CASTELLO DEL VALENTINO
The castle has a library with a beautiful collection of watercolors dedicated to plants.
What is sometimes called the Turin Versailles has been, since the beginning of the 20th century, the seat of the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic School of Turin. Chosen by Christine of France, daughter of Henry IV and Marie de Medici, in the 1620s as a holiday home, it was the royal residence throughout the 17th century, the centre of the political life of the duchy on the banks of the Po river. Christine of France, at first the wife of Duke Victor-Emmanuel I of Savoy, was then regent of the duchy between 1638 and 1647. She decided on the present structure of the castle, which is horseshoe-shaped with four towers at each corner, and the building was completed in 1660, three years before Christine de France's death. The facade facing the town takes the shape of the French castles of the same period. The red brick facade overlooking the river, on the other hand, is in Baroque style. Abandoned from the 18th century, the castle suffered the ravages of time and abandonment, and its furniture was largely looted by French troops in the 19th century. To its left is a delightful botanical garden, one of the most important centres of botanical studies in the country, created in 1729. A library preserves a fine collection of watercolours devoted to plants. Renovations began in the second half of the 19th century to restore the building to its former splendour. In 1997, UNESCO selected the Castello del Valentino for inclusion on the World Heritage List.
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