It takes almost half a day to see the 38 rooms of the Pinacoteca di Brera, one of Italy's most important museums, with its impressive collection of masterpieces from the early Renaissance to the 19th century, many of them snatched from Venice by Napoleon. And it is precisely the statue of the emperor sculpted as a demigod by Canova that towers in the centre of the courtyard, from which one enters the Brera Academy and then the Pinacoteca on the first floor.

We start with Bramante, and his Men at Arms, passing through Giotto's cycle of frescoes, then the most representative work of the Pinacoteca: the Dead Christ that Mantegna painted with a shocking perspective from below.

This is followed by the Venetian Renaissance masters. Tintorio, Veronese, Titian, then the Baroque with Caravaggio and his Supper at Emmaus with its characteristic contrasts of light and shadow.
There is no shortage of foreigners with Rubens, Rembrandt and Van Dyck. And in the height of Romanticism Hayez with his intense and luminous Kiss, which is undoubtedly the most reproduced work in the Pinacoteca.
Via Brera, 28 - 20121 Milan Telephone: +39 02 72263 1 +39 02 72263 264-22 www.pinacotecabrera.org
Open: Tuesday: 8:30 > 19:15 Wednesday: 8:30 > 19:15 Thursday: 8:30 > 22:15 (ticket office closes at 21:40) Friday: 8:30 > 19:15 Saturday: 8:30 > 19:15 Sunday: 8:30 > 19:15 (ticket office open until 18:40)