Welcome to the Pinacoteca di Brera

Plan your visit

NEWS – Caravaggio’s “Supper in Emmaus” on loan to Palazzo Barberini

Upcoming activities and events

Grande Brera Calendar

Event – Special Opening

Liberation Day

April 25, 2025

Free admission with reservations required

Event – Special Opening

Sunday at the Museum

May 4, 2025

Free admission with reservations required

Guided Tour – Teens and adults

Brera Masterpieces

May 11 and 25, 2025

8 € + entrance fee

Guided Tour – Teens and adults

Talks in the Gallery

May 14th and 21st, 2025

Included in the entrance fee

Event – Eventi

Room with a view

May 25, 2025 – 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Included in the entrance fee

Visit the Pinacoteca di Brera

The Pinacoteca di Brera was officially established in 1809, even though a first heterogeneous collection with educational purpose existed already from 1776 – and then increased in the following years – alongside the Accademia di Belle Arti, requested by Mary Therese of Austria to offer the students the opportunity to study lofty masterpieces of art close up.

What to Experience at the Museum

Accessibility

Map

Grande Brera

The Project

In December 2024, the opening of Palazzo Citterio finally realizes the dream of the Grande Brera, expanding the Pinacoteca and enriching Milan’s artistic and cultural offerings. With historical collections, exhibition spaces for modern and contemporary art, and a wide urban garden, the Grande Brera establishes itself as the cultural heart of the city, a symbol of an avant-garde project.

Grande Brera

Pinacoteca di Brera

Pinacoteca di Brera is an autonomous state museum of general executive level established by DM 141/2014 and directed, since January 2024, by Angelo Crespi. The Institute is located within Palazzo Brera, a space that houses other historical entities, and consists of the Pinacoteca, Biblioteca Braidense and Palazzo Citterio, and manages additional spaces on Milan including the Mediateca Santa Sofia.

Grande Brera

Palazzo Citterio

The elegant 18th-century building on Via Brera was purchased by the state in 1972 with the intention of transforming it into an extension of the Pinacoteca di Brera, housing important contemporary art collections such as the Jucker, Vitali, Mattioli and Jesi collections, which had found no space in the original museum founded at Napoleon’s behest. Conceiving and promoting the initiative was Superintendent Franco Russoli, a fervent supporter of the “Grande Brera” project.

Grande Brera

Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense

The Braidense National Library, which had 125,000 patrons and 35,000 readers last year, giving out 20,000 volumes for reading, plays a very important role on the Italian and international scene, the third library in the country after the other two national ones in Rome and Florence. With its historical and contemporary collections under public protection, it provides for their cataloguing, preservation and enhancement in the interest of the general and specialized public, through restoration, reproduction and protection of documents.

Grande Brera

The Project

In December 2024, the opening of Palazzo Citterio finally realizes the dream of the Grande Brera, expanding the Pinacoteca and enriching Milan’s artistic and cultural offerings. With historical collections, exhibition spaces for modern and contemporary art, and a wide urban garden, the Grande Brera establishes itself as the cultural heart of the city, a symbol of an avant-garde project.

Pinacoteca di Brera

Grande Brera

Pinacoteca di Brera

Pinacoteca di Brera is an autonomous state museum of general executive level established by DM 141/2014 and directed, since January 2024, by Angelo Crespi. The Institute is located within Palazzo Brera, a space that houses other historical entities, and consists of the Pinacoteca, Biblioteca Braidense and Palazzo Citterio, and manages additional spaces on Milan including the Mediateca Santa Sofia.

Palazzo Citterio

Grande Brera

Palazzo Citterio

The elegant 18th-century building on Via Brera was purchased by the state in 1972 with the intention of transforming it into an extension of the Pinacoteca di Brera, housing important contemporary art collections such as the Jucker, Vitali, Mattioli and Jesi collections, which had found no space in the original museum founded at Napoleon’s behest. Conceiving and promoting the initiative was Superintendent Franco Russoli, a fervent supporter of the “Grande Brera” project.

Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense

Grande Brera

Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense

The Braidense National Library, which had 125,000 patrons and 35,000 readers last year, giving out 20,000 volumes for reading, plays a very important role on the Italian and international scene, the third library in the country after the other two national ones in Rome and Florence. With its historical and contemporary collections under public protection, it provides for their cataloguing, preservation and enhancement in the interest of the general and specialized public, through restoration, reproduction and protection of documents.

The Collection

Discover the collection

What We Do

Conservation and restoration

Thanks to the restoration laboratory, conservation activities have become an integral part of the visit to the Pinacoteca. The luminous transparent structure, designed by Ettore Sottsass in 2001 and placed in the center of the exhibition itinerary (room XVIII), offers visitors a unique opportunity: to follow up close and “live” the various phases of restoration, being able to observe the works from new points of view (such as the back, usually hidden). The laboratory, which participates in the organization of exhibitions and displays, also carries out intensive research and diagnostic work devoted especially to the paintings in the Pinacoteca.

Uomo a mezzo busto di profilo rivolto verso destra (recto) di Leonardo da Vinci

What We Do

Research and resources

The Pinacoteca di Brera houses valuable lesser-known collections, such as the Gabinetto dei Disegni, a 19th-century collection initially created to support the Academy of Fine Arts. It includes preparatory drawings for paintings and rare cartoons, enriched over time with works by surrealist artists. The Photo Library, founded in 1899, collects artistic photographs of Italian and foreign works and monuments, with historical specimens and rare prints by famous photographers. Both archives are accessible by appointment only for study purposes, but consultation of fragile materials such as the Visconti/Sforza and Solabusca tarot cards is suspended for conservation reasons.

What We Do

Educational Department

Internal Educational Department staff work to enhance the museum as an educational environment with its own specific characteristics and to make it accessible to the widest possible number of people.

Restoration laboratory

What We Do

Conservation and restoration

Thanks to the restoration laboratory, conservation activities have become an integral part of the visit to the Pinacoteca. The luminous transparent structure, designed by Ettore Sottsass in 2001 and placed in the center of the exhibition itinerary (room XVIII), offers visitors a unique opportunity: to follow up close and “live” the various phases of restoration, being able to observe the works from new points of view (such as the back, usually hidden). The laboratory, which participates in the organization of exhibitions and displays, also carries out intensive research and diagnostic work devoted especially to the paintings in the Pinacoteca.

Research and resources

What We Do

Research and resources

The Pinacoteca di Brera houses valuable lesser-known collections, such as the Gabinetto dei Disegni, a 19th-century collection initially created to support the Academy of Fine Arts. It includes preparatory drawings for paintings and rare cartoons, enriched over time with works by surrealist artists. The Photo Library, founded in 1899, collects artistic photographs of Italian and foreign works and monuments, with historical specimens and rare prints by famous photographers. Both archives are accessible by appointment only for study purposes, but consultation of fragile materials such as the Visconti/Sforza and Solabusca tarot cards is suspended for conservation reasons.

Educational Department

What We Do

Educational Department

Internal Educational Department staff work to enhance the museum as an educational environment with its own specific characteristics and to make it accessible to the widest possible number of people.

Welcome to the Pinacoteca di Brera

Upcoming activities and events

Liberation Day

Sunday at the Museum

Brera Masterpieces

Talks in the Gallery

Room with a view

Visit the Pinacoteca di Brera

The Project

Grande Brera

The Project

The Collection

Conservation and restoration

Restoration laboratory

Conservation and restoration

Support Us