Museo delle Arti Decorative

Museo delle Arti Decorative occupies the Ducal Rooms and Rocchetta within Milan’s historic Castello Sforzesco. You find goldsmithing, ivories, bronzes, enamels, and artistic glass arranged across its decorative arts collections. Ceramics bring together maiolica from Faenza, Urbino, and Pesaro with Lombard pieces spanning the medieval period to the present. Lodi and Milan receive particular attention, especially works made from the seventeenth century onward.

The museum grew after the castle’s restoration and inauguration in 1900 through donations and acquisitions. The Trivulzio collection contributes goldsmithing, ivories, paintings, sculptures, and the celebrated tapestries. Giuseppe Bossi donated late antique ivories, while the Fortuny and Regazzoni collections added medieval textiles. In the Sala della Balla, twelve Trivulzio Tapestries represent the months of the year around heraldic emblems of the Colleoni, Gonzaga, and d’Avalos families. Bramantino designed the series, and the BBPR architectural studio shaped the museum’s current layout during the 1970s.