Acquario Civico

Acquario Civico stands in Milan’s Parco Sempione, between the Arena Civica and Castello Sforzesco. Europe’s third-oldest aquarium occupies the only surviving pavilion from Milan’s 1906 International Exhibition.

Its Liberty facade combines floral ceramics with aquatic cement reliefs. Viennese Secession influences sharpen the building’s Milanese Art Nouveau character. Sebastiano Locati designed the pavilion, with funding from Duke Giuseppe Crivelli Serbelloni. World War Two damaged it, while a 1963 restoration returned it to use. A renovation completed in 2006 added educational spaces, temporary halls, and an immersive path through Italian freshwater and marine habitats.

Ten freshwater tanks and twelve marine tanks trace environments from mountain streams to the Mediterranean Sea. Outside, open-air tanks share a garden with a botanical path. At the centre, Neptune watches over a fountain whose hippopotamus head spouts water.

City: Milan
Content updated: 2026-06-22

Image: Stefano Stabile CC BY-SA 3.0
Image: Mauro Mariani at Italian Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Image: Mauro Mariani at Italian WikipediaPublic domain
Image: Brianza2008 CC BY-SA 3.0
Image: user:ArcheologoPublic domain

Take this page with you

The myTuur app is free, and once you are standing at a spot its story starts by itself.

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Milan. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

What is myTuur?

myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.