Sforza Castle is a massive, formidable structure. It symbolizes the indestructible military might and the innovative engineering for which the Duchy of Milan was once known. In fact, at one point it was the largest castle in Europe. Today it is the second most famous Milanese landmark after the Duomo.
It all began when in the second half of the 14th century Milanese lord Galeazzo II Visconti had a castle built for him and his family, which was known as Castello di Porta Giova. His successors continued working on it, enlarging it until it assumed a square-plan design with four towers at the corners and 200-meter-long walls that were 7 meters thick.
In 1447 the last Visconti ruler, Filippo Maria, died without a male heir, having bequeathed the Duchy of Milan to the Kingdom of Aragon. Meanwhile, the local Milanese noblemen were not particularly fond of this choice and with the help of popular mercenary Francesco Sforza, established the Golden Ambrosian Republic, an elective government with a solid balance of powers. During the three years of the Republic, in which Milan was fighting France and Venice, both of whom had laid claims to the duchy, the castle was severely damaged. In 1450 Francesco Sforza, after having switched sides and taken command of the Venetian forces, defeated the Republic and proclaimed himself Duke. He had already married Filippo Maria Visconti's only surviving heir, Bianca Maria.
In 1452 Sforza commissioned the Florentine architect and engineer Antonio di Pietro Averlino, better know as Filarete, to reconstruct the castle and erect a central tower, which today appears on every other Milanese postcard and still bears the creator's name: Torre del Filarete. Francesco's son Galeazzo Maria continued the reconstruction with the help of architect Benedetto Ferrini.
In 1494, after the mysterious death of Gian Galeazzo Sforza (some say from sexual incontinence, some by poising), his uncle Ludovico became duke. Ludovico il Moro - the dark - as he was called, immediately set out to embellish the castle's interior. He commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to fresco many important rooms, such as the Sala delle Asse. Donato Bramante, another prominent exponent of the Italian Renaissance, decorated the Sala del Tesoro and the Sala della Balla, which shows Francesco Sforza's main military and political achievements.
The beginning of the 16th century was a difficult period for Milan. The Italian Wars were devastating Northern Italy. Milan's clashes with France, the Holy Roman Empire and other Italian states left the Sforza Castle in precarious conditions. After the Battle of Marignano of 1515, in which France and Venice defeated Milan and their Swiss allies, Duke Maximilian Sforza and the Swiss mercenaries retreated into the castle. The French followed them and used mines to penetrate the walls. The Milanese surrendered and Milan became a French possession. However, ten years later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V conquered the French and returned Francesco II Sforza to the Milanese throne, albeit in a subordinate position. Several years later Charles V retook Milan, besieging Francesco in the battered castle, and gave the duchy to his son Philip II, King of Spain. Under Spanish occupation the governor's seat was transferred to the Ducal Palace on Piazza Duomo, while the Sforza Castle turned into a citadel, housing the Spanish garrison.
Originally a pentagon, in the mid 16th century the castle was reconstructed and transformed into a hexagon star fort, which now included 12 bastions. The total length of the fortification was three kilometers, covering an area of 26 hectares. When Milan passed from Spanish Hapsburg occupation to Austrian Hapsburg occupation the fort maintained its function. It was only after Milan had become the capital of Napoleon's Cisalpine Republic in the end of the 18th century that the Sforza Castle once again suffered a series of alterations with the demolition of several external fortifications. This time, however, they were undertaken with the aim of creating more urban space. A semi-circular street was created in front of the Torre del Filarete called Foro Buonoparte. Beyond that a circular junction was added, today known as Largo Benedetto Cairoli. A monument to Garibaldi rises today in its center.
After the Unification of Italy in the 19th century a park was cultivated behind the castle: Parco Sempione. In the 1880s a block of buildings was taken down between the Duomo and the Sforza castle in order to create Via Dante, a stylish street flanked by shops and restaurants that offers an elegant perspective on the Filarete Tower. The tower itself was also rebuilt in that same period. In 1943, during World War II, the Sforza Castle once again fell victim to a series of - this time very heavy and modern - bombardments and was reconstructed after the war by the famous BBPR architectural firm. The castle has not been touched since.
Today the castle has a quadrangular plan. There are two courtyards: the big Corte d'armi and the smaller Corte Ducale. The Corte d'armi, which is the court that you enter through the Torre del Filarete, is a perfect place to stretch out on the lawn and imagine yourself in the 15th century, when the Duchy of Milan was at the height of its power. Past that, going through the gates by the Torre Bona di Savoia - named after Galeazzo Maria Sforza's wife - is the Corte Ducale. It usually has a colorful flowerbed, a rectangular pool and two ogival-windowed loggias. It was the duke's private court, a place where he held lavish receptions and solemn ceremonies. The larger loggia is called the Loggiato dell'Elefante because it features a fresco - although somewhat faded - of an elephant. Next to the Corte Ducale is the Rocchetta. This was one of the castle's original structures and its heavily fortified ramparts were impenetrable - well, in the beginning - when the dukes sought refuge there during sieges. A drawbridge used to open onto the Parco Sempione side of the castle from the Corte Ducale through the gate known as Porta del Barco. The northern tower on the right of the gate, if you are walking out of the castle, is known as the Torre della Corte. The tower on the left is called Torre del Tesoro, that is, of the treasure. Under the Torre della Corte is a charming little bridge known as La Ponticella di Ludovico il Moro built by Donato Bramante.
But the Sforza Castle is not only a reference point for military buffs. Today it houses several prestigious civic museums and one of them, the Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco, contains a most unexpected collection of Venetian masterpieces. We can find paintings by Giambattista Tiepolo, Antonio Canaletto, Vincenzo Foppa, Tiziano Vecellio and Jacopo Tintoretto. The castle can also offer the curious tourist a visit to the Museum of Ancient Art, which includes the armory, the tapestry room and Michelangelo's last sculpture, the Rondanini Pieta, executed in 1564. There is also the Museum of Musical Instruments, the Egyptian Museum, the Prehistoric collections of the Archaeological Museum of Milan, the Applied Arts Collection, the Antique and Wooden Sculpture Museum and the Achille Bertarelli Print Collection. Finally, the Trivulziana Library contains Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Trivulzianus, a manuscript with terminology that the legendary polymath wrote down as he was studying… well, everything that there is to study under the stars.