Simeon and I finally made it to Milan’s castle today (Thursday). It was originally built in 1368, and in the mid 1400’s, the Sforza family “made the castle the home of one of the most magnificent courts in Renaissance Italy.” It was restored (instead of being demolished) in the late 19th century to be a museum center. We didn’t see everything, as the castle is huge, but did wander around the giant courtyard make it through a few of the seven (!) museums housed there.
Among other things, we saw Michelangelo’s unfinished pieta, which he was working on at the time of his death. S loved the collection of armory and swords, although he says the painting with the saints and the gargoyle was his favorite. “Gargoyle bad and mean!” (Comes out sounding like "golf boy".) This one held a scary kind of fascination for him, and we had to go back and see it again a few times.
The presentation was excellent, especially for the armory, sculpture, and tapestries on the ground floor – the super-high ceilings and giant rooms with frescoed walls certainly kept the “castle” feel, but many of the rooms had tons of natural light and bright colored walls, so it was by no means cold or dreary. The gallery upstairs was more like a normal museum, clean and stark, and felt even less castle-like.
Simeon and I finally made it to Milan’s castle today (Thursday). It was originally built in 1368, and in the mid 1400’s, the Sforza family “made the castle the home of one of the most magnificent courts in Renaissance Italy.” It was restored (instead of being demolished) in the late 19th century to be a museum center. We didn’t see everything, as the castle is huge, but did wander around the giant courtyard make it through a few of the seven (!) museums housed there.
Among other things, we saw Michelangelo’s unfinished pieta, which he was working on at the time of his death. S loved the collection of armory and swords, although he says the painting with the saints and the gargoyle was his favorite. “Gargoyle bad and mean!” (Comes out sounding like "golf boy".) This one held a scary kind of fascination for him, and we had to go back and see it again a few times. 
The presentation was excellent, especially for the armory, sculpture, and tapestries on the ground floor – the super-high ceilings and giant rooms with frescoed walls certainly kept the “castle” feel, but many of the rooms had tons of natural light and bright colored walls, so it was by no means cold or dreary. The gallery upstairs was more like a normal museum, clean and stark, and felt even less castle-like.
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