Pirelli HangarBicocca

Pirelli HangarBicocca is the most spectacular free experience in Milan and a must for anyone who loves contemporary art. It occupies a vast industrial building in the Bicocca district on the northern edge of the city, part of a former plant where trains and locomotives were once built, and it is run by a foundation created by the tyre company Pirelli. The scale is the point: the main spaces, the long Navate (naves) and the lofty Shed, are big enough to hold works that no ordinary museum could display. The permanent anchor is Anselm Kiefer's The Seven Heavenly Palaces, a group of seven towers built from stacked concrete blocks, some reaching well over ten metres, standing in semi-darkness at the end of the nave, together with large paintings by the artist. It is a haunting, almost religious installation, and seeing it for the first time is one of the great art experiences in Italy. Around it, HangarBicocca stages several major solo exhibitions each year by leading international artists, often their largest shows in Italy, designed to fill the industrial spaces. Outside, Fausto Melotti's sculpture La Sequenza marks the entrance. Admission is free, there is a café and bookshop, and the foundation runs talks, family workshops and guided tours, some of them free. The district around it has changed hugely since the factories closed, with a university campus and new housing, but HangarBicocca keeps the industrial atmosphere. It takes a little effort to reach, but it is easily worth the trip, and you will often find it far quieter than the centre's museums.

Visiting: HangarBicocca is usually open from Thursday to Sunday, from late morning into the evening, and closed from Monday to Wednesday; check the official site for current hours and the exhibition programme, as spaces close briefly between shows. Admission to exhibitions is free, and booking is not normally needed for individuals. Guided tours, some in English, run at weekends and can be booked through the site. Some installations are in very low light, so allow time for your eyes to adjust.

How to see it: start with the current exhibitions in the Shed and the front of the Navate, then walk to the back for Kiefer's towers, which are best seen slowly and without hurry. Read the free guide to each show, which explains the works well. Allow ninety minutes to two hours. The café is a good place for a break, and the bookshop is strong on art books.

Getting there: HangarBicocca is in Via Chiese, in the Bicocca district. Take metro line M5 to Ponale or a suburban train to Greco Pirelli station, both a walk of around ten minutes, or take a tram from the centre. Combine it with the Porta Nuova district on the way back, as the M5 line links the two. The surrounding Bicocca district, built on the old Pirelli industrial land, also has a university campus and new architecture worth a short walk.