Perle nel cortile

Walking down the street, one can easily come across the window of an art gallery. In those cases we can already get a first idea of what is on display from the comfort of the pavement, and decide on the basis of what we see whether to enter or not. But in art, the best discoveries are almost always made by taking a bit of a risk. For example, one needs to wander into well-hidden courtyards to be rewarded by some of Milan's most beautiful galleries.

Below is a selection of five galleries selected for this tour

Emanuela Campoli

Emanuela Campoli represents a diverse roster of international artists featuring emerging, established and historical positions. Originally opened in 2003 and formerly known as Campoli Presti, the gallery has first introduced a generation of artists cultivating their early exposure and establishing critical and institutional representation in Europe.

Emanuela Campoli
Foro Buonaparte 48
Milan 20121
www.emanuelacampoli.com

Galleria Carlo Orsi

The Galleria Carlo Orsi is located in Milan’s prestigious fashion district, inside an 18th-century palazzo. Founded in the early 1950s by his father Alessandro, the gallery has been run by Carlo Orsi since 1986.

Specializing in Italian paintings and sculptures from the 15th to the early 20th century, it also participates in the most prestigious art fairs in Europe and abroad: TEFAF Maastricht and TEFAF New York, the International Biennial Antiques Fair in Florence and Frieze Masters in London. Throughout the years, Galleria Orsi has supported numerous museum institutions, loaning out works and financing the publication of books, as well as compiling catalogs on studies of specific works and artists.

The gallery is also committed to directly sponsoring cultural associations, public institutions and restoration projects.

Galleria Carlo Orsi
Via Bagutta 14, 20121 Milano
www.galleriaorsi.com

ML Fine Art

ML Fine Art was founded by Matteo Lampertico in Milan in 2007. In 2015, the London branch of the gallery was opened at 15 Old Bond Street. While the gallery’s principal focus is modern and contemporary art, Matteo Lampertico also deals in Old Masters art, his earliest speciality. The program focuses on Italian artists of the second post-war period and their dialogue with the international avant-garde. Each exhibition is accompanied by a catalog featuring original research by Italian and international authorities. In recent years, Laura Cherubini and Hans Ulrich Obrist have discussed Carla Accardi, Serge Lemoine has written about Franco Grignani, Jürgen Pech on Max Ernst and Gian Enzo Sperone on Aldo Mondino.

ML Fine Arts
Via Montebello, 30, 20121 Milano MI
www.mlfineart.com

Galleria Monica De Cardenas

The gallery gained a reputation for bringing international artists to Italy, presenting a clear program oriented towards photography and figurative painting. In 1993, in Italy, it exhibited the large-format photographs of Thomas Struth. In 1994, the Swiss artist Markus Raetz presented his sculptures, which change according to point of view. In 1996, it exhibited the German minimalist figurative sculptor Stephan Balkenhol. In 1998, it was one of the first galleries in Europe to present the American painter Alex Katz, and later it organized exhibitions of Katz’s work in Italian and European institutions.
The relationship with these artists has consolidated and strengthened over the years; in 2022, Katz exhibited at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Trento and Rovereto – in May, at MART, in June, at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and in October, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The 2000s brought a deeper, more complex focus on figurative painting, with solo or group exhibitions by Peter Doig, Chantal Joffe, Jules de Balincourt, Ali Banisadr, Serban Savu, and Gideon Rubin. In parallel, the gallery represents and promotes young Italian artists who share this vision, such as Claudia Losi, Gianluca Di Pasquale, Rä di Martino, Linda Fregni Nagler and Federico Tosi.

Galleria Monica De Cardenas
Via Francesco Viganò, 4, 20124 Milano MI
www.monicadecardenas.com

Galleria Federico Vavassori

Founded in 2011, the gallery promotes and supports the work of young Italian and international artists through exhibitions, publications and off-site events.

Galleria Federico Vavassori
Via Giorgio Giulini, 5, 20123 Milano MI
www.federicovavassori.com