Step off Via San Vittore into a former monastery
The museum sits on Via San Vittore, near the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, in the ancient monastery of San Vittore al Corpo — a 16th-century building that has been a hospital and a military headquarters, was badly damaged in the Second World War, and was restored and converted into a science and technology museum. The metro drops you at Sant'Ambrogio (Line 2), and from the street you pass into cloistered courtyards and long corridors that still feel monastic, except for what is parked in them. This is the largest science and technology museum in Italy, dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci, and it opened in 1953, inaugurated by Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi.
Plan on more than the two hours a quick visit is said to take. With a collection of over 21,000 objects, the building can occupy a full day.
Walk the deck of a liner and board a submarine
The Transport department is the museum at its most physical, and it is divided into four parts: air, rail, water and the submarine Enrico Toti-S-506.
- In the air section, look for a replica of a 1909 Farman and an original Macchi MC 205 V flown by the Regia Aeronautica Militare Italiana during the Second World War, alongside modern military aircraft including an Italian Fiat G.91, a North American F-86K and a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak.
- The rail section occupies a pavilion from the 1906 Expo, with a reconstructed late 19th-century railway station facade and vehicles from the 19th and 20th centuries, with a focus on the historical public transport of Lombardy.
- The water section displays the bridge of the transatlantic liner Conte Biancamano and the training ship Ebe, launched in 1921 — plus a slow-running torpedo, or Maiale, and an explosive punt from 1940, both used by the Italian Royal Navy in the Second World War.
- The Enrico Toti-S-506, built by Italian shipbuilders after the Second World War for the Italian Navy and launched in 1967, is open to visitors.
Stand inside a power station, then meet Leonardo as an engineer
The Energy section covers energy sources and devices, and it contains the Margherita thermoelectric power station of 1895 — the Regina Margherita — alongside a section on the oil industry and petrochemistry. In the Materials section you follow the life cycle of modern products from raw material to recycling, through polymeric and synthetic materials and basic chemical manufacturing, to a metal section that exhibits the first electric arc furnace for melting steel, invented in 1898 by Ernesto Stassano.
The Leonardo da Vinci, Art & Science area is where the museum earns its name. Its Leonardo section exhibits machines reproduced from his drawings — a hydraulic saw, a spinning machine, a flying machine, Leonardo's tank — models reinterpreted by a group of experts who translated and completed the drawings. Around it, the Jewelry collection shows precious objects in stones, gems and metals, including gold and ivory jewellery; the Horology collection traces watchmaking through pendulum clocks, ancient clocks, personal watches and tower mechanisms; and the Musical Instruments section holds instruments from the 17th to the 20th century, with a reconstruction of a 17th-century lute maker's workshop.
Globes, a pendulum and the history of Italian television
The Communication department splits into three areas, and each rewards a slow pass. In Astronomy you find antique astronomical and topographical instruments, including two 17th-century celestial and earth globes, the Salmoiraghi refracting telescope and a Foucault pendulum. Telecommunications runs from telegraph to telephone and wireless communication, and from radio to television, with a global view of the technical history of Italian television. The Sound section follows the main technologies for recording and reproducing sound from the 19th century to modern times. If you are travelling with children, the Science for Young People department keeps its own laboratories and workshops — every department in the museum has them.
When to go, and how to build the day around it
The museum is closed on Mondays, as are most museums in Milan, and also on 24 and 25 December and 1 January. It is included in the Yes Milan City Pass, and contactless payments are accepted. Because you are already beside Sant'Ambrogio, you can pair the visit with the basilica and then walk into the centre — Milan's sights run from the Duomo to Santa Maria delle Grazie, home of Leonardo's The Last Supper, and the city's surviving gates, from Porta Nuova round to Porta Garibaldi, are scattered across the same streets. If you want a view to end the day, Torre Branca and the roof of the Duomo both give you the city from above.
Give the museum a morning, break for lunch near Sant'Ambrogio, and let the afternoon take you toward the centre. Check the museum's own website for current opening times and tickets before you set out, then put Via San Vittore on your map and go.