1600

The custom of offering the faithful an opportunity to view the relic in Piazza del Castello, the only space that could host such a great number of people, is documented in numerous engravings and paintings, like the very detailed one by Peter Bolckmann (in 1686). The bride, with Madama Reale Marie Jeanne Baptiste and Princess Ludovica, observe the crowded plaza, with people even on balconies and rooftops. There is also Vittorio Amedeo II with prelates and court officials. (Image: Peter Bolckmann, Castello di Racconigi)

At times the Castle plaza was used as a backdrop, for the setting of another location yet clearly recognizable on the part of spectators as the city center: an example of this is a page from the illuminated codex of "Lisimaco," where the piazza of the royal residence of Alessandro resembles the plaza of Turin, accurately recreated with the new Palazzo Ducale in the background and the castle to the right. The "drama set to music" inaugurates the opening of a resident theatre in Palazzo di San Giovanni, the first royal theatre built on the design by Amedeo di Castellamonte. (Image: Giovanni Tommaso Borgonio, Biblioteca Nazionale, Turin)

This engraving by Giovanni Abbiati based on a drawing by Gian Francesco Baroncelli calls to mind the city celebrations for the anniversary of Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours on April 11. The view of the square depicts its 17^th-century state, whose layout was designed by Ascanio Vitozzi in 1612 and is characterized by a uniform succession of buildings with only two floors above the portico. There is also the castle with its façade built by the architects of Castellamonte in two phases, marked by the colossal half pilasters, in some way also decisive for the successive intervention of Filippo Juvarra. (Image: Archivio storico, Turin)

This engraving by Georges Tesnière, Giovanni Antonio Recchi, and Carlo Giuseppe Cortella is part of a series of panels that narrate the funeral ceremony that Marie Jeanne Baptiste wanted for her husband Carlo Emanuele II, who died from malaria on June 12, 1675. The board with the procession displays the architectural heart of the Savoy capital, the castle plaza, and is of great interest in so far as it depicts its appearance before the intervention of Juvarra. (Immagine: Archivio storico, Turin)

The second Madama Reale, Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, is credited with an impressive refurbishment of the interiors that, interrupted due to the war that culminated with the siege of Turin in 1706, ended with the construction of the spectacular façade with the staircase, the work of Filippo Juvarra, between 1718 and 1721. The elegant style of the forms conceived by the architect from Messina egregiously satisfies the new functional needs of the ceremonies.

A nameless portraitist from Piedmont immortalizes the duke and duchess, probably for their marriage that took place on May 10, 1665. In the background is a porticoed plaza, which could be identified with Piazza Castello. In this case, the couple is painted inside Palazzo Madama, of which only a strip of flooring can be glimpsed along with a velvet arabesque curtain. (Image: anonymous Piedmont portraitist, private collection)

Various events enlivened this Savoy wedding: the most important ones took place in the square and develop a theme according to the indications of Filippo d'Agliè. There are no visual testimonies of the scenery designed by Castellamonte and painted by the most important artists active at the court. However, there is the castle depicted in the codex of Borgonio, made for the dance dedicated to the “foreign Margherita” and performed in the old Palazzo di San Giovanni. (Image: Giovanni Tommaso Borgonio, Biblioteca Nazionale, Turin)

The heart of political power, the castle piazza provided a vast space for public and propagandistic celebrations. For this wedding, numerous performances were organized, described in documents for their extraordinary magnificence. Engravings and paintings bear witness to a carousel, for which the plaza, with the machine of the "Reggia d'Amore" at the center, is transformed into a theatrical backdrop thanks to the interventions of the architects Lanfranchi, Castellamonte, and Morello. The court observes the stage from the balcony of the castle. (Image: painter active at the Savoy court, private collection)

This small and precious space, located inside the northwest Roman tower, is a central place for the apartment installed in the mid-17^th century for the first Madama Reale of Savoy, Marie Christine of France. Today the walls display a considerable selection of portraits of the Savoy family and the most notable figures at court, which narrate the fashions and faces of the past.

The entire city celebrated on April 8 the end of the battle for succession to Vittorio Amedeo I between the pro-French alliance of Christine of France and the pro-Spanish alliance of her two brothers-in-law, Tommaso di Savoia Carignano and Maurizio. In the report by abbot Valeriano Castiglione there is mention of the procession into the city, the tribute of vassalage to Madama Reale, and the evening with its fireworks, prepared by Captain Bernardino Boetto and fired into Piazza del Castello by a pyramid-shaped machine topped with a bull. (Image: Biblioteca Reale, Turin)

The life of the ancient medieval courtyard ended when it was transformed into an inner chamber at the palace by Christine of France. In order to give greater uniformity to the hall, which was slightly trapezoidal in shape, and perhaps even for reasons of stability, the inner facades of the castle were lined by thick walls, consolidated by half-pillars and counter-half-pillars upon which rest the cross vaults supported by four large central pillars in Chianocco stone. In the 1700s, the spacious room created on the first floor would be called the Salone degli Svizzeri and in the 1800s it would be known as the Salone del Senato. Two oval windows in the east wall were created at this time.

In 1638, Christine, the daughter of Henri IV of France, who became ruler following the death of her husband Vittorio Amedeo I of Savoy, chose the old Acaia castle as her permanent residence. A key element in the work campaign that she promoted is covering the ancient medieval courtyard, designed by the architect Carlo di Castellamonte. Subsequently, the duchess also ordered the reinstallation and decoration of the rooms in her apartment, which overlooked Piazza Castello. The large balcony of the façade thus became the ideal place to assist in celebrations and public ceremonies promoted by the court. (Image: Museo Civico di Palazzo Traversa, Bra)

The painter from Lugo Isidoro Bianchi illustrates, over one century after the event, the meeting between Duke Carlo Emanuele I and the King of France on the plaza in front of the castle of Porta Fibellona. The fresco in the grand hall of the castle of Valentino is of great interest because it depicts the castle as it appeared to visitors in around 1620–1630. There is a façade that predates the first substantial refurbishment, as would be the case during Madama Christine, and its appearance evokes the gothic forms of the Acaia princes that is faithful to the original. (Image: Isidoro Bianchi, Castello del Valentino, Turin)

This garment, also called a farsetto, was essential to men’s clothing in the 16^th century and for most of the 17^th century. The decorations with knots and roses of the Savoy family bear witness to the provenance of this piece from the royal family. Purchased by the Museum in 1892, it is in embroidered satin and linen canvas. The strict guidelines issued by Emmanuele Filiberto in 1595 to limit excessive pageantry in dressing prohibited the use of different precious textiles or fabrics with decorations on the same outfit, with the exception of undercoats. With the arrival of Madama Christine, the French authorities as regards fashion became exclusive, commissioning the Savoy textiles in Paris.

The grand hall of the castle seems very detailed in the lost drawing of Giovenale Boetto that illustrates the fireworks machine used on February 10 for the birthday celebrations of Christine of France. In the background there are seven provinces, lined up under the boxed ceiling corresponding to the description that even the man of letters Pompeo Brambilla attributed to the room. The account of the celebration narrates that "Madama Reale was invited by the Felicità to go onboard this boat which symbolized Fortune, where she was offered a lavish banquet." (Image: BibliotecaReale, Turin)

The arrival of Madama Reale took place in great splendor, with spectacular performances, like the joust documented in the painting by Antonio Tempesta, in front of the ancient castle in Turin. There would be many opportunities worthy of being celebrated, exalting the physical and moral qualities of the duchess with dances and carousels, oftentimes invented by the elegant Marquis Filippo d'Agliè, full of talent in both the literary and musical field. (Image: Antonio Tempesta, Galleria Sabauda, Turin)

The custom of displaying this relic, as a sign of the court’s majesty, is documented by this engraving, traditionally referred to the visit of the Savoy bishop Francis de Sales. The pavilion for the display, topped by an austere canopy, is placed in front of the castle: the building presents the first 17^th-century façade, well known through the painting by this same artist in 1620 for the wedding of Vittorio Amedeo I and Christine of France and the frescoes of Isidoro Bianchi in 1633 for the Valentino hall.

In order to stage this aquatic performance, described by the French historian Claude-François Ménestrier in his Traité des Tournois, the grand hall of the Castle is filled with water thanks to a sophisticated system of canals and thus becomes the stage for this type of performance. The nautical celebrations, where sea monsters and naval battles are the protagonists, are installed along rivers and natural lakes, but it is not unusual that some rooms are specifically flooded inside these princely palaces. (Image: Biblioteca Reale, Turin)

In the first decade of the 1600s, the tower was demolished and a concentric quadrangular structure was built along the perimeter of the courtyard. Open on the east and west sides, there seems to be an arcade, a covered walkway around the courtyard, which appears downsized in its outdoor space. Only the foundations and some other traces remain, which do not bear signs of a possible roof, neither wooden nor vaulted.

For the event, the castle is renovated and richly decorated. A report by Pompeo Brambilla, a scholar of heraldry, on the celebrations carefully describes the ceiling of the Moncalvo with an allegory of Italy and the paintings with the duchy provinces along the walls. Many works were also made in 1610 for the sojourn of Margherita and Francesco Gonzaga passing through Turin on their way to the Gonzaga territories of Casale Monferrato. (Image: painter active at the Savoy court, whereabouts unknown)

The passageway built to connect the castle with the new seat of the duchy is the preferred place to host the paintings of the Savoy dynasty. Its interior decorations are entrusted to the artist from the Marches, Federico Zuccari—who came to Turin as a portraitist of the Savoy princesses for the Duke of Mantua—and to a large group of collaborators. During the restoration, minimal traces emerged of the decorations in the Room of Flowers. Today, the café occupies the space where the ancient wing of the building was once located.