Stupinigi

Stupinigi, the palazzina di cacchia ("hunting lodge") 10 km southwest of the heart of Turin, was built by Filippo Juvarra beginning in 1729 for Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia. Within two years construction was far enough advanced for the first formal hunt. Juvarra assembled a team of decorators, many of them from Venice, to carry out the decor of his interiors. In the reigns of Carlo Emanuele III and Vittorio Amedeo III the palazzina and its formal park continued to be extended and enriched, at first by Juvarra's assistant, Giovanni Tommaso Prunotto, then with contributions by numerous North Italian architects: Ignazio Birago di Borgaro, Ludovico Bo, Ignazio Bertola and Benedetto Alfieri, eventually reaching a total of 137 rooms and 17 galleries, covering 31,050 square meters http://www.gruppocinofilotorinese.it/Stupinigi.htm. The original purpose is symbolized by the bronze stag perched at the apex of the stepped roof of its central saucer dome, and the hounds' heads that decorate the vases on the roofline. In a saltire plan, four angled wings project from the central oval structure that expresses the vast oval central salone.

Related Topics:
Turin - Filippo Juvarra - 1729 - Vittorio Amedeo II - Venice - Carlo Emanuele III - Vittorio Amedeo III - Dome

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The extensions to Stupinigi resulted in separate pavilions linked by long angled galleries and a long octagonal forecourt enclosed by wings, extended forwards in two further entrance courts, without ever marring the structure's rigorous symmetry.

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Stupinigi was the favored site for celebrations and the dynastic weddings of the house of Savoy. There in 1773 Maria Teresa, Princess of Savoia, married Philippe, comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVI and the future Charles X of France.

Related Topics:
House of Savoy - Charles X of France

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Today Stupinigi houses the Museo di Arte e Ammobiliamento, a museum of the arts and furnishings, some original to the palazzina, others brought from the former Savoia residences of Moncalieri and Venaria Reale, so that Stupinigi has the premier collection of Piedmontese furniture, including works by Turin's three most famous Royal cabinet-makers, Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, Pietro Piffetti and Luigi Prinotti. There are temporary exhibitions in its galleries, one of the most famous having been the Mostra del Barocco of 1963.

Related Topics:
Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo - Pietro Piffetti - Luigi Prinotti

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The hunting park that belonged to a branch of the Savoia was given to Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy in 1563, when he moved the capital of the dukedom from Chambéry to Turin. Since 1992, 1611,26 hectares of woods and agricultural land surrounding Stupinigi have been preserved as the Parco naturale di Stupinigi sheltering a fragment of the region's original lowland forest, including some relict plant species no longer widely found.

Related Topics:
Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy - Chambéry

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