A jewel of the Renaissance, a perfect little town, Vigevano is a destination that never fails to astonish with its art and architecture — expressions of a magnificent period in history. An itinerary through the must-see sights.
A perfect jewel box, a city designed with consummate artistry: Vigevano is a wonderful surprise; in the province of Pavia yet just a few kilometres from Milan, it makes for a fascinating destination for a day devoted to art and history. The greatest minds worked here and left their mark — from Leonardo da Vinci to Bramante. All the best, contained within ancient walls.
It is one of the most celebrated squares in Italy, a model of architectural and urban perfection: Vigevano's Piazza Ducale was commissioned by Ludovico il Moro, lord of Milan, as an antechamber to the imposing Visconti-Sforza Castle. Construction dates back to 1492 and the works, which lasted two years, certainly involved Bramante as designer, while Leonardo da Vinci, present during the works, drew inspiration for several drawings contained in his codices.
Piazza Ducale is one of the earliest models of a Renaissance square built on the pattern of the Roman "forum" and one of the finest examples of 15th-century Lombard architecture. It is an elongated rectangle, 134 metres long and 48 metres wide, built on three sides (the fourth is occupied by the Cathedral church), in which every element — from the arcades to the paving to the columns — has been harmoniously designed. The result, at first glance as one enters the square, is one of rationality and magnificence combined, all the more perceptible when viewed from above by climbing the Torre del Bramante (something we recommend doing for just a few euros and a few hundred steps).
The Cathedral of Sant'Ambrogio, which forms one of the short sides with its curved façade, breaks the linearity, lending the square a sense of movement that makes it all the more unique; the arcades give it elegance, while the friezes and decorations above the colonnades (once painted blue) add further richness. From the staircase beneath the tower, under the arcades, one enters the Torre and then, climbing higher, the Castle: as though it were another village within the city, the courtyard opens up with its many surprises.
Vigevano is already, by virtue of its unique fabric, an open-air museum, and indeed certain parts of it frequently become exhibition venues: the stables, for instance, or the covered underground road — structures dating back to 1340 that still retain, to this day, the charm and memory of the era in which they were designed. One stable is the permanent home of the Museo archeologico nazionale della Lomellina, two others host temporary exhibitions, as does the riding school.
In the 15th-century halls of the Castello Sforzesco there is also the Museo internazionale della calzatura, an exhibition tracing the history of footwear from the earliest examples to the most celebrated and contemporary models in today's fashion world — of interest not only to those involved in fashion, but also as a testament to local craftsmanship and society. The Pinacoteca civica is also worth a visit — free of charge, moreover: once at the "upper level", reached by climbing the staircase beneath the tower, virtually all of the city's artistic offering can be found by walking all the way around the castle courtyard.
One good reason to visit Vigevano is certainly to explore the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, who lived and worked here for a long time at the court of Ludovico il Moro: to celebrate him fittingly, a museum has been inaugurated — Leonardiana. Un museo nuovo — which impresses with its modernity and comprehensiveness. The museum displays the full body of work that Leonardo managed to conceive and produce over the course of his life: the drawings, today kept in dozens of museums and libraries scattered around the world; the notebooks that accompanied his days, dense with his thoughts and brilliant insights; and the codices that after his death were assembled by friends and heirs and are today held at the world's greatest libraries and institutions.
Completing the exhibition route is the "impossible picture gallery", in which all 26 paintings currently attributed to his hand are displayed, reproduced at actual scale using special high-resolution techniques that allow visitors to immerse themselves in the totality of his work — a unique experience that enables a close and in-depth analysis of his artistic language. The installation is truly engaging, thanks to projections, multimedia elements and its ability to convey the modernity of an absolute genius.
Another Leonardian testimony can be found by visiting, just a few minutes from the town centre, the Mora Bassa mill, a fifteenth-century mill fitted with two large hydraulic wheels, commissioned by Ludovico il Moro, which features certain architectural characteristics that recall the extraordinary capabilities and knowledge of Leonardo da Vinci, who was present at the Sforza court during those years. Around the structure, fed by the waters of the ancient Mora irrigation channel, there are indeed interesting echoes of history and legend that lead back to the figure of Leonardo da Vinci, while inside the building an important permanent exhibition of working wooden models of Leonardian machines is on display.