The Botanical Garden of the Brera Museum is a relatively small garden tucked away between buildings in the center of Milan. It also has a very interesting history, dating back to the 14th century when it was first established as a meditation space.
I try to visit every garden I can when I travel. I like getting a moment's peace during a trip to a big and tourist-packed city. And I'm always interested to see the plants native to different climates. The Brera Botanical Garden is open to the public year-round, and admission is free. It's a short walk north of Milan's Teatro alla Scala and only took about 30 minutes to walk through.
We got lucky visiting the botanical garden at an interesting time. Unbeknownst to us, it was Milan Design Week, and I found myself in Genoa for Genoa Design Week less than a month later.
There was an exhibition going on, demonstrating the versatility of rice as a potential sustainable construction material. It's called "sunRICE," and it's made from a byproduct of rice farming with a zero-waste production process. I have to say, it was really cool looking. It sort of looked like cork, and I liked the colors they painted the material. The installations were really unique, and they added a very modern element to the flora.
The Botanical Garden was really well maintained, and mostly everything was in bloom when we visited in April. There was a great diversity of plants and some colorful tiny flowers. The garden also featured a vegetable garden, which was cool to see from a distance.
I also liked the architecture of the surrounding building and the plants climbing up the side. It was a peaceful little spot in the bustling downtown of Milan, and being free, it's well worth the visit!
