Agliè Ducal Castle (Italy)

The Ducal Castle of Agliè is an elegant and imposing building located in the municipality of Agliè, in the metropolitan city of Turin.
In the sixteenth century, the fort still had a medieval look, with a central Male, a courtyard surrounded by farm buildings and a garden, surrounded by a strong defensive wall and a moat. In 1667 the Count Filippo San Martino, former advisor of Madama Reale Cristina of France, commissioned the architect Amedeo di Castellamonte real transformation of the facade of the garden, the complex of the chapel of San Massimo (Pietro Cremona created the sculptures for the altar and stucco walls) and the two galleries, and the courtyard. At his death the project was interrupted, but the castle had two courts already (one internal, the other facing the village of Agliè) and the east facade, with two towers turned into small pavilions.

In 1764 the accounts San Martino sold the property to the Savoy, who included it in the properties of the Duke of Chiablese Benedetto Maria Maurizio of Savoy, and he entrusted the renovation architect Ignatius Birago Borgaro who intervened on internally realizing large apartments; the outside was built the parish church connected to the castle by a two-story gallery.

In the early years of the nineteenth century, during the occupation of Napoleon, the Aglie castle became a workhouse, and the surrounding park was sold to private and converted to agriculture.

Starting from 1823 the building returned to the possessions of the House of Savoy, during the reign of Carlo Felice, introduced a significant and costly renovation of the interior, also completely renewing the furnishings. The restoration was entrusted to architect Michele Borda of Saluzzo.

In the decade 1830/40's top jobs were executed, among them the largest lake, the lake and the islands that radically changed the appearance of the Italian garden, the outside giving a romantic aspect: all the architect German Xavier Kurten.

The death of Carlo Felice widow, Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Naples, which took place in 1849, marked the transition of the castle to Carlo Alberto of Savoy-Carignan (Carlo Felice and Maria Cristina had no direct heirs), who left it to his younger son Ferdinand of Savoy, Duke of Genoa.

The Ozegna station, activated in 1887 simultaneously with the railway Rivarolo-Castellamonte, had the distinction of being fitted with a cast iron canopy of a waiting room reserved dubbed "real" intended precisely to the Dukes of Genoa where they wanted to go to the castle. The plant remained in operation until 1986.

In 1939, Thomas Duke of Savoy-Genoa sold the castle to the Italian government for 8 million pounds.

In recent years the castle has been used as the setting for the television series José Maria, Elisa Rivombrosa and Beauty and the Beast.