Museo d'Arte Antica

Museo d'Arte Antica occupies part of Castello Sforzesco in Milan, among rooms filled with sculpture and historic art objects. More than 2,000 works trace Milanese and Lombard art from late antiquity through the Renaissance. Frescoes from the Sforza and Spanish periods cover the surrounding rooms, giving the collection a vivid architectural setting.

The entrance passes through the reconstructed Pusterla Urbica, built from remnants of the Pusterla dei Fabbri. Early Christian pieces include fourth-century column bases from the Basilica Nova and symbols carved into sarcophagi. Romanesque and Gothic sculpture follows, including Bernabò Visconti’s equestrian monument and votive statues from Porta Ticinese. Later rooms bring together Tuscan and Lombard influences, the Mausoleo di Franchino Rusca, and fragments from Santa Maria in Brera.

An armoury presents weapons and armour from the late Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. The Sala delle Asse preserves a ceiling frescoed by Leonardo da Vinci and collaborators, with interwoven branches surrounding the Sforza heraldic emblem. In the frescoed cappelletta, a wooden crucifix and alabaster bas-reliefs accompany sacred art from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.