Accademia Reale

Considered the most serious loss of Piedmont’s architectural heritage, the antique presence of the building that housed the Accademia Reale di Torino is now testified by just a few fragments of the loggia and the eastern wing visible on Via Verdi, just a short walk from Piazza Castello, in the heart of the Command Zone.
Its history began with the laying of the foundation stone on 11 March 1675, according to the plans of the first court engineer Amedeo di Castellamonte, followed in 1677 by the official decree of the opening of the Royal Academy of Savoy. The institution had been created as a training school for young members of the aristocracy, with a distinctly international intent: up until 1798, young aristocrats from all over Europe were trained there. The youths were educated in court life and military matters, but also in literature and history: it was attended by Vittorio Alfieri and Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, among others. The institution was dissolved, following transformations, after 8 September 1943 with the signing of the armistice that sanctioned Italy’s surrender to the Allied powers.
Originally, Castellamonte’s building housing the Royal Academy was located in the western part of the Command Zone complex, around a huge square courtyard that formed the hub of the school’s activities. On the three sides facing the courtyard, the building was characterised by two tiers of galleries on twin columns, but the visual effect of that architectural language was almost completely lost during the 20th century. The Royal Academy building was heavily damaged by air raids during the Second World War, but not irreparably. It was sacrificed for the reconstruction of the new Teatro Regio, the extension of which overlapped with the courtyard. The Academy building was demolished to make way for it, sparking a heated debate between the defenders of the ancient Savoy vestiges and the advocates of a reconstruction of the theatre in the name of modernity.