Visiting the San Siro Museum in Milan

I think I can officially no longer call myself “not really a sports fan.” I’ve become quite attached to my Italian soccer team, AC Milan, and even more attached to the Italian national team, so the San Siro Museum was always going to be on my list the next time I was in Milan. Because San Siro is home to two of Italy’s biggest clubs, you get a two-fer with your ticket. If you’re a fan of one of them (like I am), you may want to skip the trophies of the other team, but that’s your business. Whether or not there’s a game on while you’re in town, the tour gets you inside one of the most famous stadiums in the world.

It’s also a tour with a deadline. AC Milan and Inter bought San Siro from the city in November 2025 and plan to build a new stadium next door. Construction is due to start in the second half of 2027, the new ground is due around 2030 at the earliest, and most of the old stadium is due to come down after that. If you want to stand in the San Siro stands where Maldini, Baresi, Zanetti and Ronaldo played, the next few years are your window.

What you see

The museum opened in 1996, built at first from one man’s private collection. Because San Siro is home to both AC Milan and Inter, there are exhibits for both: shirts, trophies, boots, photographs, and life-size figures of both teams’ most famous players. There are also items from players who never played for either club, including shirts worn by Pelé, Maradona and Zidane.

The stadium tour is the best part. With the combined ticket you walk out into the stands, sit in the dugouts, and, on most tours, see the changing rooms and the players’ tunnel. San Siro is Italy’s largest stadium, holding about 75,800 people. It was built in 1926 and rebuilt and expanded over the decades, most visibly with the spiral ramp towers and the red roof girders added for the 1990 World Cup. It’s a building some people love and some hate. I’m not a huge fan of how it looks, but I’d know it anywhere, and it has that going for it. In February 2026 it hosted the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

For a bigger thrill (and a bigger ticket), the Skywalk takes you along a walkway 55 meters up on the stadium roof, for a view over the pitch and across Milan.

And don’t forget to get a picture with your favorite player before you leave…

Never mind that those likenesses look a little, um, creepy (and that one looks like he’s squatting in a rather undignified way).

Is San Siro’s the only stadium museum in Italy?

No. Juventus opened its J-Museum at its stadium in Turin in 2012, and it has its own museum and stadium tour. San Siro’s is older, though, and it covers two clubs instead of one. If you’re choosing between them, the club you support decides it. If you support neither, San Siro, for the building and because its days are numbered.

Tips for the tour

• Check the event calendar first. On match days, and on days when there’s a concert, tours are cut back or cancelled, and the stands may be off limits for days around a big concert. In the summer concert season, check before you trek out.
• Book online. Tickets are sold for timed entry on the official site, and weekends and school holidays fill up.
• Allow about two hours for the museum and the stadium tour together, plus travel time. San Siro is on the western edge of the city, about 30 minutes from the Duomo by metro.
• Want to see a match instead? Serie A runs from August to May, and both clubs play at San Siro every other week. Tickets are named and sold through the clubs’ official sites. See my post on seeing a soccer match at San Siro.

>> There’s lots more soccer information on the site: learn how to read an Italian soccer schedule so you know when your favorite team plays at home, and see the Italian soccer guide for travel information on the other stadiums.

San Siro Museum essentials

Location: The museum and tour entrance is at Gate 6, Piazzale Angelo Moratti, 20151 Milano.
Getting there: Metro line M5 (the lilac line) stops right in front of the stadium at San Siro Stadio, and tram 16 runs out there too. Milan’s metro takes contactless bank cards and phones at the gates.
Hours: Open most days, but times change on match days and when there’s a concert or other event in the stadium, so check before you go.
Admission: In 2026 the museum and stadium tour costs about €31 to €40, depending on the ticket. The Skywalk costs extra.
More information: Buy tickets on the official San Siro Museum & Tour website.