Statues and sculptures in Milan

Strolling through the streets of Milan, it’s easy to come across one of the many sculptures that dot the city. Today, however, we’d like to offer you a special itinerary, designed to introduce you to the most unique outdoor works of art, starting from your Milanese home: the Best Western Hotel City!

We begin our tour at the Indro Montanelli Gardens, a ten-minute walk from the hotel. Here, just to the left of the Planetarium, a bronze monument dedicated to Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich, a Croatian astronomer and physicist who lived and died in Milan, was inaugurated in 2017. The imposing sculpture, created by Ivan Meštrović, depicts the scientist seated in a reflective pose, his left arm resting on a globe. Part Rodin’s Thinker, part Atlas from Greek mythology, the sculpture celebrates the astronomer’s connection to his scientific discoveries. Boscovich was, in fact, the first to provide a procedure for calculating a planet’s orbit and was among the founders of the Brera Astronomical Observatory in Milan.

Let’s move to Via Senato 10, where Joan Mirò’s famous 1975 statue, Mother Ubu, has just been relocated after its restoration. Of Surrealist origin, the sculpture depicts a zoomorphic figure with a bird’s head, a cave-like concave belly, two massive legs and symbolic incisions on its body reminiscent of primitive art. Harking back to the character of Ubu, a manipulative, ambitious and cruel woman from Alfred Jarry’s play Ubu Roi, Mirò represents the antithesis of motherhood: a concave belly and breast-like protuberances jutting out in the opposite direction to those of the face, yet arms extending in a gesture of openness. Highly symbolic and evocative, the work, with its contrasts, evokes powerful impressions and stimulates openness and reflection.

Let’s now head to the renowned Brera art district, and specifically to the Accademia courtyard, where we find Antonio Canova’s statue of Napoleon Bonaparte. Sculpted between 1802 and 1806, it depicts the emperor as Mars the Peacemaker, nude and idealized according to the canons of classical art. The work was intended to exalt Napoleon’s heroic and divine figure, but the distance between the image and his actual body made it unpopular with the emperor. The marble original is now housed at Apsley House in London, while a plaster copy and the bronze work by Francesco Righetti are on display at Brera. It’s worth seeing as one of the finest examples of Canova’s neoclassicism.

Let’s now approach the center and stop in Piazza Belgiojoso, where the Monument to Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso stands. Created by Giuseppe Bergomi and inaugurated in 2021, it is the first public statue dedicated to a real woman in the city and depicts the patriot seated on a bench in a dynamic yet thoughtful pose. Cristina was a key figure in the Italian Risorgimento, committed to politics, journalism and social work. The work aims to restore visibility to the role of women in Italian history.

A short distance away, Arnaldo Pomodoro‘s Grande Disco, installed in 1980 in Piazza Meda in Milan, is a gilded bronze sculpture 4.5 meters in diameter. The work depicts a disk, reminiscent of the sun in its color and reflections, with incisions and slits that evoke rays and gears, symbolizing the contrast between nature and technology. Pomodoro drew inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, ideally inscribing the human figure within a circle. Today, it is an icon of Milanese contemporary art, integrated into the urban landscape and accessible to the public.

In a few minutes, we arrive at Piazza della Scala, home to the monument to Leonardo da Vinci, an imposing work created by the sculptor Pietro Magni and inaugurated in 1872. The central statue depicts Leonardo in a pensive pose, his hands clasped to his chest. At the base, on an octagonal pedestal, are the statues of four of his students. The Milanese affectionately nicknamed the monument on liter in quater, “one liter in four,” comparing it to a bottle of wine surrounded by four glasses. The base is decorated with bas-reliefs illustrating Leonardo as a painter, sculptor, architect and hydraulic engineer.

Let’s return to contemporary art with Maurizio Cattelan’s sculpture L.O.V.E., commonly known as Il Dito, located in Milan’s Piazza Affari, in front of the Italian Stock Exchange. Made of Carrara marble, the 11-meter-tall work depicts a hand with all fingers severed except the middle finger. The title L.O.V.E. creates a striking contrast to the provocative image and is an acronym for “Freedom, Hate, Revenge, Eternity,” words that evoke complex and ambiguous themes. Unveiled in 2010, the work has sparked debate and various interpretations, but Cattelan has chosen not to provide a single interpretation, leaving room for the viewer’s imagination.

Less well-known but highly evocative is Daniela Oliveri’s statue of Margherita Hack in Largo Richini, directly across from the University of Milan. Inaugurated in 2022, it is the first public statue in Italy dedicated to a woman scientist. It depicts the celebrated astrophysicist emerging from a galactic vortex, her golden hands raised toward the sky, as if simulating a gaze through a telescope. Hence the title of the work, Physical Gaze.

Now, with the help of the subway line 3 (Missori – Repubblica), we arrive near the Central Station, where the last two sculptures of the tour await us.
On Via Vittor Pisani, near Via Felice Casati, we find Rachele Bianchi’s Personaggio sculpture, a monumental bronze work inaugurated in 2019. The sculpture depicts a female figure wrapped in a pleated tunic reminiscent of the pages of a book. Here, the woman symbolizes a feminine nature that combines the softness of the body’s lines with the will and determination expressed by the geometric forms. This work is typical of the artist’s oeuvre, whose figures, initially wrapped in protective cloaks, gradually open up to the world, symbolizing a journey of personal growth and openness to the outside world.

We conclude our tour in Piazza Duca D’Aosta, opposite the Central Station, where Michelangelo Pistoletto‘s monumental sculpture, La Mela Reintegrata, stands 8 meters tall and weighs 11 tons. Installed in 2016, the work depicts a white apple, an emblem of intact nature, with a sewn-up bite, symbolizing humanity’s detachment from nature and its reconciliation. The sculpture thus becomes a starting point for reflection on the relationship between technological progress and environmental sustainability, and calls for a new global balance between these two worlds.

Here we are at the end of our completely free tour of Milan’s open-air sculptures. A 10-minute walk will take you back to the Best Western Hotel City for a well-deserved rest!