An event in the heart of Brera, the most fascinating and picturesque part of Milan, the Pinacoteca of Brera, the Milanese artistic institution par excellence, is its icing on the cake. It is impossible not to know it, or not to have heard of it.
Brera is a melting pot of stories, trends and identities that are layered, contaminate one another and merge together – just as in the complex of Palazzo Brera where the history of Italian art of every era, of every region and every school dialogues with the beauty of the architecture, of literature, botany and astronomy.
It is a hybrid setting with intact and unchanging elegance, capable of giving style and prestige to every event, whether it is an exclusive private visit to the Pinacoteca of Brera, followed by a Milanese dinner in one of the many restaurants in the narrow cobbled streets of Brera, or a cocktail or a refined dinner in the Courtyard of Honour of Palazzo Brera itself, under the bronze gaze of the sculpture of Napoleon dressed as Mars the Peacemaker, which will make the event in the Pinacoteca even more suggestive.
Above all, the most characteristic feature of Brera is that it never ceases to amaze.
The thousand faces of the Pinacoteca of Brera
Palazzo Brera is a multi-faceted rough diamond. The participants, going through the large and silent rooms on their exclusive visit to the Pinacoteca of Brera after closing hours, are guided along unexpected and personalized routes, to discover the many faces of beauty: finally, they can admire, from close-up, the masterpieces of the great Italian masters, they can dwell on the details of everyday life and on the symbolism of the still lifes, they can follow the passing of time in the expressions of the faces, poses and fashions in the portraits of men and women from different periods; they can relish with their eyes the dialogue between food and art.
Inside the silent Palazzo Brera, the participants can discover with incredulous astonishment the discreet splendour of the Botanical Gardens, a flowering oasis of greenery and peace in the very centre of Milan, the antiquity of the National Braidense Library, with its walls fully covered by books and marvellous chandeliers of Bohemian crystal that hang from the frescoed ceiling; the scientific excellence of the historic 18th century Astronomic Observatory of Brera.
The thousand identities of Brera
On the other hand, Brera itself is a woman with a radiant face, who seems to change her expression depending on the perspective she is seen from.
She has the face of old Milan, with its fine period houses, the wooden ceilings , the narrow cobbled lanes. She has the green and liquid face of the Milanese outskirts, when the waters of the Navigli still flowed through here. She has the face of silence, between small old quaint shops , green and lush gardens and ancient aristocratic buildings. She has the face of the Milanese baroque of Palazzo Citterio and Palazzo Cusani. She has the reassuring face of the Palazzo del Corriere della Sera, with its art nouveau façade. She has the romantic and bohemian face of the artists, the paint shops and stores for art, objets d’art and antiques, radical chic night spots, streets with peculiar names and the arts and crafts market. She has the face of a prostitute from the brothel of Via Fiori Oscuri. She has the sacred face of the Churches of San Marco, Santa Maria del Carmine and San Simpliciano. She has the face of creativity, of fashion and design, She has the mysterious face of a tarot card reader, of the mixtures of the ancient Farmacia Erba, of the fragrances of the arts of perfumery.
A thousand guided tours to discover them all
For every nuance of the identity of Brera, there is a guided tour that has been created according to the preferences of the client: there is the itinerary dedicated to the Brera Design District, through the showroom of design and fashion of the Fuori Salone; there is the itinerary dedicated to the Brera Perfume District, between olfactory experiences and creations of personalized perfumes in the many niche perfumeries in the area; there is the red-light Brera of the brothels, an itinerary which goes down streets and past buildings which were once real havens of pleasure, and that the participants can rediscover through the stories of the characters who once lived there, played by professional actors and actresses.
