Q 01/05

Which carmaker's badge still shows the biscione, the serpent emblem of Milan's Visconti dukes?

A) Lamborghini

B) Maserati

C) Alfa Romeo

D) Lancia

Answer · why

C) Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo was founded in Milan in 1910 and built its badge from the city's flag and the serpent of its medieval ruling family. The snake is drawn wit...

Q 02/05

Which Tuscan artist spent seventeen years at the Milan court of Ludovico Sforza?

A) Leonardo da Vinci

B) Sandro Botticelli

C) Michelangelo

D) Piero della Francesca

Answer · why

A) Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci worked in Milan from 1482 until 1499. He had pitched himself to Ludovico in a letter as a builder of machines for defending and besi...

Q 03/05

The oldest surviving cards for which game were painted for Milan's Visconti and Sforza dukes?

A) Whist

B) Baccarat

C) Cribbage

D) Tarot

Answer · why

D) Tarot

Tarot began as an everyday card game called trionfi, meaning triumphs. About fifteen decks painted for the two ducal families survive, none of them co...

Q 04/05

Which French general captured Milan in 1796, bringing four centuries of the duchy to an end?

A) Joachim Murat

B) Napoleon Bonaparte

C) Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte

D) André Masséna

Answer · why

B) Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte took Milan during the War of the First Coalition, and the duchy was abolished a year later. Even after his final defeat, the great ...

Q 05/05

Which mural did Ludovico Sforza commission for the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan?

A) The School of Athens

B) The Last Supper

C) The Birth of Venus

D) The Last Judgment

Answer · why

B) The Last Supper

The Last Supper began to deteriorate soon after it was finished in 1498 because of the experimental method used, and it was already flaking by 1517.