Castello Sforzesco goes along with the history of Milan for 750 years and has been a decisive place on many occasions.

The first construction was designed by Galeazzo II but it was Francesco Sforza (from which the name) to give it the present form.

Due to the obvious defensive characteristic, the siege, demolition and subsequent reconstruction of some parts have been frequent during French, Spanish and Austrian domination.

The happenings of Castello Sforzesco wind through the wide frame of the city’s history, starting from the first nucleus dating back to 1358-1368 and named after Porta Giovia at the time of Galeazzo II Visconti, who used the Castello Sforzesco as a residence in his Milanese stays, but also and above all as a military garrison.

Filippo Maria Visconti elected the Castello Sforzesco to his residence, continuing to consolidate and build a real castle. Francesco Sforza, who later became lord of Milan in 1450, was particularly urged to give a great push to the reconstruction of the severely damaged building between 1447 and 1450.

The Castle has almost always played the role of a military citadel and is still one of the largest castles in Europe.

Always linked to war, domination, and mourning, so beloved and hated by the Milanese, in the twentieth century the Castle changed its face and took on the peaceful aspect of a place of culture used to protect the testimonies of Lombard art.

Nowadays Castello Sforzesco is home to the Civic Museums and since 1896 it houses one of the city’s most extensive art collections: on the ground floor of the Corte Ducale there is the Museum of Ancient Art, on the first floor the collection of furniture and the Pinacoteca, on the first and second floor of the Rocchetta are the collections of Art Applied and the Musical Instruments Museum, in the Underground of the Ducal Court there are the Museum of Prehistory and Protostoria and the Egyptian Museum.

The Castle contains some masterpieces of Italian art: Michelangelo’s Pietà Rondanini, Leonardo’s frescoes in the VIIIth Hall of the Museum of Ancient Art, Our Lady of Glory and Saints John the Baptist, Gregory the Great, Benedict and Gerolamodel Mantegna in the Pinacoteca an extraordinary cycle of tapestries depicting the twelve months of Bramantino, in Sala della Balla.

USEFUL INFO

Opening hours: Mon-Sun (07.00 AM – 07.30 PM)

Admission: free to the castle area, €10 adults, €8 reduced the entrance to all the museum’s online tickets

Web site

How to reach: Metro Cairoli, Cadorna, Lanza, Tram 1, 4, Bus 61

Address: Piazza Castello, 20121 Milano MI