Tom`s travels: February 2020

After leaving for Rome in the direction of Alessandria, I reached the station with a 6-hour train ride and after met up with my brother to do a small afternoon trip. We opted for the Castello di Govone, located just south of the city of Asti. After reaching the small town of Govone, located on top of a hill, we parked the car and then headed up to reach the castle. More of a palace than a castle, it is part of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy and inscribed in the Unesco list. A medieval fortress used to sit on the site and was transformed during the 17th and 18th centuries into its current state. After first serving as a residence for the Solaro family it then passed under the house of Savoy and remained one of their summer residences until 1870 when they sold it to the town. Dominating the top of the town, we had a wonderful view of the surrounding landscape with fields starting to show the spring vegetation. We then decided to enter the palace itself, through the lavish southern prospect with the main door standing at the top of a nice staircase decorated with telamon statues. Through the main door, we entered the main and largest room, which once served as a ballroom. Then we continued on through some smaller rooms, once having diverse uses, such as bedrooms, study-rooms, audience rooms, etc. Some were well kept while others were quite run-down. Particularly noteworthy and extremely well kept were the last few rooms which were all decorated with wallpaper representing Chinese landscapes and figures. After visiting the building, we then headed out back through the ballroom and the main door and reached the small terraced garden in front of the palace. From there we admired the view and then walked a bit downwards through the old town of Govone. Consisting mainly of 18th and 19th-century architecture it felt like the typical Piedmontese hilltop town. Once we had walked around for a bit we then decided to head back to the car and drive back to Alessandria in time for dinner.