The Castello Sforzesco in Milan is, together with the Duomo, the city’s great historical and cultural attraction; both are emblems of the economic development of the Milanese territory, both are not to be missed by visitors, and both tell the history and culture of our territory.
In fact, both have medieval origins with our first duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then transformed over the centuries.
Today, the Castle is the result of a major restoration begun at the end of the 19th century with the architect Luca Beltrami, who saved it from destruction and transformed it into a museum centre, a large square about 200 metres on each side, a daily destination for citizens and visitors.
The name Sforzesco originated in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, who became Duke of Milan, but the origin is Visconti; the castle has been enlarged and renovated over the centuries.
Originally a medieval fortress, today it houses numerous museums and art collections, including the Museum of Ancient Art, the Picture Gallery, the Museum of Musical Instruments and the Museum of Prehistory and the Egyptians.
The castle is surrounded by Parco Sempione, Milan’s largest park, and has four entrance gates: the front gate known as Filarete, dei Camini to the east, del Santo Spirito to the west and del Barcho at the back, to the north.
Its imposing structure is overlooked by a large semicircular square, known as the Foro Bonaparte, and decorated by the beautiful fountain, often illuminated on summer evenings.
Sforza Castle through history
In 1354, on the death of Archbishop Giovanni Visconti, his three nephews Matteo II, Galeazzo II and Bernabò became Lords of Milan.
The eldest son died after one year and the two brothers divided the city: three city gates to each, to Bernabò the eastern part and territories to the east of Milan, to Galeazzo II the western part and territories to the west.
Bernabò’s seat was the Ca’ dei Can, near Porta Romana, the palace near which the palatine church of San Giovanni in Conca was built, while Galeazzo II continued to live at the Royal Palace, at the same time creating a series of fortifications.
Thus arose, probably in 1368, the Castle of Porta Giovia, Castrum Portae Jovis, located astride the medieval walls where the Pusterla Giovia or Zobia, from which the name derives.
The Visconti Castle consists of a large fortified enclosure, square in shape, to which Gian Galeazzo, the founder’s son, added in 1392, on the side facing the countryside, a citadel for housing the salaried troops. The two parts of the structure are separated by the moat of the medieval walls.
Used as a fortress and prison, the stronghold housed Bernabò Visconti for nineteen days when, arrested by his nephew and son-in-law Gian Galeazzo, the old and cruel lord headed for imprisonment and death, which caught him in Trezzo Castle in 1385.
Gian Galeazzo Visconti is the great story: 1368 he transformed the Visconti stronghold of Porta Giovia into the residential castle of Porta Giovia, 1386 he founded the cathedral, 1389 he founded the Carthusian monastery of Pavia, 1395 he became First Duke of Milan. He was then responsible for the construction of the castle as a noble residence.
Filippo Maria, the last of the Visconti family, was responsible for the continuation of the work, with the connection between the two parts of the fortress and the arrangement of the large adjoining land as a “zardinum” or “barcho”.
It was during this period that the Castle, the largest of those built by the Visconti, square in plan with 180-metre sides and four angular towers, also square, was transformed into an austere residence: the last Lord of the dynasty spent a solitary and unhappy existence there, and died without heirs.
He left only one illegitimate daughter, Bianca Maria, with the courtesan Agnese Del Majno, legitimised by Emperor Sigismondo in 1426 and married in 1441 to the condottiere of Romagna origin Francesco Sforza, called to defend the Duchy against the Venetians.
On Visconti’s death in 1447, Milan proclaimed itself the Ambrosian Republic, but this political experience was short-lived, and at the end of three years, the need for economic development and the preservation of the city’s beauty prevailed over the citizens’ ideals of independence, and the marriage between Bianca Maria Visconti and Francesco Sforza was re-consecrated, giving rise to the historical, philosophical and economic transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; the castle was enlarged, the cathedral was built, and the Cà Granda, Europe’s first great hospital, was founded.
The castle under the Sforzas
In the course of just three years, Francesco Sforza, thanks to his great military skills and remarkable political ability, first defended Milan from the expansionist aims of Venice, then besieged the city in turn and finally succeeded in being welcomed by the Milanese as a liberator and Lord, always ably supported by his consort Bianca Maria Visconti, an extraordinary female figure in 15th-century history.
Sforza and Visconti officially entered the city, acclaimed by the people, on 25 March 1450, the day of the Annunciation. Their marriage saw the birth of no less than 9 children, of whom two in particular stand out, the eldest son Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Ludovico Maria Sforza.
The Castello Sforzesco was thus equipped with massive round towers clad in diamond-pointed serizzo at the front corners and articulated defence works, including the “Ghirlanda”, a quadrangular wall curtain wall, more than three metres thick, connecting to the walls of Milan and defending the Rocchetta and the Corte Ducale from the park side, and two square towers at the rear inner corners towards the park (Torre Castellana on the left and Torre Falconiera on the right), so it was practically, impregnable.
On the death of Francesco Sforza in 1466, he was succeeded by his son Galeazzo Maria, who continued the work on the castle’s embellishment, married Bona of Savoy with whom he had a son, died murdered on Christmas night, 26 December 1476 for political reasons, at St Stephen’s.
After four years of political, economic and power struggles, in 1480, Ludovico il Moro came to power and the castle became a sumptuous work, an emblem of the wealth of the city of Milan, always at the top thanks to its manufacturing, textile and metallurgical works; thanks to the friendship with the Medici of Florence, two great names arrived in Milan, one was the architect Donato Bramante and the other obviously Leonardo da Vinci, who would bring lustre to the court with his genius.
Leonardo da Vinci (who frescoed several rooms in the ducal flat, in particular the Sala delle Assi) created the great masterpiece of the Last Supper in Milan, portrayed the beautiful courtesans and reorganised the hydraulic system of the locks, while Bramante (portico of the Rocchetta), created the great tribune of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
The fall of Ludovico in 1499 marked the end of the Grande Bellezza and the castle, damaged by constant French attacks, became military headquarters, and in 1521 the Filarete Tower exploded because a French soldier hid gunpowder in it. After 35 years of war between France, Austria and Spain, a new era began in 1535.
The Castle in the Spanish and Habsburg Periods
Passing under the Spanish rule of Governor Antonio de Leyva in 1535, the castle lost its role as a stately home, which passed to the Royal Palace, and became the centre of the new citadel, home to the military troops.
The garrison was one of the largest in Europe, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 men, headed by a Spanish castellan.
In 1550, work began to strengthen the fortifications: a new defence system with double walls and bastions was built.
When the city passed from Spain to the Habsburgs of Austria, at the hands of the great general Eugene of Savoy, the castle retained its military purpose. The only artistic note from Austrian rule is the statue of St John of Nepomuk, protector of the Austrian army, in the courtyard of the Piazza d’Armi.
The Castle in the Napoleonic period
With Napoleon‘s arrival in Italy in 1796, the economic and geographical position of the city was finally reevaluated and Milan became the capital of the Cisalpine Republic. Therefore, the castle also remained a military and strategic seat, even though Napoleonic rule was in fact short-lived and the area was largely reevaluated.
Foro Bonaparte
In 1801, a project was presented by the architect Antolini for the remodelling of the castle in conspicuously neoclassical forms, with a twelve-column atrium and surrounded by the first project for the Foro Bonaparte: a circular square about 570 metres in diameter, surrounded by an endless series of monumental public buildings (the Baths, the Pantheon, the National Museum, the Stock Exchange, the Theatre, the Customs House), connected by porticoes on which warehouses, shops and private buildings would open.
It was rejected by Napoleon, on 13 July of the same year, because it was too expensive and, indeed, disproportionate to a city of around 150,000 inhabitants.
A second project, presented by Canonica, was then taken into consideration, limiting the intervention to the part facing Via Dante (which still bears the name of the ambitious project: Foro Bonaparte) while the vast area behind was used as a parade ground, crowned, years later, by the Arch of Peace, by Cagnola, at that time dedicated to Napoleon’s triumphs.
The castle during the wars of independence
In 1815, Milan and the Lombardy-Venetia Kingdom were annexed to the Austrian Empire, under the rule of the Austrians of Bellegarde, and the castle, enriched with curtains, passageways, dungeons and moats, became infamous because during the revolt of the Milanese in 1848 (the so-called Five Days of Milan), Marshal Radetzky gave orders to bombard the city with his cannons.
During the tragic events of the Italian Wars of Independence, the Austrians retreated for some time and the Milanese took advantage of this to dismantle part of the defences facing the city.
When in 1859 Milan was definitively in Savoy hands and from 1861 part of the Kingdom of Italy, the population invaded the castle, now a symbol of foreign governments.
From the “rescue” of the castle to the present day
After the unification of Italy, the castle was the subject of debate and many Milanese people proposed tearing it down in order to forget the centuries of military yoke and, above all, to build an extremely lucrative residential district.
Historical culture prevailed, however, and architect Luca Beltrami subjected it to a massive restoration, almost a reconstruction, which was aimed at returning the castle to the forms of the Sforza seigniory and transforming it into a museum centre.
The restoration ended in 1905, when the Filarete Tower was inaugurated, reconstructed based on 16th-century drawings and dedicated to King Umberto I of Savoy, who had been assassinated a few years earlier. The tower also forms the perspectives backdrop to the new Via Dante.
Hundreds of plants were also planted in the old parade ground in the city’s new green lung, the Parco del Sempione, an English-style landscape garden.
The Foro Bonaparte was rebuilt for residential purposes before the castle.
In the 1990s, a large fountain was built in Piazza Castello, inspired by one previously installed on the site, which was dismantled in the 1960s during the construction of the first metro line and never put back after the work was completed.
Sforza Castle: architecture and structure
The Castle is square in shape, about 200 metres on each side, surrounded by a dry moat and on its left side it still retains the remains of the fortification that protected the entrance to Porta Santo Spirito, the Rivellino, probably adjacent to the ancient medieval walls of Porta Vercellina.
At the main entrance, from Foro Bonaparte, the Filarete Tower stands at the centre, on which a clock, the statue of Saint Ambrose, and the bas-relief dedicated to Umberto I of Savoy on horseback from 1916, right above the portal, as well as the Visconti and Sforza coats of arms, stand out from top to bottom.
Today, the two circular towers can still be admired on the sides of the outer façade, while the square towers are located on the inner sides towards the park, respectively on the left the Torre del Tesoro/Castellana (Rocchetta courtyard) and on the right the Torre del Falcone (known as the Falconiera, where the Sala delle Asse – Ducal Court – is located).
Each side of the fortress has an entrance door, called the Spirito to the west, the Barchio to the north, and the Camini to the east.
At the entrance we find the large Cortile delle Milizie, also called the Piazza d’Armi, once used for military exercises.
Moving on to the second part of the castle towards the park there are two square spaces, on the left the Rocchetta Courtyard (originally dedicated to social life), on the right the Ducal Court (dedicated to private life), separated by the famous Tower of Bona di Savoia.
Continuing along the main route, you reach the Parco Sempione.
The courtyard of the Rocchetta is overlooked by:
- the Gran Sala del Consiglio (where Ludovico il Moro used to meet his councillors)
- the Sala della Balla (so called because of the game played there during the Sforza era), which today houses Bramantino’s Tapestries of the Months
- the Sala del Tesoro (seat of the Sforza treasury) where Bramante’s fresco Argo
stands out, while on the other side of the castle
- the Corte Ducale (which houses Galeazzo Maria’s Loggia and gives access to the famous Scalone a Cavallo, so called because it can be covered on horseback). Here is the gateway to the Castle Museums, surmounted by the Sforza coat of arms.
The complex houses
- Civic Archaeological and Numismatic Collections: Museum of Prehistory and Egyptian Museum Numismatic Cabinet and Medagliere (Rocchetta courtyard)
- Civic Historical Archive and Trivulziana Library (Rocchetta courtyard, ground floor)
- Civic Collections of Applied Art and Engravings and Photographic Archive (Rocchetta courtyard)
- Museum of Ancient Musical Instruments (Rocchetta courtyard, first floor)
- Sforza Castle Picture Gallery (Ducal courtyard)
- Civic collections of ancient art (Ducal courtyard)
- Furniture Museum (Ducal courtyard)
- Art Library (in the Filarete Tower)
- Civic collection of prints Achille Bertarelli (in the Filarete Tower)
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