Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Around 6 thousand children participated in Sforzinda in 2019; over 22 thousand among all the educational sections of the Municipality

Milan, 6 December 2019 – Sforzinda, the educational section of the Municipality of Milan at the Sforzesco Castle, which last year welcomed around 6 thousand children and young people from 280 classes, is offering a special route dedicated to nativity scenes for the Christmas period (December and January). In total, in 2019, the museum educational sections - Castello Sforzesco, GAM, Palazzo Reale, Historical Collections and Villa Lonati - hosted over a thousand classes for 22 thousand children.

The “Waiting, the light, the nativity scenes” itinerary, proposed for the Christmas period, starts from the Sforzesco Castle Museums, where a precious “Adoration of the Shepherds” in carved wood and a particular Neapolitan nativity scene from the 700th century are preserved, and accompanies children and young people to discover the ancient history of the Nativity scene and all the ways in which it is represented in the world. 

The cost of the course, designed for children in the last year of nursery, primary and lower secondary schools, is 13 euros per class (free for nursery schools in the Municipality of Milan), by booking at email ed.scuoladidatticasforzinda@comune.milano.it

Set in a specially designed space, with low vaulted ceilings and partly made up of original structures, Sforzinda is an evocative place and the Educational Section aims to arouse amazement, wonder, curiosity and interest in the Sforzesco Castle and the works of art preserved in it. Among the proposals active throughout the year are "Art and flavors at the castle", to discover images, scents and recipes of nobles and peasants in the Middle Ages; “In the castle... ladies and knights”, to discover the Castle Armoury; “The painted dreams of the duke”, to learn about the ancient art of frescoes and the magnificence of the Ducal Palace; “The faces of the sun”, to be found among the twelve tapestries, one for each season, exhibited in the Sala della Balla in the Rocchetta del Castello; “The sky in the Castle”, a journey to discover the sky and the earth guided by the sun and the stars inside the room of “The charm of the violin”, to approach the ancient art of creating musical instruments; “Eternity in raising… from stone to form”, dedicated to the work and life of Michelangelo the sculptor through the Pietà Rondanini; “Leonardo's little book”, to decipher the writing of the Genius, with the help of special instruments, on the sheets on which he drew and wrote notes and long lists of words and to experiment with ancient artistic techniques; “The room of wonders”, a journey among precious objects, some of which come from Manfredo Settala's Wunderkammer; “Hidden passages, secret stairs”, the path in the heart of the Castle among suggestive passages to discover, an ancient fountain, a steep staircase with loopholes, accompanied by special guards.