From open-air cinema and city-wide festivals to art galleries, summer in Brera is once again full of activity. Here is our selection of events and exhibitions not to miss in the coming months.
AriAnteo Incoronata
When: Until 30 August 2026
Where: Chiostro dell’Incoronata
Open-air cinema returns to the heart of Brera with the 37th edition of AriAnteo. The programme combines new releases, award-winning films from international festivals and restored cinematic classics. Two special evenings are not to be missed: on 9 July, a screening of Primavera by Damiano Michieletto accompanied by a live performance from the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, and on 13 July, Oliver Stone’s The Doors presented in a restored 4K version.
Estate al Castello
When: Until 9 September 2026
Where: Cortile delle Armi, Castello Sforzesco
A rich programme of music, theatre, stand-up comedy, dance performances, and cultural talks. Highlights include performances by Carmen Consoli, Frankie hi-nrg mc, and Noa, alongside the Festival della Bellezza featuring Massimo Recalcati and Umberto Galimberti. For the first time, visitors will also enjoy free access on selected evenings to museum spaces that are usually closed after hours.
Il pensiero non va in vacanza
When: Until 21 September 2026
Where: ADI Design Museum
A free cultural programme spanning design, art, music, cinema, performances and games, developed in dialogue with the neighbourhoods of Sarpi, Garibaldi, and Brera. Events include symphonic concerts by I Pomeriggi Musicali, the “Women and Freedom” film series, and a pop-up museum dedicated to the history of board games, curated by Spartaco Albertarelli and Stefano Mirti.
Exhibitions
Franco Mazzucchelli at PLAN C
When: Until 19 July 2026
Where: Plan C Framework
Dedicated to Franco Mazzucchelli, one of the leading figures of Milan’s art scene and a graduate of the Brera Academy, the exhibition presents two monumental sculptures alongside a selection of mirrored works that actively engage visitors by reflecting their image and creating a dialogue with the surrounding space.
Vincenzo Castella. Timeless Archaeology
When: Until 3 October 2026
Where: BUILDING Gallery
An extensive retrospective bringing together, for the first time, around sixty large- and medium-format photographs by Vincenzo Castella. Spanning four decades of work on Italy’s industrial landscape, the exhibition presents images that, while rooted in the present, appear as archaeological traces suspended in time.
Deng Shiqing. Agent of Birth
When: Until 24 July 2026
Where: C+N Gallery CANEPANERI
Chinese artist Deng Shiqing returns to the gallery with a new series of oil paintings exploring surrogacy and the commodification of the female body. Without taking a moral stance, the exhibition examines how reproductive technologies redefine the boundaries between intimacy and contract, autonomy and surrender, through compositions of almost classical intensity.
Candidi come colombe, astuti come serpenti
When: Until 25 September 2026
Where: Galleria Maroncelli 12
Around forty small-format Naïve works from the Dino Menozzi Collection, featuring artists including Enrico Benassi, Mario Bortolami, and Serafino Valla. The exhibition celebrates a spontaneous and self-taught artistic language closely linked to Art Brut: a seemingly simple form of painting that offers a more authentic vision of both nature and ourselves.
Cieli Rosa e Luci d’Acqua
When: Until 13 September 2026
Where: Acquario Civico di Milano
Daniela Cavallo digitally reinterprets an archive of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Milanese postcards, transforming them into hybrid images suspended between historical document and contemporary vision. The exhibition unfolds through two series: Luci d’Acqua, dedicated to the city’s water heritage, and Milano in Colors, a more intimate and chromatic reinterpretation of Milan’s urban iconography.
Achille e Bruno, liberi di giocare
When: Until 16 February 2027
Where: Fondazione Achille Castiglioni
This exhibition explores the creative dialogue between Achille Castiglioni and Bruno Munari, friends before collaborators, united by the idea of play as a tool for observing reality. Through light installations, projections, natural forms, alphabets and intentionally uncomfortable seating, the exhibition reveals a design approach rooted in curiosity, experimentation and lightness.
Luciana Matalon. Dalla materia all’infinito
When: Until 31 July 2026
Where: Fondazione Luciana Matalon
An exhibition dedicated to Luciana Matalon, retracing more than fifty years of her artistic research, from her early explorations of materials to works centred on memory, time, and the cosmic dimension. A tribute to the Foundation’s founder, whose creative journey seamlessly intertwined matter, reflection, and inner exploration.
Francesco Clemente. In Between
When: Until 6 September 2026
Where: Triennale Milano
The first major retrospective in Milan devoted to Francesco Clemente. Seventy works, including paintings, watercolours, pastels and artists’ books, trace more than fifty years of a practice that moves between East and West, self-portraiture and metamorphosis, spirituality and the human body. The exhibition also features works created during his celebrated New York collaborations with Basquiat and Warhol.
