Tom`s travels: Stupinigi & Moncalieri (03/11/2019)

The day after my birthday, which we had spent over at my relatives' house in Alessandria, we decided to visit one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, a Unesco world heritage site, comprising palaces and villas once owned by the royal house in the Piedmont region. Our choice fell on the Palazzina di Caccia of Stupinigi, located about one hour west of Alessandria, and just south of Turin. Built as a royal hunting lodge between 1729 and 1733 for Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy by the famous architect Filippo Juvarra it is now possible to visit the interior and the surrounding park. Being it November, the weather was obviously quite bad: rainy, foggy, and cold. We parked the car right outside the palace and walked over to the ticket office. Immediately, the size and grandeur of the residence caught our eye, with its complex structure made up of a central larger building and four arms extending as the ends of a cross. At the top of the main structure stands a copy of a bronze statue of a deer created in 1766 to symbolize the palace's purpose, the original statue is now inside the first room right after the ticket entrance. We started through what were once the stables now being the Portrait Gallery where wooden panels showing the dukes and then kings of Savoy are represented. We then passed the library with wooden panels and decorations dating to the 18th century and from there a series of rooms in succession constituted the Apartment of the Duke of Chiablese. Particularly nice was the Gambling Hall with its exotic decoration and chinoiserie. Then came the main rooms, the ones of the apartment of the King, with the most impressive being the central hall. This is the largest of the whole complex and the one standing at its core, it is here the focus around which the entire building complex was developed. The whole room is vaulted and has frescoes by the Bolognese brothers Giuseppe and Domenico Valerian depicting the Triumph of Diana, an obvious correlation with hunting. After those rooms, came moor, subdivided into those of the Queen, and further those of the Duke of Savoy and those of the Prince of Carignano. All had nice decorations, rich and lavish furnishings, and many with oriental or exotic features, a typical showoff from that period. After visiting the palace, as we still had some time, we decided to visit the town of Moncalieri just a few minutes drive from there. After arriving we parked the car and continued on foot, walking through the Porta Navina, a city gate dating to the 19th century, to enter the city center. We then walked uphill along the central Via S Martino until we reached the main square, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, where a small market was set up. We continued upwards until we reached the Moncalieri Castle, another of the residences of the royal house of Savoy. It took its current form during the refurbishments of the 17th and 18th centuries resulting in a nice brick structured building more like a leisure palace than a castle. The castle is now used by the Carabinieri and can only be visited through guided tours at specific hours, so we decided to skip it and head somewhere to have lunch. We opted for a place called Al Borgo Antico which served typical Piedmontese food. After lunch, we then headed back through the city center and were surprised to see the sun had come out. We went back to the main square and visited the church of Santa Maria Della Scala, dating to the 14th century with a Gothic facade and interior with additional Baroque altars and decorations. We then strolled around, browsing through the market, until we decided it was time to head back to the car and to Alessandria.