The great architectural complex of Castello del Valentino, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in 1997 and today the Faculty of Architecture for Turin Polytechnic, was built in the second half of the 16th century (1577, 1590-1591), after Emanuel Philibert of Savoy followed Andrea Palladio’s advice in 1564 and bought the land with the small villa on it. The name attributed to Park and Castle, Valentinium, has been documented since 1275 and refers to the remains of St. Valentine, once conserved in a small church that no longer exists, and transferred to the nearby Church of St. Vito in the 18th century. Christine of France (1606-1663), daughter of Henri IV of France and Maria de’ Medici, and wife of Vittorio Amedeo I of Savoy, was the driving force behind the reconstruction work that gave the castle its present look. The work took almost thirty years (1630-1660 approx.) and was directed by the architects Carlo and Amedeo di Castellamonte who designed the pavilions, the porticoed and terraced galleries and the hemicycle in the courtyard (demolished between 1862 and 1864 and replaced by an entrance hall). In so doing, they produced a maison de la plaisance with an obvious French influence for the Duchess, set in natural surroundings and overlooking the River Po. The area was to be connected to the city and the surrounding area by a triple approach of roads, however this plan was never completed and was later cancelled during the urban expansion of the 1800s. Today only Corso Marconi, linking the castle with the Cappella Regia di San Salvario, remains. Through the 1800s and 1900s, the residence was a barracks, a display space for exhibitions of art, artisan products and industry, and the headquarters of the Regia Scuola di Applicazione per gli Ingegneri di Torino (1861), which later became the Regio Politecnico (1906).
Film Commission Torino Piemonte
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