The Visconti Castle is a medieval fortification south of Legnano, on a natural island of the river Olona. It has also been known as the castle of San Giorgio, Castrum Sancti Georgi, since the thirteenth century, and stands on viale Toselli, between Castello park and piazza I Maggio.
What to see
Its origins lie in a convent of Augustinian Regulars dedicated to San Giorgio, documented from 1231. The friars, harassed by powerful neighbours, abandoned it on 14 October 1261 in a deed of exchange with the Della Torre, who turned it into a castle; in 1277, after the defeat of Napoleone della Torre at Desio at the hands of Archbishop Ottone Visconti, it passed to the Visconti. In the present structure the lower part of the old watchtower can still be seen, presumably of 1231, the oldest part of the fortification. The main keep, to the north, was built between 1437 and 1445 by Oldrado II Lampugnani, tutor of Filippo Maria Visconti: it holds the entrance and above the doorway has the Lampugnani coat of arms in Candoglia marble, with a helmet, a basket with a lamb and a Maltese cross. In 1798 the castle was bought by the Cornaggia marquises, who used it as a summer residence until the end of the nineteenth century.
The castle lost its military function in the sixteenth century, when Legnano, which had long been an outpost on the road between Milan and Lake Maggiore, became a simple farming centre: that is why the towers have no emplacements for artillery. After its abandonment, the Comune of Legnano signed a preliminary contract with the Cornaggia heirs in 1963 and in 1973 acquired the castle, the Cornaggia mill and the surrounding land; restored by the architect Luigi Ferrario, it was reopened to the public in 2005. Since 2007 it has been an exhibition venue together with palazzo Leone da Perego, and it houses the «college of captains and contrade», which coordinates the Legnano contrade that take part each year in the Palio di Legnano.
Visiting
The castle is on viale Toselli, in Legnano. The sources consulted give no opening hours or visiting arrangements: check them. Towards the end of June the «Castello in festa» is held there, with shows, food and music events and historical re-enactments set in the Middle Ages; since 2017 the island has also hosted Rugby Sound.
Our editors' tip
In the «Spazio Castello» are displayed Gaetano Previati's three large canvases on the key moments of the battle of Legnano, the Prayer, the Battle and the Victory, moved here from the Sutermeister civic museum in 2012.
