Description
The Royal Gardens are the great garden behind the Royal Palace, in the old town of Turin, between Piazza Castello and Corso San Maurizio. You enter from Piazza Castello, passing through the palace. They are a green break of avenues, statues and fountains, also lying behind the Palazzo del Governo and the Royal Armory.
The part near the palace is fenced off, the lower part is public. They suit anyone visiting the Royal Palace who wants to see its natural extension, but also anyone looking for a corner of quiet two steps from Piazza Castello.
The look of the gardens owes much to André Le Nôtre, already at work at Versailles for the Sun King. His plans were carried out by a certain De Marne, in the late 1600s, with water features and flowering vistas.
In the middle of the fenced part is the Fountain of the Tritons, or of the Nereids: a white marble basin with a Nereid, a sea nymph, surrounded by Tritons, the sons of Poseidon, and by twelve small statues of half-human, half-aquatic creatures. It is the work of the court sculptor Simone Martinez, from 1765-1768.
In the park you come across the 18th-century statues of the Four Seasons and large celebratory vases that came from the Reggia di Venaria Reale. Later, at the wish of Victor Emmanuel II, marbles of Amadeus VI of Savoy, Victor Amadeus I and Victor Amadeus II were added.
In the lower, public part stands the monument to the Carabiniere, from 1933, declared a national monument, where the avenues Primo Maggio and dei Partigiani meet.
Their story begins in 1563, when Emmanuel Philibert moved the capital to Turin. At the time they lay on the extreme edge of the city and drew inspiration from the great European palaces and the Medici villas, with elegant gardens in the Tuscan idea. The real splendor came in the late 1600s.
Then came the despoiling and plundering of the Napoleonic period. The decay ended in 1805, when the garden was named Imperial Park. When the capital left for Florence, the garden lost its importance. The restoration work on the walls and the fountain was completed in 2021.
The part near the palace is fenced off, the lower part is public. They suit anyone visiting the Royal Palace who wants to see its natural extension, but also anyone looking for a corner of quiet two steps from Piazza Castello.
The look of the gardens owes much to André Le Nôtre, already at work at Versailles for the Sun King. His plans were carried out by a certain De Marne, in the late 1600s, with water features and flowering vistas.
In the middle of the fenced part is the Fountain of the Tritons, or of the Nereids: a white marble basin with a Nereid, a sea nymph, surrounded by Tritons, the sons of Poseidon, and by twelve small statues of half-human, half-aquatic creatures. It is the work of the court sculptor Simone Martinez, from 1765-1768.
In the park you come across the 18th-century statues of the Four Seasons and large celebratory vases that came from the Reggia di Venaria Reale. Later, at the wish of Victor Emmanuel II, marbles of Amadeus VI of Savoy, Victor Amadeus I and Victor Amadeus II were added.
In the lower, public part stands the monument to the Carabiniere, from 1933, declared a national monument, where the avenues Primo Maggio and dei Partigiani meet.
Their story begins in 1563, when Emmanuel Philibert moved the capital to Turin. At the time they lay on the extreme edge of the city and drew inspiration from the great European palaces and the Medici villas, with elegant gardens in the Tuscan idea. The real splendor came in the late 1600s.
Then came the despoiling and plundering of the Napoleonic period. The decay ended in 1805, when the garden was named Imperial Park. When the capital left for Florence, the garden lost its importance. The restoration work on the walls and the fountain was completed in 2021.