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Milan: Pinacoteca Ambrosiana & da Vinci Codex Exhibition
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The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana may not be among Milan’s most well-known museums, but it’s certainly worth a visit for the exceptional artworks housed here. The gallery was founded in April 1618 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo (1564–1631), who donated his collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, which he himself had established in 1607.
Within this exhibition space you’ll find some of the finest masterpieces of Italian art, including Caravaggio’s Fruit Basket, Raphael’s preparatory cartoon for the School of Athens, Titian’s Adoration of the Magi, Botticelli’s Madonna of the Pavilion and Jan Brueghel’s exquisite Flower Vases. The Library houses the Codex Atlanticus, the most extensive collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s writings and drawings in existence. There are also several copies of celebrated paintings (such as Leonardo’s Last Supper), which Borromeo commissioned for educational purposes.
The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana comprises 24 rooms containing works spanning the 14th to 20th centuries by major Italian artists. These are complemented by the Settala Museum Picture Gallery, the Brivio Collection and the Negroni Prati Morosini Collection. On the staircase leading to the first gallery room stands a monument honouring painter Giuseppe Bossi, created by Antonio Canova and Pompeo Marchesi.
The gallery’s opening rooms showcase the original core of the collection—the paintings donated in 1618 by Federico Borromeo. Here you can admire works by Venetian and Italian painters of the 16th century, paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, as well as Raphael’s cartoon for the School of Athens, Caravaggio’s Fruit Basket and works from the Lombardy and Flemish schools.
After viewing the works from Borromeo’s bequest, the tour continues through rooms displaying paintings acquired through other donations. The galleries feature works by artists from various Italian regions including Veneto, Lombardy and Tuscany. There’s a significant selection of 15th and 16th-century works, with dedicated sections on artists from Brescia and Florence. Here you’ll see Leonardo’s “Portrait of a Musician” and Cima da Conegliano’s “Daniel in the Lions’ Den”. Other important artists represented include Tintoretto, Veronese and Bramantino.
The following rooms present a selection of works by Lombardy and Venetian artists from the 17th and 18th centuries. Key figures include Daniele Crespi, Giuseppe Vermiglio, Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, Giandomenico Tiepolo and Francesco Londonio.
Room 14 also features over a hundred coats of arms of Lombardy noble families, created by Archimede Albertazzi.
Continuing on, you’ll find more than two hundred paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries, predominantly by artists active in Milan. Notable names include Andrea Appiani, Francesco Hayez, Mosè Bianchi, Adriano Gajoni and Massimo D’Azeglio.
The tour continues into Room 22, which is essentially a long corridor lined with statues and frescoes largely by Bambaia, drawn from the Monument to Gaston de Foix, along with four frescoes originally from the Church of Santa Maria della Rosa.
The Settala Museum preserves the collection of Manfredo Settala (1600–1680), an Italian scientist and collector, who kept it in his own cabinet of curiosities (known as a Wunderkammer in German). The collection includes taxidermied exotic animals, skeletons of rare birds and fish, shells, crustaceans, semi-precious stones, fossils as well as scientific instruments, clocks, astrolabes, pre-Columbian artefacts and other objects.
To visit the gallery, you’ll need to purchase a ticket online or at the box office on site. Entry costs €15.00, with reductions available for various visitor categories.
We recommend buying your Pinacoteca Ambrosiana entrance ticket a few days before your visit to guarantee admission and avoid queuing at the box office. Simply click the box below.
Entry to the Leonardo3 Museum is free when you purchase the Milan Pass, Milan’s city card, which gives you free admission to the city’s main museums, including tickets for La Scala and the Duomo. Valid for 48 hours, it includes public transport and numerous activities and discounts at participating businesses.
The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana is open Tuesday to Friday from 2pm to 6pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 6pm. The gallery is closed all day Monday except Easter Monday (Pasquetta).
Closure dates: 25 December, 1 January and Easter Sunday.
The best way to reach the gallery is by public transport.
On the underground, take the MM1 line to Cordusio or Duomo, or the MM3 line to Duomo.
Alternatively, you can take the tram—lines 12, 14 or 16 to Orefici/Cantù, or lines 2 or 3 to Duomo.
If you’re in Piazza Duomo, the gallery is just a pleasant five-minute walk away on foot.
Federico Borromeo, an Italian cardinal and Archbishop of Milan, founded the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in 1618 as a place to provide free cultural education to those with artistic or intellectual gifts. The gallery was established within the Biblioteca Ambrosiana complex (founded in 1609), which was among Italy’s first libraries to allow access to anyone able to read and write. An Academy of painting and sculpture was added to it in 1621. Cerano, a pupil of Daniele Crespi, was among the Academy’s first instructors.
The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana is located in the heart of Milan's historic centre, approximately 500 metres from Piazza Duomo and Palazzo Reale.
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