Coming to the Fashion Capital of the World - Milan, in addition to famous places such as: Teatro alla Scala Opera House, the famous shopping mall La Galleria, Douma Cathedral or the beautiful Como Lake..., those who love the architecture and history of the capital city of Lombardia, Northern Italy will not be able to miss a special place: Sforzesco Castle (Castello Sforzesco di Milano).
The Sforzesco Castle (Castello Sforzesco di Milano) stands tall over time.
Castello Sforzesco is located in Parco Sempione - the largest park in Milan, is one of the most important architectural works in Milan, a testament to the history of this famous city. The entire castle has the appearance of a Grand Duke's residence with four towering walls surrounding it.
Built in the 14th century by Count Sforza as a castle, then became the residence of the Sforza Family, witnessing the entire process from the golden age to the decline of this Family. Designed in the structure of a fortress, it was besieged, destroyed and then restored during the ups and downs of Milan. For a time, this defensive fortress was called Porta Giovia, going through a series of historical events, until 1450 when Francesco Sforza came to power, the castle was renovated under his command.
The watchtowers inside the castle, towering high, have "withstood the test of time" for the past 7 centuries.
From afar, we could see the two towers Torrione Dei Carmini and Torrione Di Santo Spirito, 230 feet (70 meters) high, with scientifically arranged watchtowers to protect the inside of the castle, standing tall and still "standing the test of time" for 7 centuries. The fortress walls are almost intact, below is a wide moat surrounding the 4 sides of the citadel, covered with green grass, just like an ancient fortress with high walls and deep moats, convenient for tight defense and stormy counterattack.
The castle is now home to the Milan city government's museums, including the Museum of Ancient Art with works by Michelangelo, while the Trivulziana Library houses Leonardo da Vinci's original Codex Trivulzianus manuscript. The Musical Instruments Museum, the Museum of Antique Furniture and Woodcarving and the Applied Arts Collection all feature centuries-old Italian artifacts… The back door is the Gate of Peace, named after the ruler Francisco.
There are many valuable works of art here.
The most popular place for most tourists is the World Musical Instruments Museum, which contains many wonderful and famous musical instruments in the world. This is probably the largest place that preserves thousands of the oldest musical instruments. Coming here, we can see with our own eyes the wonderful musical instruments and directly feel the sounds of society from the Ancient/Middle Ages, which are extremely rich and attractive.
Michelangelo's final achievement - the Pietà Rondanini (1564), can be found in the Pietà Rondanini Museum. This museum opened in 2015 in the “Spanish Hospital” located in the Castle and is dedicated to displaying this masterpiece.
The park is spacious and lovely with rows of healthy, exotic temperate trees full of flowers and leaves.
From the subway station, the Sforza Castle Museum looked quite deserted from the outside, but when we stepped inside, we were all surprised by the vastness of this place. Maybe because Italy has a large land area, because it faces the vast Mediterranean Sea, because its people have been tall and strong since ancient times, so any of their architectural works we saw were large and towering, even in ordinary houses, the entrance doors were 3 or 4 times higher than the average person's height. Because of the open, spacious mindset that makes the soul less confined, the vision beyond limits and time?
After several hours of admiring the overwhelming richness of Italian history and culture inside the castle, we strolled behind the Fortress, where there was a spacious and lovely park with rows of strange, healthy temperate trees, full of colorful flowers and leaves, making our minds feel poetic and imbued with the flavor of ancient Rome...
