Residences of the Royal House of Savoy 🇮🇹 Turin, Italy

In Turin, the vestiges of Savoyard rule can be found in the palaces, grand boulevards, squares and streets. During the 17th century, Turino became quite the centre for Baroque architecture in Europe. It's still largely regarded as one of the finest Baroque cities. When the Duke of Savoy, Emmanuel Philibert, decided to move the seat of his court from Chambéry to Turin in 1562, he assigned an unexpected and decisive role to the latter. The new capital of the duchy was still a small, fortified medieval town that had remained on the fringes of the main cultural developments of the Renaissance. As a result of the impetus of Emmanuel Philibert, his successors developed a vast building programme throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, giving the town and its region a Baroque style, the pivot of which is the residences. This programme was the symbol of the absolute power of the Savoy rulers, who built a state and a European capital. Although the organisation of the defences of Turin was Emmanuel Philibert's major preoccupation, he succeeded in establishing his residence in the former Bishop's Palace. Between the end of the 16th century and the 18th century, his successors carried out three large expansion projects centred on Piazza Castello. The first urban and architectural renovation schemes, launched by Charles Emmanuel I to the plans of the architect Ascanio Vitozzi from the late 16th to early 17th century, were designed to create a command area to the northeast of the city that would be more in keeping with princely rank and be more practical in defensive terms. The former ducal palace, which was slightly away from the centre, was rebuilt on a new orientation so as to be in direct contact with Piazza Castello. It was also linked with the southern part of the city by opening a new road, the present Via Roma, in the direction of the Mierfiori ducal residence in the country. This project was a major innovation since it established bipolarity in urban and territorial terms. The residences of the Royal House of Savoy comprise a large serial inscription of estates, including 22 palaces and villas, developed for administrative and recreational purposes in and around Turin by the Dukes of Savoy from 1562. In the middle of the city stands Palazzo Madama, one of the most significant buildings in Turin, representing its long history. The Palazzo Madama, which used to be linked to the Palazzo Reale by an arcade, is in the centre of the austere Piazza del Castello. This complex building provides a concise history of the town through all its many transformations and its combination of different styles. Palazzo Madama is situated close to where Fibalona Gate once stood at the time of the Roman Empire. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Roman Gate was converted into a fortalice for its defence. Centuries passed and in the 14th century the fortified structure became Savoy's property. It was transformed into a castle in order to become the dwelling for guests of the Savoy family. Piazza Castello is a square with a regio theatre without a façade, Madama Palace with no corresponding palace and the Church of San Lorenzo without a façade. One was designed but never built to maintain the architectural harmony of the square. Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy and his cousin Philip II, King of Spain, were fighting the French at Saint Quentin in Flanders. They made a votive offering to build a church in the name of the saint whose feast fell on the day of their eventual victory. That victory came on the 10th of August, Saint Lawrence's day. In Madrid, Philip II built the Escorial with a church dedicated to Saint Lawrence, an abbey in the shape of a gridiron, the instrument of the saint's martyrdom. In 1666, the Duke of Savoy asked Guarini to build a new church dedicated to Saint Lawrence. Guarino Guarini wanted his architecture to leave a variety of symbols and his art can be defined as building with light as a symbol of the absolute. The architectonic structure of the church is based on an octagon. In the cupola we can see crossed arches that form a flower of light with eight petals. Eight is a symbolic number. In the Christian tradition it was much used for baptisteries and indicates the perfect day, the day of Christ's victory and return, a day without end, after the seven-day cycle of our week. The architectonic and geometric structure of the church of Saint Lorenzo follows a symbolic vertical path over several levels towards the light. In human life this path corresponds to the levels of spiritual growth man can reach, if he wishes, through inner reflection. The lower part of the church is dark, windowless and with frescoes only in one part. It represents humanity's terrestrial life. The first light comes at the level of the four cerulean three-part lodges. These can be metaphorically linked to the four elements in nature. The vast command area was planned in relation to the new spaces created by extensions to the city. The Palazzo Reale defines the structure of this complex. The decision to create it by reorganising and enlarging the former bishop's palace was taken by Manuel Filibert in the 1570s. The project was taken up more decisively by Charles Emmanuel I and the commission for the work was given to Ascanio Vitozzi, the court architect. At the end of the 17th century the palace acquired its permanent appearance and the buildings separating the Piazza Reale and Piazza Castello were replaced by a portico in which the Holy Shroud was displayed on special occasions and then two centuries later by a gate. The main changes in the 18th and 19th centuries were refurbishment and decoration of the apartments in particular by Filippo Giuvara and Pelagio Pelagi. The quadrangular planned brick palace was built around a courtyard with porticos opening behind on landscaped gardens between the bastions. The main facade clad with plaster painted in light colours was decorated with pilaster strips, bands and alternating triangular and semicircular pediments above the second floor windows. The courtyard facades which have retained their unplastered brick facing partially continue this decorative style with the same restraint. The monumental staircase in the palace leads to the royal apartments which are still sumptuously decorated with paintings, stucco work and priceless furniture. Palazzo Reale with its buildings in the command area and the complex of villas outside the town for the purposes of entertainment and hunting are a cultural property of universal value and constitute material evidence of the importance accorded by the House of Savoy to town planning and architecture, a support to the political and military commitment that brought it over three centuries from the Duchy of Savoy to the throne of the United Italian State. The relationships and dynasty links that the House of Savoy established with the royal courts in Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Munich and Vienna, as well as the towns of Italy, created a cosmopolitan artistic and cultural milieu at the court of Turin. Emmanuel Philibert laid the foundations of a court tradition that hadn't previously existed in Turin. With ceaseless perseverance they enriched their family heritage and commissioned internationally famous architects, artists and gardeners. During the Middle Ages the fortress was called Palatium, hence its present name. On Via XX Settembre are some of the ruins of the Roman Theatre, near the basement of the Royal Palace. The residences of the Royal House of Savoy in and around Turin represent a comprehensive overview of European monumental architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries, using style, dimensions and space to illustrate, in an exceptional way, the prevailing doctrine of absolute monarchy in material terms. Guarino Guarini gave his personal touch to Turin's Baroque architecture with the Palazzo Carignano, which was built for Prince Amadeo di Carignano, the younger branch of the House of Savoy. The architect built one of the most attractive and impressive 17th century Italian palaces. The Dukes of Savoy also made these buildings one of the most complete and prestigious examples of the strategies and styles of the European Baroque. These palaces and villas are all of consistently high quality and in some cases they may be considered outstanding. The residences of the Royal House of Savoy are an extensive body of buildings which provide an important and detailed chapter in European architecture. They also offer examples of rich painted and carved interior decors in many of the residences and have formally found their place in the role of important gardens. The Dukes of Savoy had a sense of continuity and a long-term vision in terms of architecture. These two virtues give very striking visual and stylistic cohesion to the functional rigour of the palaces and villas. The decoration of the courtyard facades is equally exuberant, with pilasters and bands of stars. On the ground floor, the oval building acts as a vestibule, whose two elliptical staircases lead to the Parliament Hall on the first floor. The sumptuous decoration of the apartments and arcades is attributed to Legnanino. Guarini adopted a U-shaped plan, to which she gave a new interpretation, by integrating into the central part of the façade an oval rotunda surmounted by a drum, concave on the street side and convex on the courtyard, giving an undulating movement to the façade. A two-storey private chapel is set into the centre of the convex part. Two monumental orders articulate with the wall, which is pierced with impressive windows that are decorated, among other motifs, with stylised Indian figures, a souvenir of Carignano's travels in North America. The foundation of the National University Library in Turin dates back to 1723, thanks to Vittorio Amadeo II of Savoy, with the amalgamation of the three main book funds present in the city, the Books of the Municipality, the Collection of the Regia University and the Books of the Crown, collected by the Dukes of Savoy. The National University Library of the Regia distinguished itself immediately in its cataloguing work of the manuscript heritage and also increased its heritage of printed books, thanks to the granting of the printing right privilege, significant gifts and the acquisition of various funds. The origins of Valentino Castle date back to the beginning of the 16th century. In 1564 it was purchased by Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy. Then King Carlo Emanuele I ceded it to Maria Cristina of France, who chose it as her favourite residence and stayed there with her court for a long time. The castle was completely restored from 1621 to 1660 by Carlo di Castellamonte, and then by his son Amadeo. It has two different facades. The main one facing Turin has the architectural features of the 17th century French castles and Italian baroque buildings, while the one facing the river Po is made of fired bricks. Places for relaxation and festivities are located in the countryside around Turin, corresponding to these working places where authority is exercised. Residences for pleasure and hunting were created by modernising existing structures. They offer a great variety of architectural and interior styles, which can be related to progressive changes in hunting and leisure activities. However, the successive generations of architects who embellished the residences in the 17th and 18th centuries managed to give them a surprising degree of homogeneity. It's undeniable that they share high, sometimes exceptional quality in their architectural and interior design. Equal attention was given to the gardens and parks, which are integral components of the residences. They were also included in the successive embellishment schemes for each of the residences. The Allier Garden is on three levels, with an English garden, flowerbeds and a hanging garden, with ornate conservatories decorated with paintings, trompe l'oeil architecture, grotesque, allegorical and mythological figures and so on, opening on them. André Lenartre designed the park at Racconigi. It was modernised by Michel Bernard in 1746 and partially transformed into an English garden at the end of the century. New buildings were added at the start of the 19th century, such as the Gothic-style greenhouse, the Margaria. Villa della Regina is a place of extraordinary historical, artistic, landscape and environmental importance. This evocative complex was built on the Turin hillside in the early 1700s by Cardinal Prince Maurice of Savoy. The structure is typically 17th century with a splendid garden. A square elliptical terrace gives access to a higher court rectangle that surrounds the castle, a building to its left and a terrace on the right. Behind the building is a semicircle carved into the hillside garden, with terraces and viewpoints, decorative fountains and the beautiful water show. It comprised a Baroque villa and Italian gardens with grottos and water shows, and was later modified and enlarged over and over again in the 1700s by the court architects, including Filippo Giovara. It was home to Queen Anne of Orleans, the wife of Vittorio Amadeo II, who gave it its name. Situated in a dominant position at the entrance of the Susa valley, the castle is a powerful Baroque building that's part of a on the request of Vittorio Amadeo II. This ancient fortress dates back to the 11th century. The castle of Rivoli was located on the top of a moraic hill at the mouth of the Susa valley. In the 14th century it was acquired by the House of Savoy and turned into a residence for the court. In 1860 the complex was rented to the community of Rivoli, which quartered an infantry battalion there, and built a covered passage from the castle to the Manicolunga, which means long sleeve. The construction gets its name from the unusual dimensions of the structure. The Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art is located inside a beautiful Baroque building that represents only part of a grandiose project by the Sicilian architect Filippo Giovara undertaken for King Vittorio Amadeo II. The incompletion of the construction, emphasized by the restoration by Andrea Bruno in the 1980s, has created an evocative line of continuity extending from the past to the present and future. In 1693, during the war against the French, the castle was set on fire by Marshal Catinat's troops and was partially destroyed. The great palace that Filippo Giovara planned for Vittorio Amadeo II was meant to restore the residence in Rivoli to its former dignity and add a grandeur which would rival the magnificence of the great European courts. The project, which dates from 1718, was never completed and construction was halted one third of the way through. The parts most representative of the royal palace, like the atrium and the great staircases, were left unfinished. At the beginning of the 19th century, with the changing of the political situation after the period of French domination, the residence in Rivoli, without even its central part constructed, became a great burden for the Savoyer family to sustain. Since 1984, it's been home to the Museum of Contemporary Art, with a permanent collection of leading contemporary artworks and important temporary exhibitions. The ring of royal residences, partly coinciding with the historical paths used for the royal hunts, cuts across Piedmont from north to south and from east to west, for a total of 500 kilometers and more than 100 towns and villages. It's a vast area that's also characterized by castles, abbeys and medieval towns, spring waters and river parks, Roman architecture and archaeological excavations. The complex Palace of Venaria consists of the Reggio Borgo Antico, the Palace and the Herd Park. The grandiose project of the Duke Carlo Emanuele II came true by building a fixed abode for hunting, in order to celebrate through the rituals of hunting, the magnificence of the Duke. So he built this palace as a design of the delete of the 17th century and as a crown of Turin, the capital. The work of Castellamonte was a unicum and consisted of a village, royal palace and gardens, and extended for an axis of about two kilometers. The village had in the center a quadrioval square, which reproduced the collar of the order of Annunciata. The royal palace included two courts. The destruction of the palace in some parts caused by the French troops of Catinat was the reason to begin a new project of restoration. In 1716, the building site was assigned to Filippo Giovara. He worked on some principal elements of the building, the arrangement of the hunting services at southeast, the building of the royal chapel, and the formal recomposing of a single court in front of the village. In order to define this huge space, Giovara raised the gallery by opening towards the outside with a span of large windows. The royal residences are a treasure trove of prestigious works of art. Paintings, furniture, tapestries, sculptures and furnishings, unique architectures and settings, historical gardens, vast parks and suggestive natural and environmental scenarios. They're tightly bound in their architecture and environmental layout to nearby towns and villages, and they bear witness to crucial passages in the process of Italian unification.