The living artists' idea
Founded to show contemporaries' work when museums showed only the dead.
Jwslubbock — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bernard Gagnon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nachtbold — CC0
A historic exhibition hall in Milan, run by a fine arts society founded in the nineteenth century to show the work of living artists. That is the origin of the idea: at a time when museums showed only the dead, Milan's artists created a place to put their work directly before the public. The present building is late nineteenth century, was damaged by bombing in the Second World War and rebuilt in a modern manner. What matters practically to a visitor: despite the name, this is not a permanent collection. The programme is temporary exhibitions rotating several times a year, between contemporary art, design and photography. The value follows exactly what is showing, and you may find the place between shows and closed. Check the programme before going — that is a condition of the visit rather than general advice. It stands near the Porta Venezia gardens northeast of the centre, on a route taking in the modern art gallery and the city park.
Founded to show contemporaries' work when museums showed only the dead.
Contemporary art, design and photography — the programme defines the visit.
The Porta Venezia gardens and the modern art gallery are minutes away.
Via Turati, northeast of central Milan
The Arches of the Old Porta NuovaA medieval gate in central Milan, built in 1171 as part of the city wall, and on6 minutes walk4.2
Galleria d'Arte Moderna (GAM), MilanMilan has a public garden that adults are not allowed to enter unless a child br7 minutes walk4.4
Museo del RisorgimentoA museum telling the story of Italy's nineteenth-century unification, in the Pal8 minutes walk4.6
Milan Natural History MuseumIn 1943 a bomb fell on this building and the fire that followed burned for three9 minutes walk4.6
Bagatti Valsecchi MuseumThe house of two brothers who lived as if in the sixteenth century: Fausto and G10 minutes walk4.8By checking the current exhibition, nothing else. The place is a container rather than a collection, and its value on any given day equals the value of what is in it. If nothing showing interests you there is no reason to go — that applies here more than anywhere else in this guide.
Milan's modern art gallery in the Villa Reale is minutes away with nineteenth- and early twentieth-century work, and the Porta Venezia public gardens are the largest green space in central Milan and free. Both compensate if the exhibition is weak.