Top 5 Castles around Bollate

route for children and tourists

With its seven centuries of history, the Sforza Castle is an extraordinary testimony to Milan's glorious times and dramatic moments. A fortress built by Galeazzo II Visconti between 1360 and 1370, the Castle became a ducal residence during the Visconti era, undergoing partial demolition during the Ambrosian Republic (1447-1450). Rebuilt by the new lord of the city, Francesco Sforza, it became the elegant setting for one of the most sumptuous European courts during the time of Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Ludovico il Moro, in an era that saw artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante in Milan. Having lost its appearance as a noble residence, the Castle was used as a barracks during the foreign dominations of the State of Milan: Spanish (1535-1706), Austrian (1706-1796), French (1796-1814), and Austrian again (1814-1859). Only at the end of the 19th century, during a unified Italy, was the historic building rebuilt, restored, and transformed into a museum by Luca Beltrami. Today, the Castle, with its museums and cultural institutions, is one of Milan's most significant monuments and attracts visitors from around the world.

Saint John

Milan

Villa Arconati (also called Palazzo Arconati), popularly known as the Castellazzo, is one of the historic villas of the Groane Park, located in Bollate, in the Castellazzo di Bollate hamlet which takes its name from it. It is an example of eighteenth-century Lombard baroque and has been declared a national monument. Due to its size and grandiose style, in eighteenth-century guides it was defined as the petite Versailles italienne ("small Italian Versailles").

The construction, perhaps on Visconti remains, of the ravelins, projections placed to protect the gates, began with the renovation of the Castle by Francesco Sforza. Of the Sforza ravelins, two bases remain on the east side of the Castle, one to defend the Porta del Carmine, the other where the medieval walls of the city were grafted and to the west, the Rivellino di Porta Vercellina. The latter, built in correspondence with the Porta di Santo Spirito, is the only one to have maintained the visible Sforza quadrangular plan, even if the current appearance is the result of the restoration by the architect Luca Beltrami. In fact, between 1911 and 1914, Beltrami restored part of the battlements, demolished at the time of the Spanish, the walls and the vaults of the passages and internal rooms. To defend the main gate of the Castle, Leonardo designed, commissioned by Ludovico il Moro, a more modern, pentagonal ravelin, which was built during the French domination of Louis XII, between 1499 and the beginning of 1500. Few traces of this bastion remain hidden in the moat.

Beautiful statue in the Sforza fortress.

The statue stands in the courtyard of the Sforzesco Castle. John of Nepomuk is the patron saint of Bohemia. He was murdered because he did not want to break the secrecy of confession and was later canonized.