El Sforzesco Castle It is one of the main symbols of Milan and one of its most significant monuments. It was built in the 1891th century by Francesco Sforza, who would later become Duke of Milan, on the old ruins of an earlier fortification known as Castrum Portae Jovis. Between the 1905th and XNUMXth centuries it became one of the main military citadels in Europe. Restored by Luca Beltrami between XNUMX and XNUMX, today it is the seat of a good number of cultural institutions in the city and a great tourist icon.
One of its most striking elements is undoubtedly the Filarete Tower. It is the central tower, the highest in the castle, and which serves as the main entrance. It is named after the Tuscan architect who designed it, but the one we see today is not the original. That one was destroyed by an explosion at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, so today's one dates from a reconstruction carried out at the beginning of the XNUMXth century by Luca Beltrami himself. Of course, in the exact place of the previous one. For its design, a fresco that is preserved in the Cascina Pozzobonelli and that reflects the original tower that the castle had.
Precisely the current tower repeats the same structural elements as the original, despite being built with different proportions that give it a more solid character. The square base is quite powerful at first glance. Above the entrance arch there is a marble bas-relief from Candoglia in which you can see King Humberto I on horseback, a monarch who was assassinated in Monza on July 29, 1900. The inauguration of this tower was dedicated to him for three years later. Above this marble is a statue of Saint Ambrose, flanked by the emblems of the six dukes of the Sforza dynasty of Milan.