are the draw. Novecento is the central choice for modern Italian art. For contemporary work, Prada rewards a visit across several buildings, while HangarBicocca is the choice for monumental installations.

The central three can fit around other sights on a one-day Milan itinerary. Treat either contemporary venue as its own outing rather than slipping it into a short gap near the cathedral.

Pinacoteca di Brera

At the Pinacoteca di Brera, Andrea Mantegna’s Lamentation over the Dead Christ gives you a reason to slow down before moving through rooms of Italian painting. Choose Brera if you want a broad first encounter with the Old Masters, rather than a visit built around a handful of individual works. Follow the rooms at your own pace and pause at the paintings that catch your attention.

For an individual visit, the Grande Brera ticket includes the Pinacoteca on your selected date and Palazzo Citterio on that day or within the next six days. The gallery-only ticket is for groups and does not include Palazzo Citterio. This gives you the option of separating the two collections rather than seeing them in one stretch.

The photograph below shows artist Cesare Tallone in his Brera studio in 1906. It is a historical image, not a view of the galleries as you will find them today.

Pinacoteca Ambrosiana

At the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Caravaggio’s Basket of Fruit (Canestra di frutta) and Raphael’s preparatory cartoon for The School of Athens make a compelling pairing near the Duomo. The cartoon is displayed in Room 5. Choose this gallery if you want to spend time with specific Old Master works, rather than follow Brera’s wider survey. The Sala Federiciana, with its historic library and a display of Leonardo’s Atlantic Codex, extends the visit beyond the painting galleries.

Gallery admission includes the Sala Federiciana, but the Crypt of San Sepolcro calls for a separate or combined ticket. From 1 October 2026, the combined gallery-and-crypt ticket carries a €1.50 per-ticket booking fee on top of its admission fare. You need not book ahead for the gallery, though advance booking lets you bypass the ticket-office queue. The ticket office closes at 17:30, so leave enough time for the collection before it shuts.

Museo del Novecento

At the Museo del Novecento on Piazza del Duomo, a chronological route takes you through twentieth-century Italian art. Look for Futurist work by Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini, then for Lucio Fontana’s Spatialist pieces. Choose Novecento for the shift from Futurism to post-war experiments, with an upper-floor view across the cathedral square to finish.

The standard ticket covers the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. Individuals can buy admission at the ticket office without booking ahead, which makes this an easier museum to add to a day in the centre. Thursday’s later opening gives you more scope to visit after other sights. Last admission is one hour before closing, so the evening opening is not an invitation to arrive just before the doors shut.

Fondazione Prada

Fondazione Prada occupies a former gin distillery at Largo Isarco, where old industrial buildings meet newer exhibition spaces. Changing contemporary shows and permanent projects spread across several buildings, rather than following a single gallery route. You can take time to explore the different spaces and their distinct exhibitions.

The standard ticket gives one entry to each exhibition space at the Milan venue and also covers the Osservatorio venue within 30 days, but Cinema Godard screenings are separate. You can buy at the desk without reserving an individual museum visit. Buying online adds a €1 presale fee. The outdoor areas, bookshop and Bar Luce are accessible without an exhibition ticket.

From Piazza del Duomo, the transit leg to Fondazione Prada is about 20 minutes over about 3.9 km. Take tram 24 towards via Ripamonti/via Lorenzini, or the M3 metro to Lodi T.I.B.B. Allow extra time to reach your stop and walk into the museum. Unlike the three central galleries, this is a separate trip south of the centre.

Pirelli HangarBicocca

Pirelli HangarBicocca’s former industrial halls give Anselm Kiefer’s The Seven Heavenly Palaces (2004–2015) room to tower above visitors. Changing contemporary exhibitions occupy the wider venue alongside this permanent installation. Choose HangarBicocca when the scale of the work matters as much as the collection, and explore the installation and the changing exhibitions together.

Entry covers both the permanent installation and temporary shows. A free online reservation is optional, but gives priority access at your chosen time. Without one, on-site availability and waiting can affect the visit. From Centrale railway station, bus 87 towards Villa San Giovanni stops at Via Chiese – HangarBicocca.

Alternatively, the transit leg from Piazza del Duomo to HangarBicocca is about 35 minutes over about 8.9 km. Give this northern venue its own part of the day, including the journey to and from the museum, rather than treating it as another stop around the Duomo.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: fares and charges, opening hours, and services.

• Pinacoteca di Brera (Grande Brera), Ministry of Culture — fares and charges
• Pinacoteca di Brera — opening hours
• Pinacoteca di Brera — service
• Fondazione Prada — service
• Fondazione Prada — fares and charges
• Fondazione Prada — opening hours
• Anselm Kiefer – The Seven Heavenly Palaces – Pirelli HangarBicocca
• Pirelli HangarBicocca — fares and charges
• FAQ: All you need to know about visiting us
• Pirelli HangarBicocca — opening hours
• Comune di Milano — fares and charges
• Comune di Milano — service
• Comune di Milano — Museo del Novecento — opening hours
• Pinacoteca | Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana
• Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana — fares and charges
• Regulations for the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana and the Crypt of San Sepolcro