Palazzo Carignano

The house of princes
A stone's throw from the central Piazza Castello, Carignano Palace is one of Europe's most important Baroque residences, a veritable treasure chest of artistic treasures, a memory of the Savoy dynasty and the Italian Risorgimento.

The construction
The history of Carignano Palace began in 1679 when, following the death of Duke Charles Emmanuel II, in the uncertainty over his succession, his cousin Emmanuel Philibert Savoy-Carignano decided to construct a building to represent the grandeur of his lineage, as if to put forward an alternative to the magnificence of the Royal Palace. The architect Guarino Guarini was therefore called in, and he designed a project that would forever shape the image of the Piedmontese Baroque style. The Palace had originally a C-shaped plan open towards the gardens and the stables -at what is now Piazza Carlo Alberto- and its core is the monumental oval atrium, from which the ceremonial path is articulated in the two lateral wings. Two impressive symmetrical staircases lead around the atrium to an elliptical hall that was once covered with a spectacular double vault. The curvilinear design of the interior architecture is reflected in the undulating development of the façade, echoing Gian Lorenzo Bernini's design for the Louvre in Paris. From the last decade of the 17th century, the apartments became an international inspiration for interior decoration. The Milanese Stefano Maria Legnani was entrusted with the painting of the vaults, which were frescoed with mythology-inspired pictures celebrating the prince; Pietro Antonio Garoe and Pietro Somasso provided the stucco decorations, anticipating the shapes of the French Rococo; Giovanni Luigi Bosso covered the rooms of the southern wing with carvings and mirrors, which were then called 'gilded rooms'.

From dwelling to Parliament
As two commemorative plaques recall, Charles Albert and his son Victor Emmanuel II were born in Palazzo Carignano. With the first one's accession to the throne (1831) and his subsequent move to the Royal Palace, a new chapter in the palace's history opened. Ceded to the State and emptied of its furnishings, which were transferred to the Royal Palace and to the Racconigi and Pollenzo Castle, in 1848 it became the seat of the Subalpine Parliament located in the old elliptical hall. When, after the Unification of Italy, that seat became too small, it was decided to enlarge the building to its present quadrangular shape, with a new façade facing Piazza Carlo Alberto. While waiting for the work to be completed, a temporary parliamentary chamber was built in the central courtyard: there, on March 17, 1861, Victor Emmanuel II promulgated the act that proclaimed the birth of the Kingdom of Italy. In 1865, the capital was relocated to Florence and the parliamentary chamber envisaged in the 19th century addition was never used. Since then, the palace became the seat of various cultural institutions; while the ground floor houses the elegant Apartments of the Princes of Carignano, since 1938 the rooms on the piano nobile have housed the National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento.