Cultural Sightseeing Tours in Milan

With the Madonna of the Duomo cathedral and the Visconti “biscione” , the Castle is another symbol of Milan. It rises on the square with the same name. Its first core was born between 1358-1368, at the times of Galeazzo II Visconti. The front side of the Castle is dominated by the tower called “del Filarete”. The usual residence of the lords of the castle was the so called Corte Ducale, a succession of halls with rich frescos and decors. The Castle today houses shows, libraries, archives and a wide range of different exhibitions.

It is par excellence “la Galleria" (the gallery), "il salotto di Milano" (the Salon of Milan). The structure (1865-1877) was built by the architect Giuseppe Mengoni, who, when the building was finished, there died. It has the shape of a cross with the arms crossing in an octagon of iron and glass; it is 196 m. long from the north to the south and 105,50 m. from the east to the west, it is 14,50 wide and 21 high, with a "peak" of 47 meters on the top of the central cupola. In the gallery there are plenty of restaurants, bar, coffee-shops, bookshops, clothes shops windows which draw citizens and tourists.

The sober building rises on one side of Piazza della Scala, at the centre of which there is the monument to Leonardo da Vinci, by the sculptor Pietro Magni (1872). Around the base there are the statues of the four pupils of Leonardo: Cesare da Sesto, Andrea Solari, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Marco d'Oggiono. The close Museo Teatrale della Scala (not depending from the Theatre), is very important because of its antiques rich collection from show history. By the side towards via Filodrammatici, the Piccola Scala was built in 1955.

Between Piazza Mercanti and Via Mercanti, just to the west of Piazza Duomo, a group of buildings offers a wonderful example of the architecture development in Milan from Medieval age to 1600. In Piazza Mercanti there is the Palazzo della Ragione or Broletto Nuovo, the most renowned building from the period of the medieval communes. It was built in1228 and it is made by a raised ground floor open in three rows of arcades and by a first floor decorated by windows with three lights.

Complex of S. Michele ai Nuovi Sepolcri, also called Foppone dell'Ospedale or Rotonda della Besana. It is the most original work of the 1700 in Milan. Its architecture is unusual: around the church with four arms with a central octagon surmounted by a cupola, there is a graceful arcade with a curved plant. The building, a Church with Cemetery, was built between 1713 and 1725. Today the Rotonda, after restoration by the local government, houses art shows.

Inside the Catholic University “Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore” (Piazza S. Ambrogio) there are two enchanting cloisters of Bramante style. One is Doric and the other Ionic (realized by Cristoforo Solari until 1513), and in both cloisters the thin arcades mounted on slim columns offer a admirable pureness of lines and an elegance with no ostentation.

In 1138 on this site there was the Broletto Vecchio, the ancient Town Hall. The building became then residence of Torrioni family, Visconti family, and was adapted at the times of Sforza family. The Spanish governor lived there and also the archduke Ferdinando from Austria, who charged Giuseppe Piermarini, the architect of the Scala, with the renovation of part of the building. Today it houses museums and temporary exhibitions.

Once property of Arese family, it was then of the Litta family who widen it in 1700 by the architect B.Bolli on the plan of Richini (1648). It is known for the parties realized by Maria Teresa and Eugenio Beauharnais. The prevailing style are Baroque and Rococò. The courtyard is from 1600 with couplet columns; the wide stairs is spectacular; the garden is closed by a gate attributed to Piermarini. There is a precious well-preserved apartment Luigi XV style.

The huge and wide building, originally from 1600, was widen in neoclassic style at the end of 1700 by Simone Cantoni. The façade with three rows of windows is interrupted at the centre by a loggia, encircled from a tympanum on columns et pillars. Today it is the premises of the Press Circle.

Two steps from Piazza della Scala, there are eight characters: they are the eight colossus, called "omenoni" sculptured by Antonio Abondio, which ornate the façade of the building by Leone Leoni, sculptor for Carlo V and Filippo II: the artist have built it as his own house in 1565, when he came to Milan after an adventurous life that brought him to the courts of kings but also to row on galleys. The building has kept the typical shape of late 1500 and the elegant first floor clashing with the ground floor, on which the great caryatids stand out.