Castello di Moncalieri

In the Middle Ange
The Castle of Moncalieri, which rises imposingly on the hill to the south-east of Turin, is one of the oldest and largest Savoy residences constituting the 'Crown of Delights' system. The first nucleus was built in the 13th century with a defensive function; the two round towers now incorporated in the facade facing the city date back to the late 15th century. In the 17th century it was transformed by Christine of France and her son Charles Emmanuel II into a leisure residence for the court. The C-shaped structure with mighty corner towers opens up towards the hilly park behind it, which is about 5 hectares in size.

The cherished hilltop residence
In Moncalieri Castle Victor Amadeus II was arrested in 1732 for attempting to revoke his abdication and return to power, dying there shortly afterwards.
Around 1775 it was Victor Amadeus III who commissioned architect Francesco Martinez (Juvarra's nephew) to enlarge the spaces and create new ones, such as the scenic Royal Chapel.
Between 1788 and 1789, the apartments on the first floor for the princes of Piedmont were refurbished by Leonardo Marini, while Giovanni Battista Piacenza and Carlo Randoni took care of the one on the ground floor for the dukes of Aosta.
The complex events of the 19th and 20th centuries marked the fate of the residence. During the French occupation it became a barracks and military hospital, losing most of its fittings and furnishings. Once the passage of troops had been cancelled, the Castle became inhabited again, beloved by the women of the House of Savoy, in particular Queen Maria Adelaide and Princesses Maria Clotilde and Maria Letizia. The apartment of the first king of Italy Vittorio Emmanuel II and his consort Maria Adelaide, with the spectacular Blue Drawing Room lavishly furnished and decorated in a neo-Baroque style, remains as an example of this late 19th century phase, fitted out by the architect Domenico Ferri in an eclectic style of French taste.

From home to barack
At the end of the First World War, Victor Emmanuel III ceded some of the Crown's castles to the State, among them Moncalieri, within which Princess Maria Letizia was guaranteed to stay until her death on 25 October 1926. Two years later, the Recruit School for Reserve Officers of the Turin Army Corps was inaugurated inside. It became Carabinieri barracks in 1945 and today houses the 1st Carabinieri Regiment 'Piedmont'.
In 2008, a fire, which broke out in the south-eastern tower, destroyed a part of Victor Emmanuel II's apartment, included in the tour, causing serious damage and an irreparable loss to Italy's historical and cultural heritage, such as the room in which the king signed the Proclamation of Moncalieri on 20 November 1849, decisive for the future unity of the nation.
The complex restoration work, completed in 2017, has returned these spaces to the public with an evocative layout that, through a system of panels and veils, shows "in transparency" what they looked like before the damage.