[Hidden Italy] A Castle Inhabited by the Same Family for 900 Years

One of my favorite hobbies is visiting the precious historic buildings that make Italy so unique and special.

I love history and art, so every visit to one of these places is a chance to learn more about Italy’s past and life in the country. This is why I am a proud member of FAI, the Fondo Ambiente Italiano, a non-profit organization whose role is to protect and enhance Italy’s historical and artistic heritage.

The Fondo Ambiente Italiano owns 72 properties around Italy, including castles, villas, gardens, and unique shops. Once a year, members get a free visit to one of those places, and this year I picked a place I’d been meaning to visit for a long time: The Masino Castle, a historic castle one hour north of Turin.

The Castle, renowned among other things for hosting a prestigious horticultural event twice a year, is considered one of the most beautiful properties owned by the FAI. I haven’t seen all FAI properties yet, but I must say I was truly amazed by the splendour of Masino Castle. It is totally worth a visit if you are in the area!

Masino Castle is located in Caravino, a tiny village outside Ivrea, a beautiful town famous for its crazy carnival and for being the home of Olivetti, the first Italian company to produce typewriters in the 1910s, and computers later on (we also visited Ivrea, but it deserves its own post). The castle sits up on a hill overlooking Caravino and the Canavese valley around, in a strategic position to control the whole area.

In fact, the Castle, first mentioned in an official document in 1070, was originally built as a fortress. What makes it unique is the fact that it was owned by the same family for 900 years. It has never been conquered nor destroyed, which means that it still contains all the original furniture, the decorations, the tableware, the books, and the documents; everything is untouched and still like it was centuries ago.

The owners of the Castle were the Earls of Valperga, who held that they were descendants of Arduino of Ivrea, the first King of Italy, whose relics are in the chapel of the Castle (the relics were probably stolen and brought to the Castle as further proof to certify the royal standing of the family). The Valpergas had strong ties with the Savoias and played a key role in the political life of Piedmont for centuries.

The Castle was transformed into a grandiose aristocratic villa in the late 1600s, when the interiors were decorated with breathtaking frescoes and luxurious furniture. If you enter the Castle, you can admire the Ballroom and its cupola, the Ambassador’s Room, and the incredible Savoia Room, whose frescoes were brought back to life only in 2019. The original frescoes had been covered in white paint, which restorers patiently removed with a scalpel to discover 147 coats of arms, 22 views of towns that were part of the Savoia domain, and a 3-meter-high family tree above the fireplace.

One of the Valpergas, Tommaso, was a renowned scholar who had ties with all the most important European intellectuals of the time. His love for culture and learning left a heritage of 25,000 books and a precious library that contains priceless gems like one of the first copies of the Encyclopédie by Diderot and D’Alembert, one of the most important documents to represent the philosophy of the Enlightenment. Also, the Earls of Valperga were avid diary writers, and this left us with extremely detailed accounts of centuries and centuries of public and private life.

The inside of the Castle is magnificent, as you may imagine, yet the exterior is equally breathtaking. The Castle is surrounded by a huge park, which includes both formal Italian Renaissance gardens and an English-style one, comprising the famed Giardino delle Nuvole (the Cloud garden), which derives its name from beautiful cascades of white flowers. There is also a Neo-Gothic temple and the second-largest maze in Italy, made of 1,400 hornbeams. I have seen more magnificent gardens, but this is one of the ones that moved me the most, probably due to its position overlooking Ivrea’s Morenaic Amphitheater with a 360° view of the Alps. I bet it must be wonderful at sunset!

The FAI acquired the property in 1987 and is taking care of it beautifully. If you visit this historic castle in Piedmont, I’d recommend doing it with a guided tour because it is the best way to really enjoy the place and learn more about its history and the stories behind its walls.

What is your favorite Italian castle, if you have visited some?