The former Sforza Castle looms over this part of town. Sitting a few blocks from the Duomo, it is the second building that features prominently. We spent much of the day inside of it, doing a massive, foot and back aching day of visiting the museums inside.
The orginal building was constructed on an older Roman fortification by the nobleman Visconti between about 1358 and 1370. In 1447, the Viscontis were ousted by something known as the Golden Ambrosian Republic. The republic was short lived because the soldier Francesco Sforza defeated it in 1450 and set himself up as the local nobleman (no more republic!). He and his descendants worked on the castle, keeping at it until 1535. Among others, Leaonardo da Vinci worked on the interiors. The last (unfinished) statue of Michangelo is part of the current museum collections housed in the former castle.
Naturally, the people of Milan had no pleasant memories of the castle, since it represented ruler after ruler. The Sforza’s were surplanted by French, Spanish, Austrians, and then Napoleon, and all of them used the castle to house troops and subjugate the people of Milan. The courtyard is massive– the largest I have ever stood in. The area “behind” the castle was a huge parade ground, and is now a wonderful city park. When Italy became unified, there was talk of demolishing the castle all together. Luca Beltrami undertook a restoration for the City of Milan, and I thank him. It is a marvelous place to house the many collections.
I have no comprehensive explanation of everything we saw. Roman statures, Medieval painting, Renaissance painting and then Mannerism and Baroque. When the museum opened, the (wealthy) people ofMilan donated works to the collection.
I only photographed a minimum of what we saw and heard about on the audio tour. At one point, when I was feeling like we had only just gotten started and was discourage by my sore back and wandering attention, I looked at my watch and realized we’d been walking through the galleries for over three hours!
Once we’d “seen it all,” (except for the da Vinci rooms which unfortunately for us are being restored), we took a break at the hotel. Next up was a walk to a shoe store. Vivaia is an online shoe store but has a shop in Milan, so I could try on some shoes in person. I’ve had some really good luck and some really bad luck with sizes, but I like their style. The shop clerks told me they see a lot of Americans. Undoubtedly, I am only one of millions of people who see their ads in social media and NYT advertising.
Along the way, we passed some designer houses, and Dior gets the blue ribbon for most charming windows.
We had dinner at a restaurant that we’d already been to with some of our group a few days earlier. We returned to try their special truffle menu, and we had pasta with shaved white truffles on top. Simple and scrumptious!
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