Montalto Dora Castle (Italy)

The castle of Montalto Dora dates back to the first half of the twelfth century (it is mentioned in a document of about 1140 which mentions it as castrum monsalti) with a tower and a wall that served as a defensive fortress. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the castle was subjected to extensions and alterations aimed at strengthening its defense capabilities which led to the imposing structure which it then maintained over time.

There were many families that held the manor. Entrusted to the jurisdiction of the bishopric of Ivrea which granted the entire valley of Montalto as a fief to the lords of Settimo Vittone in the twelfth century, the castle later passed in the fourteenth century to be part of the possessions of the Savoy who in 1403 gave it fief to the house of the de Jordano di Bard with consignoria of the counts Enrico who continued the construction works.

Over the course of its history, the castle suffered multiple attacks, sometimes devastating. Among them it should be remembered that which occurred during the siege of Ivrea in 1641 by the French troops of the Marquis d'Harcourt, at war against the Duchy of Savoy: on that occasion in fact the interior of the building was dismantled, while they remained in large part of the external structures intact.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the castle passed into property to the Vallesa family who kept it until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the family died out. It then became the patrimony of Count Severino of the Casana barons who began to restore and enhance it. The architects Carlo Nigra and Alfredo D'Andrade, creators of the medieval village of Turin, were interested in the restoration and recovery of the entire architectural complex.