Information to visit the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan

The Pinacoteca di Brera is one of the most important art museums in Italy. It is home to a large collection of paintings, sculptures and other works of art, it is located in the Palazzo Brera in the city of Milan. We are going to provide you information to visit it, so you can decide if you want to visit it on your way through this Italian city.

I felt the most anxiety to visit the Pinacoteca di Brera, the reason: they had one of my favorite paintings, The Kiss of Hayez.

If you like this painting, you cannot miss this place during your visit to Milan.

How much does the ticket to the Pinacoteca di Brera cost?

15 euros per person

Which are the schedules?

From 8:30 AM to 7:15 PM from Tuesday to Sunday (note that ticket sales are held until 6:40 PM)

Can you take photos?

Unfortunately, no.

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How to get to the Pinacoteca di Brera Art Gallery?

To get there you can take the metro, either line 2 (at the Lanza stop) or line 3 (at the Monte Napoleone stop).

By tram you can take lines 1, 4, 8, 12, 14 and 27.

In my case, the arrival was somewhat chaotic: it was already dark when the tram left me where it was supposed to be very close to the Pinacoteca, but I walked and walked and walked and nothing. I went around several places, I asked and nothing, nobody knew how to get there, and I couldn’t find the place or see any sign, I felt total frustration, I walked to a nearby subway stop where there was a large map.

Still, I couldn’t find the place, desperation at its best. I was about to give up while walking along a pedestrian street that I see a sign, it was my salvation, there I already followed the signs and found the place and there was the Brera Art Gallery:

The inner courtyard of the Pinacoteca di Brera

Palazzo Brera is a historic palace that was built on the remains of the 14th century monastery, which belonged to the Umiliati order. In 1773, the palace was acquired by the Brera Academy, an academy of art and science founded by Napoleon Bonaparte. Today, the Palazzo Brera houses the Pinacoteca di Brera, one of the most important art galleries in Italy.

I took photos in the inner courtyard, knowing that unfortunately in the exhibition halls I would not be able to. The central sculpture of the courtyard is called Napoleon as Peacemaker Mars, which was placed in the courtyard in 1859, after Napoleon III visited Milan.

Works in the Pinacoteca di Brera

When I arrived at the art gallery, it was not long before the ticket sales closed. When I paid the lady, she told me that I had at most one hour to see everything. Either way it was that or nothing, so I had to go quickly through the rooms, my maximum concentration would be saved for The Kiss.

The brochure they give you at the entrance is quite useful, especially if time is short, as in my case, since it tells you for each room which are the most important or notable works and gives a brief explanation. Thus, as I was advancing, I knew how much I needed to reach my objective, we must consider that there are 38 rooms that I have to go through, all of them are duly numbered.

You can see some of the Pinacoteca’s main works of art on its official site.

I loved what I saw in the art gallery, they were paintings of the style that I like the most! The ones from the time when there were no cameras, so in them, they tried to match all the details as if it were a photo.

The Kiss by Hayez

As I continued to move through the rooms, I arrived, there it was on a wall! I finally saw it in person.

THE KISS by Francesco Hayez: (I clarify that the photo above was not taken by me, unfortunately) but I stayed looking at the painting as long as possible to try to make it stick in my memory. I like it because of the kiss scene itself, but what I like the most is the silhouette of the dress and the realism with which the satin of the blue fabric looks, it seems as if a photo had been taken of it.

What does the painting of The Kiss by Hayez mean?

The meaning of the painting, I prefer not to think about why it is very unromantic: basically it is about the alliance between Italy and France to expel the Austrians who had come to Turin, when the alliance won the war, Vittorio Emanuele remained as king of Italy. Wow, that breaks the charm.

Leaving the Pinacoteca di Brera, without forgetting the souvenir shop

And well, after a brief visit to the souvenir shop, where I bought a bookmark from guess what? The Kiss, I went out into the black night of Milan.

Vittorio Emanuele Gallery

I had little time left in the day, so I took a tour of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele to see the Milanese cabinets. After that, dinner and sleep. Here I leave you with the gallery and its windows, which by the way, while there are no police or photographers, is infested with street vendors, some selling shiny artifacts that they throw into the air.

They hope that people will gawk at the artifacts and then try to sell them, there were also other sellers of dubious quality scarves. The thing is that as soon as you take the photo, they disappear!

One of the showcases in the gallery belongs to the luxurious Louis Vuitton store, which is distinguished by its colorful windows. Prada’s was under construction at the time.

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