Welcome to Brera, the Montmartre of Milan. Its charming cafés, winding alleys, and art galleries still carry the bohemian spirit of the artists and intellectuals who once roamed these streets. But Brera wasn’t always like this. The area now occupied by the Brera Palace originally hosted a monastery belonging to the Humiliati order(Humble ones). After their suppression in the 16th century, another religious order, the Jesuits, took over, transforming the monastery into a Jesuit College. By the early 17th century, the growing number of students led to the construction of the current building designed by Milanese architect Francesco Maria Richini.