The Castle of Racconigi (CN), property of the Savoy-Carignano dynasty, kept the appearance of a medieval fortress through to the 17th century with bare brick, a square plan and four large corner towers, a moat, drawbridge and a keep to one side. In 1832, under Charles Albert, recently crowned King of Sardinia, it became a royal residence and took on its present appearance.
The fully furnished castle contains a mix of décor ranging from 18th century and neoclassical to early 1900s art deco. Rooms include the salon of Hercules, room of Diana, the Chinese apartment, the dining room, the reception room, the Etruscan Cabinet, Charles Albert’s library, Apollo’s Cabinet and the Royal Chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Snow. On the second floor, the piano nobile, are apartments modernized in the first decades of the 1900s: Queen Elena’s bedroom, King Umberto II’s bathroom and Princess Maria José’s music room.
The castle overlooks an immense French-style park of about 170 hectares bounded by a 6km wall. Its present Romance-influenced appearance was created by the landscape design Xavier Kurten on commission from Charles Albert in 1836. He redesigned the lake, avenues and water courses, added small bridges, hills and planted new rows of trees. Around this time, the Margarìa, a small neogothic farmhouse, was built at the far end of the park.
Film Commission Torino Piemonte
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