Description
The Borgo Medievale is a 15th-century village built in 1884 in the Valentino park, along the Po, with a main street of houses and workshops, a church, a square with a fountain and, at the top, the Rocca, a castle. It isn't old: it's a reconstruction, done so well that it feels real.
It was the pavilion of the 1884 Italian General Exhibition and, unlike the others, it was built to last. It was led by the Portuguese architect Alfredo d'Andrade, with a group of artists and scholars, taking buildings from Piedmont and the Aosta Valley as models.
The main street is full of details: houses, fountains, little squares and about 500 coats of arms of families such as the Savoy, Challant, Monferrato and Saluzzo. The fountain at the entrance follows a model from the Susa Valley. The only truly 15th-century element is the well in the courtyard from Avigliana.
In the workshops, since 1884, the potter, the weaver, the apothecary, the carpenter and the blacksmith have worked. Today the blacksmith's and the printer's are still active.
The Rocca is inspired by Piedmontese and Aostan castles such as Fénis, Verrès, Ivrea and Montalto. Inside, furniture and objects were reproduced to make you believe a family lives there: kitchens, dining room, a bedroom with a canopy bed, baronial hall, oratory, chapel.
The baronial hall is a copy of the Spanish Hall of the Castello della Manta, near Saluzzo. The bedroom is inspired by the French king's room at the castle of Issogne. In the cellars were the prisons.
On April 27, 1884, King Umberto I and Queen Margherita received the keys of the Rocca here: a ceremony identical to that of May 15, 1469, when the dukes Amadeus IX and Yolande of Savoy had received the keys of the castle.
The Borgo stands on an area of 8,500 square meters and is surrounded by walls and fortifications. The first stone was laid on June 6, 1883, and the project had been born a year earlier, when a pavilion inspired by various styles of Italy had been imagined.
It was the pavilion of the 1884 Italian General Exhibition and, unlike the others, it was built to last. It was led by the Portuguese architect Alfredo d'Andrade, with a group of artists and scholars, taking buildings from Piedmont and the Aosta Valley as models.
The main street is full of details: houses, fountains, little squares and about 500 coats of arms of families such as the Savoy, Challant, Monferrato and Saluzzo. The fountain at the entrance follows a model from the Susa Valley. The only truly 15th-century element is the well in the courtyard from Avigliana.
In the workshops, since 1884, the potter, the weaver, the apothecary, the carpenter and the blacksmith have worked. Today the blacksmith's and the printer's are still active.
The Rocca is inspired by Piedmontese and Aostan castles such as Fénis, Verrès, Ivrea and Montalto. Inside, furniture and objects were reproduced to make you believe a family lives there: kitchens, dining room, a bedroom with a canopy bed, baronial hall, oratory, chapel.
The baronial hall is a copy of the Spanish Hall of the Castello della Manta, near Saluzzo. The bedroom is inspired by the French king's room at the castle of Issogne. In the cellars were the prisons.
On April 27, 1884, King Umberto I and Queen Margherita received the keys of the Rocca here: a ceremony identical to that of May 15, 1469, when the dukes Amadeus IX and Yolande of Savoy had received the keys of the castle.
The Borgo stands on an area of 8,500 square meters and is surrounded by walls and fortifications. The first stone was laid on June 6, 1883, and the project had been born a year earlier, when a pavilion inspired by various styles of Italy had been imagined.