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Sforza Castle Tours › One Day in Milan, Starting at Sforza CastleUpdated 2026-09-10

One Day in Milan, Starting at Sforza Castle

Hours, prices and access verified by the Sforza Castle Tours team — last checked 2026-09-10

The Duomo di Milano and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II at dusk

In this guide

  1. Why start at the castle?
  2. Before you leave home: three bookings
  3. 9.30am — Piazza Castello and the Filarete Tower
  4. 10.00am — the museums, Michelangelo first
  5. 12.30pm — down Via Dante towards the Duomo
  6. 2.00pm — the Duomo and its terraces
  7. 4.00pm — the Last Supper
  8. 5.00pm — Parco Sempione, or back to the courtyards
  9. What if your day is a Monday?
  10. Can you run the day the other way round?
  11. Is a guided tour worth it for this day?
  12. The day in one table
  13. What breaks this plan, and how you fix it
  14. Frequently asked questions

The short answer

Book your Last Supper slot first, because it is the one fixed point. Then start at the castle when the museums open at 10am, and give them two to three hours. Walk down Via Dante to the Duomo for the early afternoon. Take your Last Supper slot, and finish in Parco Sempione behind the castle, whose courtyards stay open until 7.30pm. On a Monday the museums are shut, so the plan changes; the Monday version is below.

Why start at the castle?

Because its hours are the tightest in the day. The museums open at 10am, Tuesday to Sunday. The ticket office closes at 4.30pm, and so does the last entry to each museum sector. Leave the castle for the afternoon and one late lunch can cost you the Pietà Rondanini.

The courtyards are the opposite. They are free and open every day from 7am to 7.30pm, so they can go anywhere in your day. That makes the castle the right place to start and a pleasant place to end.

The Last Supper sets everything else. Entry to the refectory at Santa Maria delle Grazie is a timed slot of about fifteen minutes, and every visitor's name is given at booking. You fit the day round that slot, not the slot round the day.

Before you leave home: three bookings

  1. The Last Supper slot, or a tour that holds one. Give every name exactly as it appears on your ID, and bring that ID.
  2. The castle, if you want certainty. The €10 ticket is sold at the desk on the day and in the Comune's online shop. It does not refund. A reserved ticket or a guided tour costs more and refunds up to 24 hours ahead.
  3. The Duomo. The church ticket is €10. The terraces are €16 on foot or €18 by lift.

Everything else in this plan is free: the courtyards, the streets and the park.

9.30am — Piazza Castello and the Filarete Tower

Arrive by metro. The red M1 stops at Cairoli, 200 metres from the museum ticket office. The green M2 stops at Lanza. The square in front of the castle is pedestrian, with the fountain in the middle and the Filarete Tower above the gate.

The tower is younger than it looks. The first one blew up in June 1521, when it was used as a gunpowder store. Luca Beltrami rebuilt it, and it was inaugurated on 24 September 1905. The Info Point is inside, on your right, and opens at 9.30am from Tuesday to Sunday. Walk through into the Cortile delle Armi while the courtyards are quiet.

10.00am — the museums, Michelangelo first

Buy your ticket when the desk opens, or show the one you bought online. Start with the Pietà Rondanini, in its own museum in the Ospedale Spagnolo on the Cortile delle Armi. It is Michelangelo's last sculpture, and you can walk all the way round it. Leave your bag in the lockers in the atrium first.

Then cross to the Museo d'Arte Antica in the Corte Ducale. Look for the Ducal Chapel of 1473 and the equestrian tomb of Bernabò Visconti. The Sala delle Asse, the room Leonardo painted for Ludovico il Moro, is closed for restoration, so give your time to the rooms around it.

If you still have energy, take the Rocchetta lift to the Decorative Arts museum and the twelve Trivulzio tapestries in the Sala della Balla. You will not see everything. Two to three hours is the realistic span, and the what to see route puts the rooms in walking order.

12.30pm — down Via Dante towards the Duomo

Leave by the Filarete gate and walk down Via Dante, the street that runs from the castle towards Piazza Mercanti. It is the same route the historic walking tours take after their castle stop, so you are in good company.

Eat on the way. Piazza Mercanti, the old medieval square, sits just before the Duomo square. Keep lunch to an hour if your Last Supper slot is mid-afternoon.

2.00pm — the Duomo and its terraces

Buy the church ticket for €10, or go up to the terraces for €16 on foot or €18 by lift. The terraces are the part people remember: a walkway among the spires above the city.

If you would rather not queue for a second ticket, the four-hour Duomo and castle morning covers both buildings with one guide. It meets in Piazza del Duomo, so on that plan you run the day the other way round: cathedral and terraces first, then ninety minutes inside the castle museums.

4.00pm — the Last Supper

Head for Santa Maria delle Grazie. The refectory beside the church holds Leonardo's mural, and the church and its convent have been a UNESCO World Heritage property since 1980. Arrive early for your slot, with the ID you booked under.

You get about fifteen minutes with the mural. Some tours spend half an hour round it, with time in the church. Leave large bags at your hotel. The historic walk asks for bags of any size to stay behind, because the Last Supper museum does not allow them.

5.00pm — Parco Sempione, or back to the courtyards

Finish where you started. Parco Sempione lies behind the castle: 47 hectares of English-style landscape garden laid out between 1890 and 1893. It holds the Arena of 1806, the Liberty-style aquarium of 1906, the Triennale and Gio Ponti's Torre Branca, 108.60 metres tall.

The castle courtyards stay open until 7.30pm, so you can walk back through them in the evening light. If it is a Thursday or a Saturday, the Tour delle Merlate walks the battlements at 7.30pm. It is booked with Ad Artem, the castle's concessionaire.

What if your day is a Monday?

Then the castle museums are closed, and so are the guided museum tours. The courtyards are not. They open at 7am and close at 7.30pm, free, every day of the week.

So swap the halves. Give the paid hours to the Duomo and your Last Supper slot; the booking calendar for the slot shows you which days you can have. Walk the courtyards and Parco Sempione in the gaps. Then put the museums on another day, Tuesday to Sunday. The castle also closes its museums on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December, so treat those days like a Monday.

Can you run the day the other way round?

Yes, if your Last Supper slot is in the morning. Take the slot, walk to the Duomo, then reach the castle by early afternoon. The one rule is the 4.30pm last entry. Aim to be at the museum desk by 2.30pm, which gives you two hours inside.

Most Last Supper combinations run this way already. They start at Santa Maria delle Grazie and walk you past the castle afterwards, stopping in the courtyards rather than the museums. If you want the Pietà Rondanini too, stay behind at the castle when the group moves on.

Is a guided tour worth it for this day?

For the castle, if you want the rooms explained, yes. A guided museum visit takes ninety minutes with the ticket in the fare, from From $23. For the Last Supper, a tour is often how you get a slot at all.

One fare covers most of this plan on its own. The six-hour Best of Milan day starts at Piazzale Cadorna with the Last Supper. It then takes in La Scala, half an hour outside the castle, an hour inside the Duomo and San Maurizio, with an hour off for lunch. It does not go inside the castle museums, so a castello sforzesco tours with museum entry, or the €10 ticket on another morning, fills that gap.

The day in one table

TimeWhereTicketNotes
9.30Piazza Castello, Filarete TowerFreeInfo Point opens, Tue–Sun
10.00Castle museums, Pietà first€10, or in a tour fareLast entry 4.30pm; closed Mondays
12.30Via Dante and Piazza MercantiFreeLunch on the way
14.00Duomo and terraces€10 church; €16–18 terracesOr a guided Duomo and castle tour
16.00The Last SupperTimed slot, names at bookingBring the ID you booked with
17.00Parco Sempione and the courtyardsFreeCourtyards open until 7.30pm

What breaks this plan, and how you fix it

  • A Monday. The museums are shut. Run the Monday version above and move the castle to another day.
  • A late lunch. The castle's last entry is 4.30pm. Keep the museums in the morning.
  • A name mismatch. The Last Supper checks names against ID. Book with the names in your passports.
  • A big bag. Use the lockers in the Pietà atrium, and leave it at the hotel for the Last Supper.
  • A free first Sunday. Entry is free for everyone. Claim your free ticket online before you arrive.
  • The wrong meeting point. Tours that pass the castle meet at Santa Maria delle Grazie, Cadorna or Piazza dei Mercanti, not always Piazza Castello. Read your confirmation.

Every fare that fits this day, with its meeting point and what it covers at the castle, is on Sforza Castle Tours.

Frequently asked questions

What are the castle's opening hours?
The courtyards are open every day from 7am to 7.30pm and cost nothing to enter. The museums open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5.30pm, and the ticket office closes at 4.30pm, which is also the last entry. The museums close every Monday and on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
Are the castle museums closed on Mondays?
The museums are, every Monday, and the guided museum tours do not run inside that day. The courtyards stay open and free, so a Monday still works for the outside of the castle and for Parco Sempione behind it. Book a guided visit for any day from Tuesday to Sunday.
How long do I need at the castle?
Allow two to three hours for the museums, the Pietà Rondanini and the courtyards together. A guided tour covers the highlights in ninety minutes, and the courtyards alone take twenty to thirty. Add half an hour if you want the battlement walk.
How do I get to the castle?
Take the red M1 to Cairoli, 200 metres from the museum desk, or the green M2 to Lanza. Trams 1, 2, 4, 12 and 14 stop alongside, and Milano Cadorna station is about 400 metres from the Pietà Rondanini desk. Piazza Castello itself is pedestrian and inside Milan's Area C.
Do I need to book Sforza Castle tickets in advance?
Not for the castle on most days: the €10 ticket is sold at the desk and online. Book ahead for a free first Sunday, for a guided tour with a fixed slot, and for anything that includes the Last Supper, which sells out weeks in advance. A Sforza Castle reservation through a tour also refunds in full up to 24 hours out, which a castle ticket never does.
What is behind Sforza Castle?
Parco Sempione, 47 hectares of English-style landscape garden laid out in 1890 to 1893, with the Arena of 1806, Torre Branca and the Triennale inside it. It is free and open, and it makes the obvious hour after a morning in the museums.
Where are the toilets at Sforza Castle?
Inside the museums: two accessible toilets at the end of the Egyptian gallery, and a third between the Cortile delle Armi and the Rocchetta courtyard, with a baby-changing table. Use one before a guided tour starts, because the route does not pass them.

Fares that fit this day