If you have more than one hour, you can fully enjoy the wonders of the museum by dwelling on whatever fascinates or intrigues you. Be guided by your instinct without immediately searching for the museum’s masterpieces. The Ambrosiana is wonderful both by the variety of its collections, and the beauty of its rooms!
For this reason, in addition to visiting the first rooms with Renaissance masterpieces from the collection of Cardinal Borromeo, we advise you not to miss the gallery with the Renaissance sculptures by Bambaia or the gallery with the Dante-themed stained glass window, and the refined paintings by the Flemish school.
Agostino Busti detto il Bambaia (1483-1548), Rilievi del monumento sepolcrale di Gaston de Foix, dal 1516-1517, marmo. Particolare: candelabre con trofei militari e prigioni
Giuseppe Bertini (1825-1898), Vetrata dantesca, 1865, vetrata, 700x290 cm. Particolare
Then, once you cross the threshold of the Room of the Medusa (Room 8), immerse yourself in the eclectic mosaic and marble decorations of the Galbiati wing. Wander among the greatest names of Italian art from the 16th to the early 20th century, with some unmissable curiosities: armillary spheres, collections of coins and the display case containing a lock of hair by Lucrezia Borgia, which enchanted Lord Byron and D’Annunzio.
Sfera armillare, prima metà del XVII secolo, ottone argentato, altezza 39 cm, diametro sfera 22,1 cm
Capelli di Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519), teca con supporto in malachite, Alfredo Ravasco (1873-1958), altezza 30 cm
Astrolabio in rame, 1500, diametro 24,7 cm
“And Leonardo da Vinci?” Don’t worry! You’ll soon find his masterpieces!” The master and the artists of his school await you in the Aula Leonardi and in the old reading room of the Library, the Sala Federiciana, as the grand finale of your visit!
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), "Ritratto di musico", 1485-1490, tempera e olio su tavola, 40x30 cm
Bernardino Luini (ca 1480-1532), "Incoronazione di spine", affresco
Gian Giacomo Caprotti, detto Salai (1480-1524), "San Giovanni Battista", 1510-1520, tempera e olio su tavola, 73x51 cm
Andrea Bianchi detto il Vespino (attivo 1612-1640), "La Vergine delle rocce", copia della Vergine delle Rocce di Leonardo da Vinci (seconda versione, National Gallery di Londra), olio su tavola, 117x189 cm, inv 1174, dopo il restauro del 2009, aula Leonardi.
Gian Giacomo Caprotti detto Andrea Salai (1480-1524), "Testa di Cristo", olio su tavola, cm 57.5x37.5
Giovanni Ambrogio De Predis (1455-1508), "Ritratto di dama", 1485-1500, tempera e olio su tavola, 51x34 cm
The most magical and ancient places of Milan: the ancient Forum where Constantine, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine and Theodosius walked, and the lower Church of Santo Sepolcro, built by the Crusaders… as well as a colossal statue of St. Charles Borromeo on Lake Maggiore; a Museum-Home at the Sacro Monte of Varese; a Foundation dedicated to the promotion of young artists: this is also the Ambrosiana!
Discover the other institutions of the Ambrosiana
The church of San Sepolcro was founded in 1030, when a Milanese moneyer named Rozzone built a church on the ancient Roman forum. Archbishop Ariberto d’Intimiano solemnly consecrated it to the Holy Trinity.
Lodovico Pogliaghi was one of the most significant Lombard artists to live in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Marco Mantovani Foundation seeks to preserve and enhance the works of the sculptor Marco Mantovani, as evidence of the life of an artist dedicated to sculpture and art.
Between 1990 and 1992, archaeological excavations conducted underneath the ancient cellars of the Ambrosiana brought to light a portion of the pavement of the ancient Roman forum, the heart of Mediolanum's political, economic and religious life.
The Colossus of Saint Charles in Arona, which popular tradition has affectionately dubbed San Carlone, was created in the seventeenth century at the behest of Federico Borromeo, archbishop of Milan and founder of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana.
