FROM THE SFORSESCO CASTLE
TO THE MILAN DOME
DURING A FIERY SUNSET

Text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
Design Florin Alexandru Stancu

On 2017 June 18
I saw the sunrise in North-East Italy
and I planned to see the sunset in North-West Italy.

After a long trip, I arrived in the second largest Italian city,
Milan,
which was founded around 600 BC by Celts.

Conquered by Rome in 278 BC,
Milan became the Capital of the Western Roman Empire in 276 AC
and the place where Constantine the Great
gave its famous edict of religious tolerance in 313.

Later, Milan became the Capital
of the Kingdom of Lombardy,
of the Milan Dukedom,
of the Ambrosian Republic,
and even of the Italian Republic created by Napoleon in the 1800s,
and today it is one of the most important European cities,
with a population of 1,400,000 inhabitants
(and over 8,000,000 in the Metropolitan Area).

Since my time was limited,
from the extraordinary cultural and architectural offers of Milan
I chose a walk on the right road between two symbols,
from the Sforsesco Castle to the Milan Dome.

The Sforsesco Castle was founded in the 14th century
and remade in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza
to become the residence of the Dukes.

Here I could still salute the Sun:
firstly, before visiting the castle…

…and secondly, after visiting the courtyard of the castle.

Then, fascinated by the old architecture of that zone,
I went to the Milan Dome,
the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world after some sources,
which was begun in 1396 and ended a few centuries later.