The collection is located inside the superb grounds of Castello Sforzesco. After the restoration of the castle in 1900, the City of Milan decided to move the artefacts of Museo Artistico Municipale there. The number of objects grew thanks to private donations and purchases in the first half of the century. The works are exhibited according to their material: textiles, ceramics, earthenware, porcelain, jewellery, ivories, bronzes, leather, glass and wrought ironwork.

The museum documents the evolution of taste and style in decorative and applied arts from antiquity to the 1950s. The display also includes the Bellini-Pezzoli collection of 20th and 21st century artistic glass. The museum’s itinerary shows visitors masterpieces and artefacts of exceptional quality created by glass blowers, ceramicists, woodcarvers, violin makers, silver and goldsmiths, gunsmiths, weavers and creators of tapestries, such as Bramantino, active throughout Europe.