Piemonte
The Castle of Agliè, from the home of dukes and princes to the good of all
In the Castle of Agliè, time seems to have stood still at its last inhabitant: once a sumptuous residence of dukes and princes, now a public good open to visitors as part of the Royal Residences of Savoy circuit.
By Ilaria Baratta | 29/01/2025 17:22
In Agliè Castle , time seems to have stood still at its last inhabitant, Duke Thomas of Savoy-Genoa, who sold it to the Italian state in 1939. Since then, the residence has become a public asset and is open to visitors as part of the circuit of the Royal Residences of Savoy, recognized as aUNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The imposing building stands in a corner of Canavese, in the very small but picturesque village of Agliè: unless you want to buy the typical traditional torcetti, a visit to the village does not take up much time for anyone who comes to these parts; on the contrary, the Castle does, with its succession of marvelous, perfectly preserved period rooms, furnishings and precious collections. The overall view one has once one arrives in the square, overlooked by the main entrance to the Castle, is as mentioned imposing (consider that the building has more than three hundred rooms, which, however, cannot all be visited), with three bodies side by side but quite distinct, but much more striking and elegant is the overall view from the large park behind, especially because of the double sloping staircase that descends from the castle to the park, and which will be familiar to many. It will be revealed later why.
However, its present appearance is due to the fusion of four major constituent phases, each of which bequeathed rooms and objects that are still preserved and visible today. Indeed, to enter the castle is to immerse oneself in a world of refinement, art and luxury, where each room tells the story of the people who lived there and the time they spent there. To begin with, the original nucleus of the castle dates back to the 12th century, on whose remains Count Filippo San Martino d'Agliè, a descendant of the noble lineage of Arduino d'Ivrea, a prominent politician and advisor to Christina of France, decided to build from the 1740s a grand stately residence that would embody his prestigious role but also celebrate the beauty of art. She entrusted its transformation in the Baroque taste probably to Amedeo di Castellamonte. The most scenic room among the Castle's visitable halls dates from this period, namely the great Hall of Honor frescoed by Giovan Paolo Recchi with scenes from the splendors of King Arduino of Ivrea: in the figure of the sovereign seated on the throne and crowned one can in fact recognize Philip and, if one lifts one's gaze slightly above the central wall, two angels carry in flight five arrows tied by the scroll with the Arduinic motto "Sans Despartir" (which would mean "without dividing anything" or "without failing in one's duty") probably representing the five original families of the San Martino counts. Structurally, the two pavilion towers overlooking the garden, the two galleries, the inner courtyard and the unfinished courtyard at the back, and the Chapel of St. Maximus, decorated in the dome with stucco work by Lugano craftsmen, are evidence of the castle's appearance in the count's time.
The castle's fate changed again in 1764, when it became part of the patrimony of the House of Savoy. It was purchased by King Charles Emmanuel III for his son Benedict Maurice, duke of Chiablese. Under his leadership, the castle experienced a period of splendor: architect Ignazio Birago of Borgaro was commissioned to redesign the square in front of the castle; he then rebuilt the parish church and built a gallery to connect the latter to the castle, the Galleria delle Tribune. He built the new northwest sleeve, which included the Royal Apartment and the rooms below, including the greenhouses; and then the Hall of the Bodyguards with stucco decorations by Ticino-born Giuseppe Bolina depicting plant motifs and hunting trophies to which we owe the later name of Salone di Caccia (today, portraits of King Charles Felix and Maria Christina of Bourbon by Jacques Berger are also found here); and again, the two staircases and the kitchens in the basements of the east side purposely placed to correspond with the dining rooms. The result was elegant rooms, as we can still see today, which at the same time were an expression of the prestige and magnificence of the Savoy court. The park was also enlarged and transformed to Michel Bénard 's design into a masterpiece of symmetry and beauty, with water mirrors and fountains, above all the majestic Fountain of the Four Rivers with sculptures by brothers Filippo and Ignazio Collino.
But it was with the Restoration and the return of the Savoy family that Agliè Castle found new life after the Napoleonic period, during which the complex was used as a begging shelter. In fact, the castle underwent a new renovation with King Charles Felix, who received use of the castle from Marianne of Savoy, duchess of Chiablese, and his consort Maria Cristina of Bourbon , who entrusted the extensive modernization project to Michele Borda. The couple were great art lovers, especially the queen, who deeply loved archaeology and antiquities, and it was with them that the art collections were greatly enriched. Particularly significant in this regard is the Tuscolana Room, where precious archaeological finds and ancient marbles from the excavations of the Villa Rufinella in Frascati are kept. It was at the behest of Queen Maria Cristina that, in 1827, Giacomo Spalla began arranging the finds at Agliè Castle. Among the most valuable finds is a white marble statue depicting Emperor Tiberius; the emperor is portrayed here wearing a splendid lorica, the Roman parade armor, decorated with two finely carved griffins. On his shoulder instead he holds the paludamentum, the cloak that distinguished Roman generals. Then there is an imposing, richly decorated marble bell-shaped krater from the House of the Cecili in Tusculum, and an adorned marble sarcophagus on which are recognized with Apollo, Athena and the nine Muses, protectors of the Arts.
The king and queen also set aside some rooms for recreation, including billiard tables and gaming tables in the halls, favoring a style that combined through a careful choice of furnishings the comforts and pleasures of a holiday residence with the elegance that was never to be lacking for one's status. The two galleries, the adjoining rooms, the theater, the Royal Apartment, the Red Room, the Yellow Room, the Blue Room (the latter characterized by tapestries of the various colors that give the rooms their names) and the Queen's Room, where Maria Christina of Bourbon wanted her monogram to appear on all the furnishings, still embody the refined taste of the couple.
Charles Felix of Savoy was such a great theater enthusiast that, in 1825, he decided to have a small theater built inside the castle, the construction of which was entrusted to architect Michele Borda of Saluzzo, who was already engaged in the renovation of the residence at the time. The royal box, decorated with floral lotus and palmette motifs, is surmounted by a monogram intertwining the initials of the king and Queen Maria Christina of Bourbon. What makes this room extraordinary is the perfect state of preservation of the original wooden furnish ings and pictorial equipment, such as the curtain, painted by Piedmontese Luigi Vacca with a scene depicting Orpheus and Eurydice, as well as the system of wings and scenes devised by set designer Fabrizio Sevesi, which is still functioning today. On the upper floor, however, is the dramatic artists' quarters, also still fully furnished, which housed the actors who came to the castle to perform in the little theater. Carlo Felice is also responsible for the restoration in 1827 of the Chapel of St. Maximus: he intervened mainly on the hall, but kept the original decorative layout of the dome intact but renovated the floor, the decorated stucco walls and the altar, which he had made by Pietro Cremona. With a square floor plan, the chapel is surmounted by an octagonal vault decorated with fine 17th-century stucco and frescoes depicting the Stories of the Virgin, the work of Lugano masters. The altarpiece on the altar depicts The Elemosis of Saint Maximus, attributed to John Claret, while the ivory crucifix was made by Giacomo Marchino, a pupil of Giuseppe Bonzanigo. Next, in the center of the chapel is a special monument by Giacomo Spalla, which includes a column surmounted by a statue of St. Paul. This was a gift from Pope Leo XII in recognition of Carlo Felice's contribution to the restoration of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, which was destroyed by fire in 1823, as recorded in theepigraph on the right wall of the chapel. The candle-holding angels, on the other hand, are the work of Louis Duguet. The Chapel of St. Maximus, built on the site of an earlier religious building, was built between 1642 and 1657 at the behest of Filippo San Martino d'Agliè and to a design (though not documented) by Amedeo di Castellamonte, and initially provided for the construction of twin chapels: one dedicated to St. Maximus and the other to St. Michael, the latter located where the little theater stands today. The park was also transformed, by Xavier Kurten according to 19th-century Romantic taste, with ponds, groves and glades.
Maria Cristina remained attached to the Castle of Agliè even after the death of Charles Felix in 1831: it was a place of buen retreat for her, where she took refuge in the moments of her withdrawn life away from the official residences of Turin and where she kept her collections and her beautiful porcelain , which are still partly gathered in the display cases of the long Green Gallery.
When Maria Cristina died in 1849, the castle then passed to Ferdinand of Savoy-Genoa who preferred to live, together with his wife Elizabeth of Saxony and their children, namely the future queen of Italy, Margherita, and Tommaso, in the rooms of the present Appartamento Chierici. And finally, Tommaso, son of Ferdinand of Savoy-Genoa, and his wife Isabella of Bavaria modified some rooms in the castle to suit their taste and needs. The duchess sometimes dabbled in painting, and during World War I she housed in the oldest part of the castle a small hospital garrison intended for the convalescence of war officers. The duke, on the other hand, an admiral of the Italian navy and later lieutenant general of the Kingdom of Italy, was an avid collector of travel memorabilia, with a particular interest in oriental objects. Many of these are now on display in the Chinese Room, including three curious Japanese suits of armor and a large tortoise shell plate of Japanese manufacture using the gold lacquer technique. In 1939, the duke sold the residence to the Italian state, which became a museum in 1982 with the opening of the castle and park to the public after a 20-year restoration directed by the Superintendency of Fine Arts.
To visit Agliè Castle today is to embark on a journey through centuries of history. From the majesty of the Hall of Honor to the elegance of the rooms adorned with stucco, tapestries and sparkling crystal chandeliers, from the collections of statues, porcelain, paintings, archaeological finds and oriental objects to the large park that surrounds it, every corner tells a story.
It is also said that the Castle of Agliè, like any self-respecting castle, has its own ghost lurking within its walls: it would be that of Princess Victoria of Savoy Soisson, who died in Turin in 1763, and who in her will designated as her universal heir Benedetto Maria Maurizio of Savoy, duke of Chiablese and son of Charles Emmanuel III. In the memoirs of her lady-in-waiting, Countess Angelica Von Kottulin Lodron, she is described as an "ugly, small, very pudgy woman, little black eyes, a large long nose, a thin mouth and a low forehead, who dressed like an old French woman of the bourgeoisie, with four-beard bonnets and very plain, old-fashioned clothes." An ugly-looking noblewoman, as evidenced by the disturbingly realistic wax bust devoid of any idealization that still peers out at visitors from inside a vitrine in one of the Castle's rooms. It was made by Francesco Orso in the second half of the eighteenth century, depicting the princess in a dress richly adorned with lace and decorations, a bonnet on her head and a stole over her shoulders that crosses over her chest.
Of the existence of the ghost of Vittoria di Savoia Soisson was convinced by a superintendent who lived in the castle for a long time in the 1950s: during his stay, in the middle of the night, the glass in some rooms of the right tower kept breaking, and these breakages were accompanied by sighs, rustling and suspicious noises that the man then connected to the ghost, but the princess probably never lived in the castle even when she was alive...
Aside from the ghost that adds a little thrill to the history of the mansion, the castle has continued to amaze and enchant. Even on screen. Indeed, in recent decades, the castle has been chosen as a film set for movies and television series. Among all of them, how can we not remember Elisa di Rivombrosa starring Vittoria Puccini as the young and beautiful Elisa Scalzi, a lady-in-waiting of humble origins to Countess Agnese Ristori di Rivombrosa, who meets and falls in love with the noblewoman's son, Count Fabrizio Ristori, played by Alessandro Preziosi? Those who have followed their love story amid conspiracies and deceptions will think back, as they visit Agliè Castle, to certain places that were the setting for the events set in what was once the home of Count Ristori.
It was then the setting for the television miniseries La bella e la bestia, starring Blanca Suárez and again Alessandro Preziosi, and Maria José, the last queen, a miniseries aired in 2002 that recounts the life of Maria José, the last queen of Italy, from 1917 to the end of the monarchy after the 1946 referendum, and filmed between the Royal Palace of Turin, the Castle of Agliè and the Palace of Racconigi.
Indeed, the stories of counts, countesses, princesses and queens are best told in those places where dukes, counts and kings also lived and lived in reality. And the Castle of Agliè is one of them.
