From historic palaces to exhibition venues with a modern architectural appeal. Places where history is on show, with an innovative touch. From medieval frescoes to car design works of art, through edible artworks. The cities of the Circuito boast a wide array of museums and galleries, permanent exhibitions and temporary events. All cities in the Circuito have an ace up their sleeves.

If you visit Lombardy, you will be surprised to find out that museums in Bergamo opened over 250 years ago, when some scholars were appointed to document the history of the city, avoiding that relics and precious objects from the past might get lost. The oldest is the Archaeological museum, but Pinacoteca dell'Accademia Carrara is the most famous, with its prestigious collection of paintings – today it is being renovated. Why don't you pay a visit to GAMeC - Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea?

Brescia is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage List with its most representative museum, in the Benedictine female monastery of San Salvatore - Santa Giulia, founded in 753 AD by the Lombard king Desiderio. It includes the churches of Santa Maria in Solario and Santa Giulia, besides three Renaissance cloisters. Always in Brescia, the Museo del Risorgimento is quite recent (it opened in 2005), but equally interesting.

Also the new Museo del Duomo di Monza is linked to the Lombards, preserving the 'Corona ferrea' (the iron crown) and the precious Treasurys composed of a collection of objects, furniture and sacred objects from the late-Roman era and the early Middle Ages. Besides the art treasures of Tesoro dell'Incoronata, in Lodi you can visit Collezione Anatomica Paolo Gorini, in a magnificent building frescoed by Ferrari, and Museo della Stampa, which preserves a large collection of machines and tools for printing.

Going south, the new entry in the museum system of Cremona is Museo del Violino, opened in September 2013, only few steps away from the Duomo in a restored building from the 20th century. There are 70 stringed instruments produced in the city over the last 500 years, and you can interact with music in general. Other museums in Cremona include Museo Civico "Ala Ponzone", Museo Archeologico, Museo della Civiltà Contadina, and Museo Civico di Storia Naturale.

Exceptional venues house museums in Pavia: Castello Visconteo and Certosa. The former preserves relics from the Romans to the modern centuries, among which the outstanding Pinacoteca Malaspina with its masterpieces from Pavia painters from the six hundred years between the 12th and the 18th centuries. Museo della Certosa can be visited only upon authorisation (to be asked in advance) granted by Sovrintendenza ai Monumenti di Milano. Among its pieces there are plasters of most statues in the complex, objects from Gian Galeazzo Visconti's mausoleum, liturgical objects, vestments and various paintings, among which some canvases by Bergognone.

Piacenza offers particularly suggestive monuments: Palazzo Farnese houses Museo Civico and Pinacoteca (art gallery). The former exhibits a collection of maiolica objects and decorated glasses, 14th-15th century frescoes from various churches in Piacenza, the collection of ancient arms, and the unique Etruscan Liver used for divination. The real treasure of the gallery is the Holy Family by Botticelli, known as 'il tondo' because of its circular shape.

Parma is renowned for the elegant atmosphere of its museums, thanks to the influence of Maria Louise of Austria, who collected many of the splendid masterpieces on show at Galleria Farnese. The most eclectic of Reggio Emilia museums, Museo del Tricolore, revolves around the history of the Italian flag, but if you prefer modern art, Collezione Maramotti is the right choice. Nuovo Palazzo dei Musei, designed by architect Italo Rota, offers a new idea of a 'museum' which constantly interacts with today's world.

The museums in Modena fit all tastes, from car lovers with the new Museo Casa Ferrari, to stickers lovers with Museo della Figurina.