Miradolo Castle Park reborn: 200-year-old project unveiled by Xavier Kurten

On Saturday, April 19, 2025, at 11 a.m., the new tour of the historic park of Miradolo Castle (San Secondo di Pinerolo, Turin) will be officially inaugurated, a place that, after a long process of research and restoration, now rediscovers the original landscape identity desired in 1824 by Marquise Maria Elisabetta Ferrero della Marmora and entrusted to the vision of the famous Prussian landscape architect Xavier Kurten (Brühl, 1769 - Racconigi, 1840). Exactly two hundred years after the commission, the park is presented to the public completely renovated, the result of a meticulous restoration that restored centrality to the compositional and plant elements conceived in the early 19th century.

The appointment includes a special guided tour led by the property, during which it will be possible to explore the main interventions carried out in recent years. The tour will offer a close look at the transformation from a formal Italian-style garden to a romantic English-style park, a transition that reflects the cultural changes of the period and the establishment of a new relationship between man and landscape. The work carried out made it possible to recover not only the original structure, but also the deep connection between the park and its historical memory.

The recovery project has placed sustainability and accessibility at the center. Starting in 2025, new audioguides in Italian, English, French, and LIS, developed in collaboration with the Institute of the Deaf in Turin, will be available. The new panels, designed for a diverse audience, offer both botanical and historical insights, enriching the visit with content accessible to all.

At the conclusion of the visit, it will be possible to participate in the Herbs on a Plate experience: a convivial moment that combines tasting and nature, with a glass of bubbly and a themed tasting, proposed by Antica Pasticceria Castino.

The long process of the park’s rebirth was also possible thanks to a rigorous archival research conducted in 2023 and 2024 by the Parks and Gardens Group of DISAFA - Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Sciences of the University of Turin, under the guidance of Professor Marco Devecchi. The research, commissioned by the Cosso Foundation, looked in particular at the historical plant component, the neo-Gothic greenhouse and the surrounding territorial context. The results obtained by Paola Gullino, Federica Larcher and Enrico Pomatto allowed for the clear identification of historical permanences, landscape design evolutions and the original physiognomy of the park through descriptive sources, maps, iconographic documents and plans preserved in Piedmontese archives.

During the 19th century, between 1824 and 1837, significant funds were spent on the creation of the New Miradolo Garden. Many of the tree species planted during that period are still visible today and form the vegetal framework of the park. Five of these trees, which have become monumental specimens, are officially recognized by the Piedmont Region: the Ginkgo biloba that greets visitors at the entrance to the castle, Taxus baccata, Taxodium distichum (bald cypress), Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree), and Carpinus betulus.

The recent history of the park is linked to the arrival of the Cosso Foundation, which crossed the threshold of Miradolo Castle for the first time in 2007 after a long period of deterioration. The site, once the residence of the Bricherasio family, had suffered decades of neglect and renovations that did not respect its original identity. The roofs had collapsed, the frescoes in jeopardy, the cottages turned into warehouses, and the park design reduced to a shadow of Kurten’s nineteenth-century vision.

Since then, through more than fifteen years of self-funded construction sites and enhancement projects, the Foundation has led a patient process of recovery and restoration. A new impetus came in 2022 thanks to two PNRR - NextGenerationEU calls for proposals, which awarded the project The Miradolo Castle Park. History of a Rebirth, ranking it first in Piedmont and eighth nationally. The funds enabled the consolidation of services for the public, restoration of secondary architecture and extraordinary maintenance of historic trees, with a view to safeguarding biodiversity. Particularly relevant was the involvement of architect Paolo Pejrone, one of Italy’s most influential landscape architects, who redesigned the courtly courtyard and the Garden area, enriching the botanical collection with new essences, selecting pollinator-friendly plants, and recovering historical elements such as the ancient potteries.

The park’s lighting was also rethought in harmony with its romantic soul. The new fixtures, invisible to the eye, were designed to offer different lighting scenarios according to the seasons, creating atmospheres that are intimate and respectful of nocturnal wildlife. The carefully metered light accompanies the evening visit without encroaching on the space, allowing the details of the landscape to be captured even as the sun sets. General relamping, bike friendly area and restoration of the old barn, now used for educational activities, were also completed during 2024.

Miradolo Castle Park reborn: 200-year-old project unveiled by Xavier Kurten

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