Castle of Racconigi

Racconigi Castle (Italian: Castello Reale di Racconigi) is a palace and landscape park in Racconigi, province of Cuneo, Italy. It was the official residence of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy, and is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy included by UNESCO in the World Heritage Sites list.

The first records of the castle are from around the year 1000, when Bernardino of Susa rebuilt an ancient manor, leaving it to Cistercian monks.

The castle was a possession of the margraves of Saluzzo and others starting in the 13th century, and in the 16th century was acquired by the House of Savoy. In 1630, Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy granted it to his nephew Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano, founder of the Savoy-Carignano line. At this time, the castle was a high brick moated fortress with a square plan, four corner towers and a tall donjon (mastio) on one side.

Emmanuel Philibert, Prince of Carignano, Tommaso's son, in the late 17th century, commissioned Guarino Guarini to transform the fortress into a pleasure residence. The architect erected the current central section where the court was, adding a pagoda-like roof. The two northern towers were replaced by pavilions with dome roofs and square plans, provided with white marble lanterns. The gardens were also created.

In the late 18th century, Louis Victor, Prince of Carignano ordered a renovation of the interiors, enlarging the two southern towers, adding stucco and other neoclassical decoration; he also commissioned a new entrance, with 4 Corinthian columns and a triangular fronton, and the great staircase.

Charles Albert, a Carignano who eventually became King of Sardinia, further enlarged and embellished the castle to represent the splendour of the newly acquired reign. His court architect Ernesto Melano expanded the ancient square structure around the central section and added two side buildings connected to the façade pavilions, as well as another staircase on the southern side.

Here the last King of Italy, Umberto II, was born in 1904. Having received the castle as a wedding present in 1930, he proceeded to install in it the family gallery of some 3,000 paintings and historical documents regarding the Shroud of Turin.

Emmanuel Philibert created a wide park in the jardin à la française style that opens for the castle's northwards view.

Text adapted from “Racconigi Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Castle of Racconigi ranks #905 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #66 of the 452 mapped in Italy. Founded c. 1250, it is older than 69% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 825 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 5,909 times in the last 60 days, more than 87% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 45,000 visitors in 2022. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Turin, 34 km away. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.

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