Castello Visconti di San Vito

About the museum

The Castello Visconti di San Vito stands in the centre of Somma Lombardo and is among the best-preserved historic residences in Lombardy. It was built between the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century by the Visconti family. The Seprio fief went to Uberto, known as Pico, founder of the Visconti of Somma. In the Renaissance it passed to the brothers Francesco and Guido Visconti, who in the mid-fifteenth century had the old fortress enlarged with a second, Renaissance-style courtyard. In 1473 they divided the property: Guido received the old fortress and Francesco the Renaissance courtyard.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century Count Ermes Visconti transformed the residence into a villa of delights and had the whole piano nobile frescoed by Lombard workshops with sacred and secular scenes. In 1619 the fief of San Vito was raised to a marquisate. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Visconti di San Vito distinguished themselves through cultural and charitable commitment, and Marquis Carlo Ermes supported the excavations that led to the discovery of the Golasecca civilisation.

In the 1950s Marquis Alberto brought the whole complex together under the family name, which remained its owner until 1997, the year of the death of the last descendant, Gabrio Visconti di San Vito. In accordance with his will, the Fondazione Visconti di San Vito was established on 14 May 1998, with the task of preserving the castle's historic and artistic heritage, enhancing it and promoting studies on the Visconti family.

Highlights

• Fourteenth-century Cortile degli Armigeri with pointed-arch portico
• Late-Mannerist fresco cycles on the piano nobile
• Sala delle Vanità (Room of Vanities) with the Four Ages of Man
• Collection of “shaving bowls” in the Sala del Tempo (Room of Time)
• Rooms dedicated to Count Gabrio Casati and the Risorgimento
• Archaeological collection of the Golasecca civilisation

Permanent exhibitions

• Piano nobile e sale storiche – Visit to the frescoed rooms of the piano nobile, the Sala del Tempo with the shaving bowls, and the rooms dedicated to Count Gabrio Casati and the Risorgimento.
• Collezione archeologica della civiltà di Golasecca – In a ground-floor room are displayed vessels and cinerary urns from the Golasecca necropolis, discovered in nineteenth-century excavations along the Ticino.

Operated by

Fondazione Visconti di San Vito

Visitors per year

approx. 9,000

Admission & discounts

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

For schools the castle offers the routes “Magici castelli” (Magic Castles) and workshops.

Getting there & parking

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Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties
• Corporate events
• Weddings / ceremonies

The large medieval rooms host cultural events, conferences, weddings, concerts and exhibitions.

Plan your visit