The Ducal Castle of Agliè is an imposing and sumptuous royal residence located in the municipality of Agliè, in the metropolitan city of Turin.
The construction of its central core, of which traces are still identifiable, began in the twelfth century on behalf of the family of the San Martino family, originating in the Canavese area.
Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the complex has over 300 decorated and partly furnished, such as the fabulous central ballroom with 17th-century frescoes and the entrance hall with eighteenth-century stuccos.
Castello Ducale di Agliè History
The Ducal Castle of Aglié is located a few kilometers from Turin, located in the homonymous municipality and part of the Savoy Residences of Piedmont. It is an atructure with a rather particular architectural style as the sum of different styles that have followed one another over the centuries.
The history of Aglié Castle begins in the Middle Ages, to which the first nucleus of the building dates back.
During the seventeenth century, the Castle was owned by Filippo San Martino, adviser to Cristina of France, who commissioned several modifications and additions to the estate from the architect Amedeo di Castellamonte. Among these are the renovation of the facade on the garden, the construction of two galleries and the courtyard of the building.
The Savoys purchased the castle in the second half of the 1700s making it become a royal estate. Under their ownership other additions and modifications were made to the castle, which in recent years saw the construction of the apartments and the church, connected to the palace through a gallery.
During the nineteenth century, after the years of the Napoleonic domination in which the castle became a shelter, the estate returned to the hands of the Savoy. Under the reign of Carlo Felice the castle underwent an important update of the interior furnishings. In the same century, the lake, the large lake and the islands were built which significantly changed the external appearance of the building.
The castle, sold to the Italian State in 1939 by the Duke Tommaso di Savoia-Genova, is now open to the public and can be visited.
The Ducal Castle of Aglié, with its architectural beauties, the original furnishings, the numerous paintings, the frescoes, the archaeological finds and the splendid gardens full of centuries-old trees and greenhouses, testifies to over 7 centuries of the history of Italy and Europe. It is a jewel not to be missed in the surroundings of Turin.
Among the various curiosities, it should be noted that the castle of Aglié, for its romantic charm and its beauty of the past, was chosen as a set for some films and TV series such as Elisa di Rivombrosa