Poldi Pezzoli Museum: a year of records and a 2025 with news and a major exhibition

by Redazione , published on 15/01/2025
Categories: Museums / Disclaimer
After a record-breaking 2024, the Poldi Pezzoli is preparing for an eventful 2025: restorations, a major exhibition on Andrea Solario, and inclusivity projects to confirm the museum's role as an international and accessible cultural center.

2024 was a historic year for the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan. With more than 82,000 visitors, an 80 percent increase over 2023, the museum achieved a record number of admissions since its opening, an extraordinary result that testifies to the success of its many activities of revitalization, enhancement, and international positioning. Among the events that marked the year, the exhibition dedicated to the Augustinian Polyptych was a significant success, not only in terms of the public but also in terms of critics.

A particularly significant project of 2024 was also The Poldi Pezzoli in Humanitas, which brought the suggestions of the museum’s collection to the spaces of the Pio X hospital in Milan. Permanent installations of great visual impact transformed healthcare environments, celebrating the human and healing value of art.

“We are very pleased with the results,” says Alessandra Quarto, director of the museum. "It has been an intense year, full of excitement, challenges and opportunities. We have expanded our activities and proposals for the public, demonstrating great vitality, and thanks also to the exhibition dedicated to Piero della Francesca’s Polyptych numerous tourists, foreign and otherwise, as well as Milanese, have taken advantage of the exhibition to return to visit the house museum in Via Manzoni, discovering or rediscovering its masterpieces. We are proud of the delicate operation of the live restoration of the museum’s iconic work, the Dama del Pollaiolo, which brought back interest in the most important activities of museums, namely scientific research and the protection and preservation of artistic heritage."

The exhibition on the Augustinian Polyptych. Photo: Marco Beck Pecoz
The exhibition on the Augustinian Polyptych. Photo: Marco Beck Pecoz

A 2025 between restorations and new exhibitions

The year 2025 promises to be just as eventful and innovative. The restoration of the famous Dama del Pollaiolo, nearing completion in January, revealed new details and restored the painting to its original colors, removing the yellowing that had obscured the work’s beauty. This masterpiece, finally restored to its splendor, will soon be admired by the public again.

A new showcase dedicated to the extraordinary collection of solar and scientific clocks will open in February. The new display will include restored pieces, items never before exhibited, and a multimedia apparatus to explain the mechanisms of the clocks and automata.

From Feb. 21 to May 20, contemporary art will enter into dialogue with the museum’s tradition through the exhibition Vitroepifanie. Elisa Sighicelli, which reinterprets the antique glass collection with light and transparent installations. Elisa Sighicelli’s play of light and metamorphosis is intended to offer the public a unique visual experience.

On March 25, the museum will present its major annual exhibition, The Seduction of Color. Andrea Solario and the Renaissance between Italy and France, produced in collaboration with the Louvre Museum. This is the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the artist, with exceptional loans of works that have never left France. Andrea Solario, among the first to bring the Italian Renaissance style beyond the Alps, will be at the center of an itinerary that explores his originality and influences.

The restoration of the Lady of Pollaiolo

The restoration of the Dama del Pollaiolo

An increasingly inclusive and accessible museum

Alongside the major exhibitions, activities dedicated to schools, families and fragile audiences will continue. Meetings, lectures and workshops will enrich the weekends, confirming the museum as a cultural space “to be experienced.”

Inclusiveness remains a fundamental pillar of Poldi Pezzoli’s mission. The museum is committed to being a place without barriers: not only physical, but also mental, age, gender, language and ability. Accessible education and a focus on a welcoming environment for all make the museum an example of integration and cultural participation.

The Poldi Pezzoli Museum
The Poldi Pezzoli Museum

New projects for the future

In June, work will begin on the refurbishment of the rooms dedicated to 16th- and 17th-century painting, with particular attention to the Salone dorato, the subject of extensive archival investigations. This intervention will not only renew the spaces, but will offer visitors an even more immersive museum experience.

Finally, 2025 will close with a major international collaboration, confirming Poldi Pezzoli as a cultural reality in step with global standards and capable of dialoguing with the world’s major institutions.

Poldi Pezzoli Museum: a year of records and a 2025 with news and a major exhibition
Poldi Pezzoli Museum: a year of records and a 2025 with news and a major exhibition


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