Castello di Lugano

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Castello di Lugano (also referred to as the Castello Maggiore or the Castello sforzesco di Lugano) was a fortress in Lugano, in what is now the Swiss canton of Ticino. It was erected between 1497 and 1499 on the plain of the Cassarate, outside the walls of the then-Milanese borough, on the orders of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. Twice besieged by the forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy, it was captured in 1512–1513 and demolition began in 1517 on their orders. The castle stood for roughly two decades. Nothing of it is visible today: its site is occupied by Parco Ciani, Villa Ciani and the Palazzo dei Congressi, and its memory survives chiefly in the toponym Piazza Castello. Buried masonry was recorded during construction work in 1918 and again during the excavations for the Palazzo dei Congressi around 1970.