The Milan Conservatory (Conservatorio di musica “Giuseppe Verdi” di Milano) is a college of music in Milan.
The conservatory was established by a royal decree of 1807 in Milan, capital of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. It opened the following year with premises in the cloisters of the Baroque church of Santa Maria della Passione. There were initially 18 boarders, including students of both sexes. Today it is the largest institute of musical education in Italy.
In its 200-year history, the conservatory has educated some of Italy's most prominent musicians and conductors, including Fausto Romitelli, Oscar Bianchi, Luca Francesconi, Stefano Gervasoni, Marco Stroppa, Giacomo Puccini, Alfredo Piatti, Amilcare Ponchielli, [Arrigo Boito]], Giovanni Bottesini, Alfredo Catalani, Riccardo Chailly, Amelita Galli-Curci, Vittorio Giannini, Bruno Maderna, Pietro Mascagni, Gian Carlo Menotti, Francisco Mignone, Riccardo Muti, Kurken Alemshah, Italo Montemezzi, Feliciano Strepponi, Alceo Galliera, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Giuseppe Andaloro, Mario Nascimbene, Maurizio Pollini, Ludovico Einaudi, Antonino Fogliani, Vittorio Parisi, Riccardo Sinigaglia, and Claudio Abbado. Other notable students include composer Margrit Zimmermann and singer Florin Cezar Ouatu.