The Castello del Valentino. [English Ed.]

Property of the House of Savoy since the second half of the sixteenth century, the building has been the subject of numerous phases of enrichment and rearrangement, which, over time, have transformed its appearance. A villa for representational purposes, a riverside residence, a maison de plaisance, a nineteenth-century castle, subsequently used for scholastic, military and exhibition purposes, and now the headquarters of the Politecnico of Turin, its history has been studded by important transformations, enlargements and redecoration. However, despite these changes in use, the seventeenth-century magnificence of the original Savoy residence has been conserved in the decorative schemes of the apartments on the piano nobile. Richly decorated ceilings, stuccowork, paintings, gilding and frescoes in the rooms and apartments in the Valentino Castle amount to a small treasure trove still little known to the visiting public. This book is an invitation to let oneself be enthralled by the wonderful riverside position, the architectural majesty, the rich sculptural decoration and the mysterious frescoes of one of the liveliest Savoy residences that is still very little known.