Buccinasco Castle, Medieval castle in Buccinasco, Italy.
Buccinasco Castle is a massive four-sided building in exposed brick, its main facade marked by a ground-floor colonnade of five bays topped by a ten-bay portico on the first floor. The other three sides have windows of irregular size and placement, showing the successive rebuildings the castle underwent over the centuries.
The castle's current structure dates to the 14th century, probably built on the remains of an earlier fortification. It stood on the main road between Milan and Pavia and also served the Duchy of Milan as a hunting residence; Ludovico il Moro used it extensively in the 15th century and oversaw its renovation, possibly with Leonardo da Vinci. For centuries it belonged to the Brivio-Sforza family, and in 2009 it passed to a private company.
The castle served the Duchy of Milan as a hunting residence for the dukes and their most important guests, and Ludovico il Moro used it heavily in the 15th century. The nearby 14th-century church and the Battiloca farmhouse, home to the peasants who worked the estate, were linked to it by an underground gallery.
The castle is privately owned and subject to preservation restrictions, so public access to the interior is not available to visitors. You can view and photograph the outer structure and grounds from the perimeter without entering the building itself.
An underground passage once connected the castle to a nearby church and farmstead until the 1970s, when it was sealed off. This hidden connection reveals how medieval fortifications often included multiple escape routes and alternative access points for emergencies.
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