Leonardo Da Vinci In Milan: Guide To Exploring 9 Masterpieces Of The Genius

Are you looking for the great works and masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Italy? Seeing Leonardo da Vinci’s works are truly magnificent. I always admired his works in arts and science. So it is only right to celebrate his masterpieces.

Leonardo da Vinci has always been associated with Milan, even though he was not born there. As his name suggests, this well-known Renaissance artist was from the village of Vinci, which is close to Florence. He was an unwanted illegitimate child, which was not the best beginning for a child in the fifteenth century. 

Da Vinci relocated to Florence and then Milan at the age of 14. Although he was also a sculptor, architect, philosopher, physicist, and engineer – a true “Renaissance Man” before the term was coined – he is regarded as one of the greatest painters of all time.

The legendary “Last Supper” mural in the convent of Santa Maria della Grazie and the avant-garde ceiling fresco of the Sala delle Asse at the Castello Sforzesco are just a couple of the many masterpieces that Leonardo da Vinci produced during his nearly 20 years spent in Milan. 

Here are some of the things you can visit if you want to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpieces and other amazing works of art, architecture, and technology that the Renaissance genius left behind in the city he loved so much!

Masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Italy:

1. Santa Maria delle Grazie Church

📍Address:  Piazza di Santa Maria delle Grazie, 20123 Milano MI, Italy
🎫 Find Tickets – Book in Advance: Da Vinci’s Last Supper Guided Tour
🌟 Ratings: 4.5 / 5

Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, is honored by the historical library known as Biblioteca Ambrosiana. The building was built in 1603 to house Cardinal Federico Borromeo’s collection of 15,000 manuscripts and printed books. The cardinal gave the library his entire collection of artwork when it was established in 1609, including his paintings and drawings.

The renowned Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, an art gallery housed within the library, is home to works by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Raffaello, including the life-size, pencil and carbon sketch of “The School of Athens” by the latter, a full-color final version of which is on display in the Vatican.

Islamic manuscripts, an 11th-century diwan of poets, the earliest copy of the “Kitab Sibawahaihi,” a complete collection of manuscripts from the Benedictine monastery of Bobbio (1606), and manuscripts by Vincenzo Pinelli of Padua, totaling more than 800 items, including the renowned Ilias Picta, are among the other significant acquisitions here (Ambrosian Iliad).

The library used to have a printing press of its own and a school for classical languages. The La Scala opera libretti archives were lost as a result of the building being damaged during World War II. It underwent major renovations again between 1990 and 1997 after being restored in 1952.

2. Leonardo da Vinci’s Vineyard

📍Address: Corso Magenta, 65, 20123 Milano MI, Italy
🎫 Find Tickets – Book in Advance: Leonardo’s Vineyard Museum
🌟 Ratings: 4.3 / 5

Thousands of tourists will swarm to Milan as the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s passing approaches to see his famous mural of the Last Supper. However, one of Milan’s best kept secrets, La Vigna di Leonardo (also known as Leonardo da Vinci’s Vineyard), is something that many of those visitors to northern Italy will pass by while there.

Leonardo’s vineyard, where he unwinded following long days of painting his adored fresco, is just across the street from the S. Maria delle Grazie Dominican convent (where the Last Supper is painted in the refectory). The polymath genius received the vineyard in 1498 from the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, who served as his patron. Owning and managing a vineyard was easy for the artist because he came from a family of winemakers, but his true motivation for purchasing the property was to become a citizen of Milan.

Leonardo left Milan when the French invaded in 1499. The vineyard, however, continued to hold a special place in his heart, and Leonardo made sure to leave it to two of his favorite servants in his will. Researchers attempted to repair the dilapidated vineyard in the 1920s, but were forced to abandon their plans when World War II broke out.

3. Sforzesco Castle

📍Address: Piazza Castello, 20121 Milano MI, Italy
🎫 Find Tickets – Book in Advance: Sforza Castle and Michelangelo’s Pietà Rondanini Tour
🌟 Ratings: 4.9 / 5

Galeazzo II Visconti laid the foundation for the castle in the 13th century. It was completely rebuilt in the 1450s by Francesco Sforza after being destroyed and rebuilt numerous times over the years.

This castle is one of Milan’s landmarks because of its imposing and iconographic appearance. Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, resided there during the Renaissance. There, Leonardo worked as a civil and military engineer before eventually becoming an artist. He painted the frescoed ceiling of the “Sala delle Asse,” fusing strong symbolism with naturalistic depictions.

The Trivulziana Biblioteca and Archivio Storico Civico are located in Sforzesco Castle (The Civic Historical Archive and the Trivulziana Library). One of the most well-known private libraries in Europe, according to many.

The library has parchments, incunabula, registers, and prints dating from the eighth to the eighteenth centuries in its collection. Its collection includes the fabled “Trivulziano Code,” a handwritten document by Leonardo da Vinci that contains studies of military and religious architecture, as well as an odd assortment of actual and fictitious portraits. A code from the Comedy from 1337 and a priceless copy of De vulgari eloquentia from the fourteenth century are among the noteworthy Dantesque manuscripts.

4. Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci

📍Address: Via San Vittore, 21, 20123 Milano MI, Italy
🎫 Find Tickets – Book in Advance: Leonardo da Vinci Science & Technology Museum Tour
🌟 Ratings: 5 / 5

The largest science and technology museum in Italy, the Museo nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan, is devoted to the Italian painter and scientist Leonardo da Vinci. The museum, located in Milan’s historic San Vittore al Corpo monastery, first opened its doors on 5 February 1953.

Materials, Transport, Energy, Communication Leonardo da Vinci, Art & Science, New Frontiers, and Science for Young People are the seven main divisions of its collection. There is a laboratory for kids and younger students in each of these departments. Enrico Toti-S-506 The transport section is divided into four distinct sections, including air, rail, water, and submarine.

Leonardo da Vinci, Art & Science is a section of the museum that is unquestionably one of the most visited. It is divided into four parts. The jewelry collection features items made of ivory, gems, and precious metals like gold. The machines based on Da Vinci’s drawings are displayed in the Leonardo da Vinci section of the museum, including a hydraulic saw, a spinning machine, a flying machine, and the so-called Leonardo’s Tank.

The completed models that are on display are the result of a team of experts’ reinterpretation of the drawings. The Horology collection features a number of pendulums, historic clocks, individual watches, and tower mechanisms to demonstrate the development of watchmaking. Instruments from the 17th to the 20th centuries are on display in the musical instruments section.

5. Ambrosian Library

📍Address: Piazza Pio XI, 2, 20123 Milano MI, Italy
🎫 Find Tickets – Book in Advance: Leonardo da Vinci City Exploration Game
🌟 Ratings: 4.3 / 5

Cardinal Federico Borromeo donated his collection of paintings, sculptures, and drawings to the Ambrosian Library, which had been established in 1607, and this resulted in the founding of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in 1618.

La Pinacoteca was established to provide free cultural and artistic instruction to anyone with an aptitude for the arts or intellect. This organization was developed to serve as a template and support for the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, which was active from 1621 to 1776. Despite the Academy’s closure, the Ambrosiana Gallery’s collections have grown over the years and now contain a significant number of important works.

Leonardo da Vinci’s collection of writings and drawings, “Codex Atlanticus,” has been on display at the Federiciana di Ambrosiana since 2009.

There are currently paintings by Leonardo da Vinci (Portrait of a Musician), Bramantino, Ambrogio Bergognone, Bernardino Luini, Titian, Jacopo Bassano, Moretto, Savoldo, Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Cerano, Morazzone, Daniele Crespi, Anton Raphael Mengs, and Andrea Appiani among other artists on display at the Ambro

You can also see Raffaello’s drawings for the fresco “School of Athens,” Caravaggio’s “Basket of Fruits,” Botticelli’s “Madonna con Bambino e tre angeli,” also called “Madonna of the Pavilion,” and many other artists’ works.

6. Milan Cathedral

📍Address: Piazza del Duomo, 20122 Milano MI, Italy
🎫 Find Tickets – Book in Advance: Cathedral and Rooftop Ticket
🌟 Ratings: 4.6 / 5

Leonardo da Vinci, who at the time resided directly across from this location, participated in the redesign of the Milan Cathedral.

The great man was hired to create plans for improvements, primarily centered around a new dome, alongside a plethora of court architects, including Bramante and Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Da Vinci got to work drawing up his concepts for this new feature, but sadly they were never implemented. Instead, the preliminaries created by two particular court architects, Amadeo and Dolcebuono, would find favor and become the preferred option.

This project was a massive undertaking, which is highlighted by the fact that work is still being done on it today even though Da Vinci was involved at the end of the 15th century. The Milan Cathedral effectively connects our lives with those of the great Renaissance artist. Even though it is still unfinished, it is unquestionably much more finished now and well worth a visit; this building is one of the most well-liked tourist destinations in the entire city of Milan.

In fact, rather than finishing new features, the majority of the work that is still in progress today is more focused on restoration. The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo has the responsibility of managing the maintenance of this magnificent building.

The construction of the actual structure began in 1386, making Da Vinci’s involvement roughly a century later. The choice to design the cathedral in an internationally recognized gothic style was unusual at the time in the Italian Papal States, but it showed the project’s backers’ desire to look beyond these national boundaries.

7. San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore Church

📍Address: Corso Magenta, 15, 20123 Milano MI, Italy
🎫 Find Tickets – Book in Advance: Walking Tour of San Maurizio Monastero Maggiore
🌟 Ratings: 5 / 5

The Church of San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore is a remarkable illustration of the harmony and beauty of the Renaissance. It is situated on Corso Magenta, a historic Roman thoroughfare that ran from Milan to the northern frontiers of the Roman Western Empire.

The earlier church was most likely constructed in the late IX century, during the Carolingian era, and was later partially rebuilt. The current building was constructed in the 1500s after extensive renovations to the original one and the involvement of highly skilled artists and craftspeople. This church was transformed into a true jewel box, decorated in gold, blue, and vibrant colors by Leonardo da Vinci’s followers and artists from the Lombardy region, including his best student, Bernardino Luini.

A visitor who is distracted by the attractive shops selling expensive clothing, antiques, and prints might easily walk past the entrance due to the simplicity of the Church’s façade. But a few steps up to the church’s interior, right next to Milan’s Archaeological Museum, will surprise you if you’re not expecting to see in a single glance a kaleidoscope of colors and of lively characters.

Even though the rectangular church initially appears to be quite small, a closer inspection reveals that a significant portion of it is concealed behind a tall screen wall, a sort of Byzantine iconostasis of holy images you will bask in front of mesmerized by their beauty.

You are cordially invited to this priceless former convent church that Alessandro Bentivoglio and his wife Ippolita Sforza so generously funded. Allow your guide to reveal the details of their lives, the courtly splendor they experienced, the tragic secrets they kept, and the inner turmoil these lovely frescoed walls witnessed.

8. Leonardo’s Horse

📍Address:  Piazzale dello Sport, 6, 20151 Milano MI, Italy

Leonardo started “Il Cavallo” in the 15th century, but due to war and other circumstances, he was unable to finish it. Late Allentown, Pennsylvania resident Charles C. Dent, a retired commercial airline pilot, arts patron, and diplomat, devoted the last 17 years of his life to bringing The Horse to life.

While Charles C. Dent passed away in 1994, his nephew Peter C. Dent served as the organization’s president. On September 10, 1999, LDVHI unveiled the finished statue in front of a large global audience. The statue serves as a reminder of the goodwill between Americans and Italians.

Both the Discovery Center’s and LDVHI’s leaders had a passion for stimulating curious minds through active, hands-on learning. The connections between their respective disciplines and other aspects of the human experience were also valued by both groups.

The Da Vinci Science Center is dedicated to encouraging children’s interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. It also emphasizes the connections between science and other fields of public interest, particularly the arts, and encourages curiosity, creativity, and the traits of greatness exemplified by Leonardo da Vinci and influential people who have come after him – as applied to 21st-century life.

9. Navigli

📍Address: Alzaia Naviglio Grande, 160, 20144 Milano MI, Italy
🎫 Find Tickets – Book in Advance: Navigli District Canal Boat Tour with free Aperitivo
🌟 Ratings: 3.6 / 5

If Leonardo could see the Navigli today, he would undoubtedly be shocked, but he would probably just join the Milanese for a drink while sitting by the canals, perhaps already formulating a plan in his head to enhance the usability and appearance of this entertainment district. The abundance of original drawings on the subject attests to Leonardo’s great passion for learning about how water moves and the principles of hydraulic fluid.

Milan created a circular moat system in the 1100s that was used for irrigation and to power hydraulic wheels that milled wheat and cut wood, among other things. When Leonardo arrived in the city, he immediately set to work on ways to enhance the canal system, which was increasingly important for Milan’s economic growth.

Leonardo did not personally participate in the building of the Navigli, but he left behind a wealth of sketches and notes about his concepts, many of which were later adopted by other engineers who worked on the canal system.

As a result of the development of the combustion engine, transportation by rail and by road became more appealing in the 19th century, and canals began to be covered and replaced with roads. 

Only three canals still exist today. Particularly during the warmest months of the year, when Milanese enjoy relaxing along the canal while sipping a glass of wine, the Naviglio Grande and Naviglio Pavese are the center of the city’s nightlife. Weekend cyclists who can follow the canal all the way to the river Adda, which is located about 30 km away, use the Naviglio Martesana instead.

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