Fodor's Expert Review Pinacoteca di Brera

The collection here is star-studded even by Italian standards. The museum has nearly 40 rooms, arranged in chronological order—so pace yourself. One highlight is the somber, moving Cristo Morto (Dead Christ) by Mantegna, which dominates Room VI with its sparse palette of umber and its foreshortened perspective. 

Room XXIV offers two additional highlights of the gallery: Raphael's (1483–1520) Sposalizio della Vergine (Marriage of the Virgin), with its mathematical composition and precise, alternating colors, portrays the betrothal of Mary and Joseph. La Vergine con il Bambino e Santi (Madonna with Child and Saints), by Piero della Francesca (1420–92), is an altarpiece commissioned by Federico da Montefeltro (shown kneeling, in full armor, before the Virgin); it was intended for a church to house the duke's tomb.