Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia "Leonardo da Vinci"

Italy's largest science and technology museum occupies a sixteenth-century Olivetan monastery in Milan, and its signature gallery is devoted to Leonardo da Vinci. Here, models of his machines, built from his notebook drawings, sit alongside material on his studies of engineering, flight and anatomy. Signs carry the Italian name, Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci.

Beyond the cloisters, the collections cover transport, energy, communications, materials and space. The largest exhibits are housed in separate pavilions. Steam locomotives and railway carriages fill a hall built to resemble a station. Another pavilion displays ships and aircraft, including the bridge and interiors of the ocean liner Conte Biancamano. Outside stands the Enrico Toti, an Italian navy submarine.

The museum opened in 1953, and it suits families and anyone curious about how things work. Hands-on laboratories run alongside the historic displays. The site is large, so seeing even the main sections comfortably takes the better part of half a day.