A cardinal and a queen walk into a vineyard
Be warned: the climb up to the Villa della Regina in Turin is not just uphill, it is uphill. The steepest of climbs, where cars will drive by and people will walk downhill, indifferent to your struggle. Particularly this last little slope, where I thought I might die before I reached the top (not really) but the red in those trees and the wish to see the view from the tippy top kept me going (and it was absolutely worth it).
Villa della Regina
One of 13 Savoy residences currently in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list, Villa della Regina was built in 1615 after a design by Ascanio Vitozzi. Upon Vitozzi’s death, the project passed on to Carlo and Amedeo di Castellamonte. It was built for the Prince-Cardinal Maurice of Savoy during the reign of his brother, Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, as a private villa with its own vineyard.
The villa’s Entrance Hall was designed around 1733 by Filippo Juvarra (architect of the Chiesa di San Filippo Neri and of the façade of the Parrocchia della Santissima Annunziata).
Its walls are covered by paintings done by Giuseppe Dallamano, Corrado Giaquinto, Giovanni Battista Crosato, and Giuseppe Velariani (though the work of this last artist was sadly lost during WWII).
Victor Amadeus I died in 1637 and his wife, Christine Marie of France (responsible for renovations at Palazzo Madama) became regent for her young son, an arrangement that Maurice opposed and which caused him to flee to Spain. He eventually returned to Turin and passed at the villa in 1657.
The property eventually made it to the hands of Anne Marie d’Orléans, wife of Victor Amadeus II, and much of the present interior décor is her work. Once her husband became king (and she queen), the villa acquired the nickname Villa della Regina (Villa of the Queen). She passed here in 1728.
In 1865, the villa ceased to be a court residence and became the seat of the Istituto Nazionale delle Figlie dei Militari (National Institute of the Daughters of the Italian Military). During this time period, its rooms were used as classrooms, reception rooms, and bedrooms for the students and staff. WWII bombing further deteriorated the structure, but a project to renovate the villa began in 1994. It finally opened to the public in 2008.
As stunning as the interior of the villa is, my favorite part were the gardens. Those deep reds and browns were just so spectacular, especially on this gloomiest of gloomy days.
The fact that I was practically alone (you’ll see only a lonesome couple caught in some of these photos, and always from afar), gave it a hint also of solitude (and spookiness!) that, let’s be honest, absolutely sealed the deal for me.
Gold Colored Fox 