The 10 Best Art Museums in Lombardy, Italy

Inaugurated in 1973 by the painter G. Novello, gathers 300 works, including watercolors by Tranquillo Cremona, oils and watercolors by Angelo Pietrasanta, cartoons by Alessandro Bertamini and Giuseppe Novello, works by Giorgio Belloni, Paolo Troubetzkoy, Piero Belloni Betti, Arturo Tosi. Other bequests have also increased the original nucleus with paintings by important artists.

This fine museum houses an exquisite collection of art, furnishings and historic arms, including Antonio Pollaiuolo's "Portrait of a Lady," which has become an icon for Milan's own style and elegance.

The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana was established in April 1618, when Cardinal Federico Borromeo donated his collection of paintings, drawings and statues to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, which he had founded in 1607. Inside the Pinacoteca's expositive path, articulated in 24 rooms, we can admire some of the greatest masterpieces of all times, like The Musician by Leonardo, The Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio, The cartoon for the School of Athens by Raphael , the Adoration of the Magi by Titian, the Madonna del Padiglione by Sandro Botticelli and the magnificent Vases of Flowers by Jan Brueghel. In addition to Renaissance artworks, the museum's collections include paintings by important 17th century Lombard artists (like Morazzone, Giulio Cesare Procaccini, Daniele Crespi and Carlo Francesco Nuvolone) as well as 18th century artists like Giandomenico Tiepolo, Fra' Galgario, Francesco Londonio, and also a notable cluster of 19th and early 20th centuries authors like Andrea Appiani, Francesco Hayez and Emilio Longoni. Walking from a room to another you can also discover a series of genuine curiosities, like the gloves that Napoleon wore at Waterloo, the armillary spheres from the Settala Collection, or the case that keeps a lock of Lucrezia Borgia's hair, in front of which many famous poets like Gabriele D'Annunzio and Lord Byron came to take inspiration. The ideal end of the visit is the Biblioteca Ambrosiana's old 17th century reading room, the Federiciana Room, which is the frame for the Codex Atlanticus exhibition.

See some of the world’s most stunning, centuries-old paintings from Italian masters including Caravaggio and Raphael. The gallery’s collection is housed in a 19th century former monastery.

Villa Carlotta welcomes you with its magnificent botanic garden and art masterpieces in over 70.000 square metres of gardens and museum. The beautiful villa was built at the end of XVII century by the Milanese marquis Giorgio Clerici in a natural basin between lake and mountains, facing the dolomite Grignas and the peninsula of Bellagio.

The picture gallery of the Accademia Carrara, founded in 1796 by Giacomo Carrara, is considered to be the fruit of Italian collecting and one of the finest European art museum. Over six hundred artworks are on display in the museum, arranged in 28 rooms over two floors. They include masterpieces by Pisanello, Mantegna, Bellini, Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Lotto, Moroni and other leading Italian painters, offering a journey through five centuries of Italian art history, from the beginning of the fifteenth to the end of the nineteenth century.

Palazzo Te è un edificio monumentale situato a Mantova. E' stato costruito tra il 1524 e il 1534 su commissione di Federico II Gonzaga, secondo un progetto di Giulio Romano, allievo prediletto di Raffaello. Oltre al complesso architettonico il maestro manierista è l'autore anche di tutto l'impianto decorativo del Palazzo. Oggi Museo civico della città, è anche sede della Fondazione di Palazzo Te, già Centro internazionale d'arte e di cultura di Palazzo Te dal 1990, istituzione che organizza mostre d'arte antica e moderna ed eventi culturali.

Desiderio, ultimo re dei Longobardi, quando era ancora duca di Brescia, fondò con la moglie Ansa nel 753 il monastero benedettino femminile di San Salvatore. Il complesso monumentale - nel quale Alessandro Manzoni ambienta la morte di Ermengarda, figlia di Desiderio ripudiata da Carlo Magno - si arrichì nel corso dei secoli di edifici dedicati al culto e alla vita della comunità, con preziosi cicli affrescati, sino alla soppressione voluta da Napoleone nel 1798. A seguito di diverse funzioni, dopo un intervento di recupero e valorizzazione con un'estesa campagna di indagini archeologiche, dal 1998 nel monastero è stato aperto il Museo della città. Su circa 14.000mq, lungo un percorso cronologico, sono presentate circa 12.000 opere che permettono di seguire la storia di Brescia dal III millennio a.C. sino all'età rinascimentale.