Piazza Ducale in Vigevano is one of the great public spaces of the Italian Renaissance: a rectangular piazza (134m x 48m) enclosed on three sides by porticoed palazzi with painted facades (frescoes, now faded), and on the fourth by the Cathedral (with a concave baroque facade designed to close the piazza's visual perspective). Ludovico il Moro (Duke of Milan, patron of Leonardo da Vinci) commissioned the piazza in 1492-94 as the forecourt to his Castello Sforzesco, the largest fortified complex in Europe at the time. Bramante designed the tower (Torre del Bramante, climbable). The town is also Italy's shoe capital — the Museo della Calzatura (Shoe Museum) in Palazzo Crespi traces 2,000 years of footwear, including shoes worn by popes and movie stars. Lombardy →
Plan my Lombardy trip →Piazza Ducale: Stand in the center and absorb the proportions — the porticoes, the painted facades (traces of the original 15th-century decoration survive), the tower rising behind the roofline. Torre del Bramante: Climb to the top for views over the piazza, the castle, the rice paddies of the Lomellina (Vigevano is surrounded by rice fields — risotto territory). €5. Castello Sforzesco: Enormous — the covered "strada coperta" (a raised corridor connecting the castle to the Sforzesca farm) is 167m long. Parts are restored, parts are atmospheric ruins. The Cathedral (Duomo): The concave baroque facade (17th century, Juan Caramuel de Lobkowitz) was designed to create a scenographic closure to the piazza. Museo della Calzatura: In Palazzo Crespi — historical shoes from Roman sandals to 1970s platforms to papal slippers. €5.
Getting there: Vigevano station (Milan-Mortara line, 35min from Milan Porta Genova). By car: 35min from Milan. Duration: half day. Eat: Osteria I Tre Re (Piazza Ducale portico — €25-35, risotto alla Lomellina with frogs, the local specialty). Combine with: Pavia (30min — university, Visconti castle), Certosa di Pavia (20min), Milan (35min).