Milan, Leonardo3 Museum risks closure due to bureaucratic problems

The Museo Leonardo3 in Milan, the museum dedicated to the figure and genius of Leonardo da Vinci, isin danger of closing: highly faithful reconstructions of Leonardo’s machines, ultra-high-definition reproductions of his drawings, exhibitions that often feature originals (such as the one inaugurated just today, entitled Il cavallo, il mazzocchio e il volto del maestro where three of Leonardo’s drawings are on display), a layout that takes the visitor into the mind of the genius, all built according to a scientific project on which experts on the great artist, such as Martin Kemp or Marco Versiero, collaborated. The news came today: the museum, which ended the year in 2024 with more than 280,000 visitors, one of Milan’s busiest, and which employs 25 families, is in fact embroiled in a dispute over the location that has housed it since 2013, inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, on the Piazza della Scala side.

The museum is in fact rented in the space of a hotel to which, however, the City Council has not renewed the contract. In fact, the Leonardo3 Museum was born in 2013: at that time it was supposed to be a temporary exhibition, housed inside the Seven Stars Hotel, owned by the Rosso Group. It is, moreover, one of the few hotels in the world that are located inside a national monument (the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, precisely). The exhibition was a great success, so the project was revamped and what was supposed to be a temporary exhibition was later transformed into the current museum, which displays, in a space of more than 600 square meters, about fifty models of Leonardo’s machines and several dozen digital reproductions. The museum lives thanks to an agreement with the hotel (which has since changed its name, becoming the Vik Galleria hotel), which has granted the museum sublet space. The problem lies in the fact that the hotel’s state concession, due to expire in 2031, has been subject to a forfeiture action: the case is a year old and the hotel has since appealed, while the museum was guaranteed continuity by a municipal determination even if the concessionaire changed. According to the determination, in fact, the museum’s activities would not be interrupted even during the time needed to complete the tender procedures.

Not only that: the only space given in concession to the museum is the ten square meters of public land at the entrance, which leads to the elevator that visitors must take to go up to the second floor of the building, where the museum is located. Over the years, Leonardo3 has paid over 300 thousand euros in fees to use this space. Without it, visitors cannot enter.

What has changed from a year ago? According to museum director Massimiliano Lisa, the museum received a pec from the state property department that would cancel the municipality’s determination, thus effectively not renewing the concession to the museum. Which, in this situation, as early as Monday could close its doors, the director points out.

“The Leonardo3 Museum,” said Lisa, "could close on Monday, Nov. 18, or at best within the year, because on Wednesday evening at 6:10 p.m. the Municipal Administration announced the cancellation of a Determination of December last year, which guaranteed the continuity of our work. Together with Professor Martin Kemp who declared ’We absolutely must not lose Leonardo3,’ I appeal to the Mayor of Milan and the City Council to declare the Leonardo3 Museum in the public interest and preserve it as it deserves. We are talking about a business that employs 25 families and a museum that with 250,000 visitors in 2023 and 280,000 in 2024 is the sixth in Milan and among the top 30 in Italy. A private museum that takes no public contribution. A study center that has been directly analyzing Leonardo for 20 years in an unprecedented way and is recognized worldwide as a valuable cultural reality.

I am confident that the mayor and aldermen of this city will intervene to defend our reality."

The museum therefore appeals to the authorities so that the Leonardo3 project can continue to bring hundreds of thousands of people, especially schools, children and young people, closer to the ingenuity of Leonardo da Vinci.

Milan, Leonardo3 Museum risks closure due to bureaucratic problems

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