THE LEONARDESCHI AT SFORZA CASTLE | upper secondary school

WHY WE RECOMMEND IT: The tour explores some key topics of Renaissance art history: the figure of Leonardo, sfumato and aerial perspective, court portraiture, and the relationship between master and workshop. It offers links to the history of Sforza-era Milan and to science, through the diagnostics and restoration of the works, and helps students compare different styles and recognise an artistic language across its many interpretations.

What remains of Leonardo in Milan, beyond his masterpieces? The tour begins in the Piazza d’Armi of the Sforza Castle, beneath the pergola that recalls the Sala delle Asse. Here students discover an unexpected Leonardo: the man who, in his letter of introduction to Ludovico il Moro, presented himself first and foremost as a military engineer; the director of court festivities and of the Festa del Paradiso; the scholar of the Navigli canals; the painter of the Virgin of the Rocks, the court portraits and the Last Supper. The tour continues in Room XXI of the Pinacoteca, reopened with a new layout in 2026 and devoted to the Leonardeschi, the artists who trained in his workshop or were won over by his style. From Bernardino Luini’s lunettes with portraits of the Sforza family to Marco d’Oggiono’s Virgin of the Rocks, from Andrea Solario’s Portrait of a Lady to Bernardo Zenale’s Saint John the Baptist, and on to Giovanni Angelo del Maino’s carved wooden Lamentation, students see how Leonardo’s gestures, gazes, light and landscapes were taken up and reinterpreted. Finally, the room’s multimedia stations, with before-and-after restoration views, X-rays and infrared reflectography, let them look beneath the surface of the paintings and discover how the artists worked.

• ENG €110.00 | Audio equipment: €40.00 per group | Free admission