The Civico Museo degli Strumenti Musicali, contains over 800 exhibits from the 16th century to the mid-1900s and is, both in terms of the size of the collection and significance of the pieces, one of the most important museums of its kind in Europe and in Italy second only to the Rome collection. Some of the musical instruments have undergone a functional restoration and are now used for conference-concerts in which it is possible to admire their “voices” and better understand the close relationship that exists between the technical evolution of instruments and the history of music. The now consolidated relations with other Milanese institutions (in particular the Civic School of Music “Claudio Abbado” and the Civic School of Lute Making) mean that systematic musical activities are now conducted at the museum.

The Institute’s mission, in line with the original goals and its current specificities, is that of placing the instrument, understood as an object which produces a musical sound, at the centre of the permanent exhibition and cultural programmes. The instrument in this context represents a marker of the evolution of musical production from the 15th century on, with particular emphasis on classical music, but without excluding forays into popular genres. In this regard the Museum’s commitment to the spreading of knowledge and teaching of musical culture has remained constant since the 1990s.