Castello della Mandria

The Horse breeding
Since the mid-17th century, the Mandria has encompassed an area of 3000 hectares laid out in an amphitheatre-shaped valley, marked by hunting routes, clearings, groves, waters and a lake, shaped by its past use as a place for royal hunting.
The Borgocastello was built for the housing and breeding of thoroughbred mares destined to the Court. Construction of the Castle began in 1709, under the guidance of Michelangelo Garove, who was working on the Reggia in the same years. 1726 marked the beginning of Filippo Juvarra's involvement, which progressively led to the definition of the Castle's spaces as stables for breeding mares.

The beloved private residence of the King and Bela Rosin
In the 1850s, the castle was chosen by King Victor Emmanuel II to live his dream of love with Rosa Vercellana (known as the Bela Rosin), who was named Countess of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda. In 1853, the King decided to transform the ancient stables, designed in the early 18^th century by Michelangelo Garove for breeding thoroughbred horses, into a residence that soon became his favourite. To this end, in 1863, the large estate was purchased directly by the sovereign for 200,000 lire. The boundary wall, 3 metres high and approximately 30 kilometres long, delimited the hunting area and protected the sovereign from prying eyes.
The work to adapt the castle, directed by architects Barnaba Panizza and Domenico Ferri, was carried out in a short period of time, between 1860 and 1863.

The Royal Apartment
The new Royal Apartment, designed above the old stables facing the Royal Palace, was developed as an enfilade of twenty rooms, distributed along a long corridor. Ferri ho succeeded Palagi as Royal Decorator, covered every aspect: numerous workers were engaged to supply furniture, paintings, tapestries, fabrics and furnishings. Carlo, Placido and Domenico Mossello, Felice Vigna and Francesco Gonin decorated the ceilings with paintings depicting floral elements, especially roses, and allegorical fables alluding to amorous themes. The furnishings were made by the Fratelli Levera firm in an innovative and modern style that combined luxury and comfort.
The everyday, family-like character of the apartments reveals the private aspects of the couple's life of the sovereign and Bela Rosin, which, far from the duties of court, flowed between cosy lounges and hunting expeditions in the vast park still populated by deer, fallow does, and wild boar.

A cutting-edge farm
On the death of Victor Emmanuel II, first the castle and then the estate became the property of the Marquises Medici del Vascello (1882-1887), who slowly transformed the hunting reserve into a farm dedicated to agriculture and farming. Restoration of the complex began after 1976, when part of the estate was purchased by the Region of Piedmont, which established the protected area of the Park of La Mandria, with the aim of protecting and enhancing this huge natural and cultural heritage, which can now be enjoyed with hiking trails among hundred-year-old trees and small architectural gems.
In the Royal Apartments, a precious and accomplished mid-19^th-century decorative project, following a European-style bourgeois model, one can still breathe in the intimate and cosy atmosphere sought by Victor Emmanuel II, thanks to the recent rearrangement carried out on the basis of an inventory from 1879.
The Royal Apartments were recently transferred to the management of the Consortium of Royal Residences of the House of Savoy.