General view

In 1492-94, on the Duke’s initiative, a new square, the Piazza Ducale, was laid out in Vigevano, 12 km south-west of Milan. The work, which was carried out almost certainly to outline designs by Bramante, who was recorded there in 1492-96, involved the wholesale demolition of much of the old centre to create an open space extending more than 130 m from the fa�ade of the cathedral - a size unprecedented in Lombardy - and the construction of new fa�ades around three of the sides interrupted only at the dominant, towered entrance to the ducal castle towards the western end. Models for the scheme include the Piazza San Marco in Venice and the Renaissance Piazza della Loggia (c. 1485) in Brescia, as well as the ancient Forum Romanum as described by Vitruvius and Alberti, whose writings are echoed in an inscription on the castle tower.

The fa�ades, which have painted decorations (restored 19th century), are of uniform design, with ground-level columned porticos (as recommended by Vitruvius), an upper floor with arched windows and an attic. The bay sequence is broken, however, by two painted triumphal arches (only partly restored), which mark the position of roadways and were almost certainly designed by Bramante. One, positioned near the centre of the short western end, is a single-arch design; in combination with framing pilasters at the upper level, the arrangement closely resembles a slightly earlier archway in the piazza at Brescia. The other arch, in the angle facing the castle tower, is a triple-arch design similar to the fa�ade of Alberti’s Sant’Andrea (1472) in Mantua. As also in the Prevedari engraving, the capitals have bands of lattice decoration at their necks, no doubt to allude to the basket mentioned by Vitruvius in his account of the legendary origins of the Corinthian order.

The photo shows the view of the Piazza Ducale towards the Cathedral.