La Mandria Regional Park is a park in the

comuni The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

Venaria Reale Venaria Reale ( pms, La Venerìa) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northwest of Turin. Venaria Reale borders the municipalities of Robassomero, Caselle Torinese, Druent ...

and

Druento Druento is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northwest of Turin. Druento is located in a hilly-plain territory, between the Givoletto mountains and the Turin plain. Attract ...

, near Turin,

northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

. Founded in 1978 by the regional council of

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, it occupies a wide area between the

Stura di Lanzo Stura di Lanzo ( la, Varus) is a long river in north-western Italy (Piedmont), in the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is formed from several tributaries near Lanzo Torinese. It flows into the river Po in Turin. Toponymy The name Stura has C ...

torrent and the north-western part of Turin and Venaria. It is the second largest enclosed park in Europe, with a surface of some 3,000 hectares, bounded by a 30 km long wall built in the mid-19th century by

Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia en, Victor Emmanuel Maria Albert Eugene Ferdinand Thomas , house = Savoy , father = Charles Albert of Sardinia , mother = Maria Theresa of Austria , religion = Roman Catholicism , image_size = 252px , succession1 ...

, who had moved in the castle here (the ''Borgo Castello'') the residence of his morganatic wife,

Rosa Vercellana Rosa Vercellana, 1st Countess of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda (3 June 1833 – 26 December 1885), commonly known as ‘Rosina’ and, in Piedmontese, as La Bela Rosin, was the mistress and later wife of Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy. Despit ...

. The park included one of the last relics of the large forest which once covered the whole

Po Plain The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...

. Fauna includes

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

s and

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

. The park has also breeds of horse races which are considered in risk of extinction. There are many accesses to the park: the gate of the avenue Bella Rosina, Fiano and the gates of Robassomero: Oslera Cascina, Cascina La Falchetta and Royal Park I Roveri, and of course those from Turin.

Borgo Castello

The existence of a building in the wood is documented since the 18th century, when

Victor Amadeus II of Savoy Victor Amadeus II (Vittorio Amedeo Francesco; 14 May 166631 October 1732) was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of Prince of Piedmont, Duke of Montferrat, Marquis of Saluzzo and Count of Aosta, Moriana and Nice. Louis XIV ...

built here the stables of the nearby

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- Massa ...

, within a royal hunting reserve active since the 16th century.

Filippo Juvarra Filippo is an Italian male given name, which is the equivalent of the English name Philip, from the Greek ''Philippos'', meaning "amante dei cavalli".''Behind the Name''"Given Name Philip" Retrieved on 23 January 2016. The female variant is Filip ...

worked at the castle in the 1720s. In 1860 Victor Emmanuel ordered the enlargement of the village (designers included Ernesto Melano), turning it into a castle with a surface of 35,000 m². The new structure had a rectangular shape measuring 280 x 100 m with three internal courtyards. The king wanted here a private residence (not belonging to the royal estates) to live with his morganatic wife, Rosa Vercellana. An apartment was built for her family by

Domenico Ferri Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auria, Italian archit ...

. In 1861 the structure was expanded with the "Villa of the Lakes", a neo-Gothic wing and a fountain of a sea horse fighting a triton by

Vincenzo Vela Vincenzo Vela (May 3, 1820 - October 3, 1891) was a Swiss-Italian sculptor, active mainly in northern Italy. Biography Vela was born in Ligornetto in the canton of Ticino to parents of little means. Having started work as boy as a stonecutter a ...

. All the edifices, similarly to the

Palazzo Carignano Palazzo Carignano is a historical building in the centre of Turin, Italy, which houses the Museum of the Risorgimento. It was a private residence of the Princes of Carignano, after whom it is named. Its rounded façade is different from other f ...

in Turin, are in brickwork. In 1997, the castle was placed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site list along with 13 other

residences of the House of Savoy The Residences of the Royal House of Savoy are a group of buildings in Turin and the Metropolitan City of Turin, in Piedmont (northern Italy). It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1997. History The House of Savoy is an ancient r ...

. In the late 19th century La Mandria and its buildings were sold to the Medici del Vascello family. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a testing track owned by

FIAT Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

, a golf court and a residential center were added. It became a regional estate in 1976.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Official website
{{Coord, 45, 08, 07, N, 7, 37, 31, E, type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Mandria Mandria Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan City of Turin Metropolitan City of Turin Protected areas established in 1978 Venaria Reale