Sforza Castle visitor guide

What Sforza Castle is

Sforza Castle (Castello Sforzesco) is a large brick fortress at the edge of Milan’s historic centre. It stands on the site of an earlier Visconti castle. In 1450 Francesco Sforza began rebuilding it as his princely residence, and in 1452 he hired the architect Filarete to design its central tower. The Sforza family ruled Milan as dukes, and the castle was their court. Francesco’s son Galeazzo Maria carried the work on after his death, and the Tower of Bona of Savoy dates from 1476.

Much of what you see from the front is younger than it looks. Luca Beltrami restored the castle between 1891 and 1905, and the Filarete Tower was rebuilt in 1900 to 1905 from drawings made in the 16th century. After Italian unification the castle moved from military to city use. The parade ground became Parco Sempione, one of Milan’s largest parks.

Today the castle houses the city’s museums, and the courtyards work as a public walkway.

Why visit

The courtyards are free, so you can see the castle without paying anything. Walk in through the main gate and cross the open space behind it. That alone makes a pleasant half hour.

The museums are the reason to pay. They hold Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà, his last sculpture, and a picture gallery that includes Mantegna’s Trivulzio Madonna. There is also an Ancient Egypt gallery, and Leonardo da Vinci worked on the plant-motif decoration of the Sala delle Asse around 1498. The picture gallery also holds works by Canaletto, Tiepolo, Foppa, Titian and Tintoretto, and other sections cover ancient art, musical instruments, applied arts and the Bertarelli print collection. Nobody sees all of it in one visit, so pick two or three sections and take your time. Inside Sforza Castle walks through what each section is like.

The main sights in brief

• The courtyards and the Filarete Tower. Free to walk through every day. See visiting Sforza Castle for the practical details.
• The museums. One ticket covers all the castle museums, with one entry to each section.
• The ramparts walk. A separate ticket, not covered by the museums ticket, with timed entry in small groups.
• Parco Sempione. The park behind the castle. See Sempione Park.
• The Last Supper. Leonardo’s painting is a short walk away, but it needs a booked slot. See the Last Supper guide.
• Brera, the Duomo and the Galleria. Milan’s other central sights are covered at Brera, the Duomo di Milano and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.

Planning in short

Opening times. The museums are open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:30, and closed on Mondays. The ticket office closes at 16:30, which is also the last entry to each section. The museums are also shut on 25 December, 1 January and 1 May, and some areas can close temporarily. The courtyards open every day from 07:00 to 19:30. These details come from the City of Milan’s castle page, checked in October 2026.

Cost. The museums ticket is €10, or €5 reduced. Tickets and tours explains the reduced and free categories, the free first Sunday, the ramparts ticket and the city passes.

Time. Allow at least two hours for the museums, and more if you add the ramparts or the park. The ramparts walk is a separate ticket at €10, or €5 reduced, so decide before you queue.

A simple first visit. Walk through the courtyards first. Buy the museums ticket if you want to go inside, and keep the ramparts for a second look. Afterwards the park is right behind the castle, and the Duomo and the Galleria have their own pages above.

Getting there and staying nearby. See getting there, where to stay and the best time to visit. If you have a spare day, day trips from Milan covers Lake Como.

Pairing the castle with the Last Supper

Most visitors want both, and the order matters. The castle museums sell tickets on the day, but the Last Supper does not: every ticket has to be booked, and it is tied to a named visitor and a 15-minute slot. Book the Last Supper first, then plan the castle around it.

Both sites are closed on Mondays. The Last Supper opens Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15, with the last admission at 18:45, and the castle museums open at 10:00. An early Last Supper slot leaves time to walk over and start the museums as they open. With an afternoon slot, do the castle in the morning, because you must reach the Last Supper ticket office at least 30 minutes before your time, with ID.

Official Last Supper tickets go on sale in blocks months ahead, and a few more are released online every Wednesday at 12:00 for the following week. If your dates are gone, a guided tour that includes an entry slot is the practical fallback. The Last Supper guide covers the booking steps and the rules on the day.

Ways to pay less

• Under 18s get into the museums free every day, and visitors aged 65 and over pay the €5 reduced price.
• The first Sunday of each month is free for everyone, and the second Tuesday is free for visitors up to 25.
• The castle’s own guided tour runs every Saturday at 11:00 in English (Sundays in Italian), with no booking. It costs €20 including the museums ticket, and meets at 10:45 at the castle Infopoint.
• The Tourist Museum Card costs €20 and covers all of Milan’s civic museums, one entry each, for three consecutive days. It only pays off if you visit several of them.
• The audioguide costs €5 from the bookshop, in six languages, but it does not cover the Ancient Egypt gallery.

Guided visits

Buying the castle’s own ticket is the best value for most people. A guide adds explanation rather than access. The cards below show three guided options: a small-group visit that includes castle and museum entry and ends at the Rondanini Pietà, a guided Last Supper visit with the entry ticket included, and a two-hour tour that pairs a Last Supper slot with the castle courtyards but not the museums. The Last Supper is a separate site with its own booking system, so decide early whether you want it. Prices and ratings on the cards were checked on 14 October 2026, so check the listing before you book.