iCastello SforzescoCentro Storico
Nino Ferrari. La forma moderna del metallo
About a hundred works by the Brescia metalworker Nino Ferrari in silver, copper and pewter, with archive letters, photographs and his collaboration with Gio Ponti, in the Sala della Balla.
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Ten pieces here come straight from Nino Ferrari's workshop: plaster moulds, work tools and objects stopped at different stages of being made. With 30 of his preparatory drawings also on show, you can follow a piece from the sketch on card to the mould to the finished metal.
Ferrari trained at Brera and worked silver, copper and pewter by chasing, engraving and repoussé, between Brescia and Milan from the 1930s to the 1970s. About 100 pieces fill the Sala della Balla, 60 of them finished works, most lent by his heirs. The central section covers his partnership with Gio Ponti through unpublished letters, photographs, sales catalogues and period magazines.
It suits people curious about how design objects were made by hand. Entry is included in the €10 Castello museums ticket (free under 18, and for everyone on the first Sunday of the month), Tuesday to Sunday, last tickets 16:30. Three more Ferrari pieces sit in Room XXXI of the Museo delle Arti Decorative.
Look for
The workshop pieces
Look for plaster moulds, Ferrari's own work tools and objects left at different stages of being made, ten pieces from his workshop.
The Gio Ponti letters
Unpublished letters from a partnership that began in the 1930s, shown with historic photographs, sales catalogues and magazines of the time.
The 1936 Triennale vase
One of the pair of vases Ferrari made to Guido Frette's design for the VI Milan Triennale, now in the castle's own collection.
Testa di Medusa
A Medusa head worked in pewter around 1950, 38 centimetres across, lent from the artist's family collection in Brescia.
Good for
- Locals Who've Seen It All
- Nerding Out
- Rainy Days
With kids
Under-18s get in free with the Castello museums ticket.
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Image credits
9
- Nino Ferrari. La forma moderna del metalloCourtesy of Castello Sforzesco
- Photo Grant Deloitte 2026Courtesy of Triennale Milano
- Ettore Sottsass. Design MetaphorsCourtesy of Triennale Milano
- Peter Halleyfoto di Matteo Pasin
- Castello SforzescoJakub Hałun / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Triennale MilanoMike Peel (www.mikepeel.net), CC BY-SA 4.0
- Palazzo CitterioGiovanni Dall'Orto / Wikimedia Commons
- Cenacolo Vinciano (Leonardo's Last Supper)Maria Klara Andras / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Pinacoteca di BreraKarlmontague / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0