Orto Botanico di Brera

Gardens in Milan

Brera Botanical Garden
CC BY-SA 4.0 / Danielle Jansen

The Orto Botanico di Brera spans 5,000 square meters and sits tucked behind Palazzo Brera on Via Brera 28, in the heart of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Managed by the Istituto di Fisica Generale Applicata of the University of Milan, this botanical garden welcomes visitors on weekdays without any admission fee.

Originally founded in 1774 by Abbot Fulgenzio Vitman at the behest of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the garden repurposed an existing Jesuit garden to cater to students of medicine and pharmacology. Following a period of neglect and decline, the garden underwent extensive restoration in 1998.

Today, visitors encounter a landscape dominated by neat rectangular flower beds edged with brick, complemented by 18th-century elliptical ponds and 19th-century structures like the specula and greenhouse (now utilized by the Academy of Fine Arts). Noteworthy features include one of Europe’s oldest Ginkgo biloba trees and mature specimens of Firmiana platanifolia, Juglans nigra, Pterocarya fraxinifolia, and Tilia.

The Orto Botanico di Brera appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Milan!

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Visiting Orto Botanico di Brera

Hours:

Mon-sat working days, 10:00am to 6:00pm (1st April to 31st October)

Mon-sat working days, 9:30am to 4:30pm (1st November to 31st March)


Price:

Free

Address: Orto Botanico di Brera, Via Brera, Milan, Metropolitan City of Milan, Italy
Duration: 20 minutes

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