Pandino Castle (Italy)

Around 1355, the lord of Milan Bernabò Visconti, a great hunting enthusiast, chose Pandino to make you build a castle to comfortably reside in these places and devote himself to his favorite activity; in fact, our territory at that time was still rich in inhabited woods and game. The building has the typical shape of the Visconti castles of the plain of the time: square plan with four square corner towers, internal courtyard with pointed arches on the ground floor and upper gallery with square pilasters. Outside there are numerous windows, single-storey on the ground floor, originally intended for servitude, mullioned upstairs, reserved for nobles.

The east side of the lower floor was originally open as a sort of second portico, and was used as a banqueting hall.
The castle in the '300 was completely decorated in all its space, even in the stable now occupied by the library. The paintings, still largely preserved, are made up of various geometric shapes, architectural decorations and everywhere the coats of arms of the lords of the castle, namely the Bernabò Visconti biscuit and the ladder teaches the family of Bernabò's wife, Regina della Scala , daughter of the lord of Verona.
Among the few paintings with human figures we can distinguish S.Antonio Abate and S.Cristoforo, paintings on the sides of the former banquet hall to protect the former the health of the inhabitants of the castle and the second from the sudden deaths; unfortunately, during the 15th century, due to problems of stability, it became necessary to add to each corner of the portico of the reinforcing arches, which went to partially cover the S. Antonio and of all the S. Cristoforo.

Still during the fifteenth century, on the two entrances of the castle, two defense towers were added, since at that time the Venetians had come closer and closer to the pandinese territory; the defensive precautions were not enough, since Venice took the castle without difficulty twice, but occupied it for a few years.

Eliminated Bernabò with a coup, the nephew GianGaleazzo became the new lord of Milan, and we know that he too often came to Pandino for hunting. The son of GianGaleazzo, Filippo Maria is the last Visconti to govern Milan, after which the Sforza family takes over, to which also our castle passes; in particular, it was Count di Pandino, from about 1470, Ludovico Maria Sforza, better known as Ludovico il Moro. Later it became the Moro Duke of Milan, the castle of Pandino passed into the hands of other families, some of whom held it for a few years.

The last owners were D'Adda, who in the nineteenth century gave the castle for rent, both as a home and as a venue for various activities. In 1947 the municipality managed to buy the castle and in the 50s began restoration work. Today the castle houses the municipal offices, the canteen of the cheese school and numerous events.

It is important to underline that our castle is one of the best preserved residences in the whole of Lombardy, since it is still very similar today to its original appearance.t