Castello Visconteo di Turbigo

February 2021: unfortunately only seen from the outside

It is located in the upper area of ​​Turbigo, near the church, from here you can enjoy a beautiful view over the whole area.

Turbigo Castle is located in the upper part of the town, in a panoramic position, next to the parish church. The original nucleus dates back to around the 12th century. At the beginning of the twentieth century, an extension of the castle was built in the neo-Romanesque style, based on a project by Carlo Bonomi.

I love the Castelli Viscontei .. and have always been similar The first information about the existence of the Turbigo castle dates back to the 9th century. Conquered by the Torriani family as a defense of the Duchy of Milan from the Ticino area and partially demolished in the thirteenth century, it was then rebuilt again and in 1569 it passed to the Gallarati family, with the jurisdiction of the whole territory; in 1591 the Gallarati family were replaced by the Landi family from Piacenza who remained the owner until the end of the 18th century. The structure, with a quadrangular plan, is in river pebbles, squared stone and bricks; built around a presumably Roman tower, it bears the coat of arms of the Visconti. The complex is structured around a large square courtyard with a porticoed wing in the background, which has a sloping cornice with oculi, due to 16th-17th century interventions aimed at transforming the castle into a stately residence. Currently it appears in fourteenth-century forms thanks to the restoration carried out in 1922 by the architect Carlo Bonomi of Turbigo. The manor, once a strategic garrison of the Visconti, is currently a private residence and cannot be visited. To access it, you can go up the steep via della Chiesa, or the scenic staircase that leads directly to the terrace from via Vittorio Veneto. From here you can enjoy a beautiful view over the whole town and its surroundings. Remarkable is the surrounding park, which with a hard legal battle was spared by the development plans of some administrations of the past. Today it is the only green area in the center of the country and is home to a remarkable fauna of wild animals (pheasants, birds of prey of various species, dormice, hares, red and green woodpeckers and many others).

It is a typical example of a Visconteo-Sforzesco castle with a quadrangular plan. Although the first records of its existence date back to the 9th century, the primitive building was partially demolished and subsequently rebuilt towards the second half of the 13th century by the Torriani family. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it underwent other restoration interventions, aimed at making it a noble residence. However, its current appearance is largely due to the work of the architect Carlo Bonomi, who in 1922 shaped it according to the neo-medieval taste then in vogue. It stands in a strategic position on a moraine hill, able to dominate the town below and control the road that once led to the river port.