MUDEC: World Cultures in a Former Steel Factory
In the Tortona district, on the site of the old Ansaldo steelworks, MUDEC – Museo delle Culture holds Milan's ethnographic collections inside a building by David Chipperfield. It is best known for its blockbuster temporary exhibitions. From Taylor's Love Solferino B&B it is a straightforward metro ride.
MUDEC – Museo delle Culture, Milan. Photo: FrussiWMI, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Getting There from Our B&B
By metro: from Moscova (M2 green line), 300 metres from the B&B, take the M2 to Porta Genova FS – about 12 minutes – then walk roughly 800 metres along Via Tortona. Door to door: around 25 minutes.
A Museum Built Around a Void
The Ansaldo works produced steel and locomotive parts here until the 1980s. The city bought the site and, after a long and contested competition, David Chipperfield designed the museum, which opened in 2015.
His idea was a covered public square: the galleries are arranged around a curved, top-lit central hall in polished grey resin, which visitors can cross without a ticket. The industrial shell survives outside; the interior is entirely new.
The permanent collection has around 8,000 objects, assembled from Milanese civic collections and private donations from the eighteenth century onwards – a record of how Europeans looked at the rest of the world, which the museum increasingly presents with that history in mind.
What to See
- The Agora – the free central hall, worth stepping into even without a ticket.
- The permanent collection – objects from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania, shown with the question of how they arrived in Milan kept in view.
- The temporary exhibitions – the main draw. MUDEC hosts large retrospectives of well-known modern artists.
- Mudec Design Store and the restaurant – accessible without a museum ticket.
- The Tortona district – around the museum, a dense concentration of design studios, showrooms and photography spaces.
Practical Information
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, roughly 09:30 to 19:30, with late opening on Thursdays. Closed Mondays.
- Admission: the permanent collection is inexpensive, around 5 euro; temporary exhibitions typically 14 to 17 euro.
- The Agora: free.
- Booking ahead: advisable at weekends for the big exhibitions.
- Design Week: in April the whole Tortona district becomes one of the main hubs of the Fuorisalone and is extremely busy.
Combine It With the Navigli
Porta Genova station serves both MUDEC and the Naviglio Grande, which is five minutes on foot from the same exit. Museum in the afternoon, canals for the evening, is an easy and very Milanese combination.
Why Staying in Brera Makes the Difference
Taylor's Love Solferino B&B is at Via Solferino 56 in Zone 1, the historic centre, between Brera, Moscova and Corso Garibaldi. The M2 from Moscova runs directly to Porta Genova, which puts Tortona and the Navigli on one simple line.
For travellers who prefer a short stay apartment in Milan centre to a hotel, the B&B offers free self check-in with a smart lock. Porta Garibaldi FS, 700 metres away, connects directly to Malpensa Airport with the Malpensa Express.