Palazzo Valperga di Masino is the seigneurial palace of Caluso and today houses two things at once: the town hall and the regional wine cellar of the province of Turin. The Valperga arrived in 1376, when the fief passed to the Valperga di Rivara, who from then on took the name Valperga di Caluso; feudatories on behalf of the Savoys after the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis of 1559 handed Caluso and Piedmont to the duchy, it was they who enlarged the park of the palace.
What to see
The building presents itself as a compact two-storey block, plastered yellow, with two corner turrets opened by loggias that rise above the roofline and give the palace the profile you recognise from a distance. It is best seen from below, from the railing that closes the park: the embankment lifts the building above the road and the greenery climbs almost to the first floor. The park is the part that deserves more time. Enlarged by the Valperga, it has become over time a vast and important botanical garden, rich in unusual tree species, and it holds a number of monumental trees.
Visiting
That the town hall and the wine cellar share the same palace is no accident: at Caluso wine is not a side dish. The town's position, on the outer southern slope of the moraine that closes the amphitheatre of Ivrea, and the local climate suit the vine, and this is where Erbaluce di Caluso and Caluso Passito are made. The town is also home to the state professional institute for agriculture and the environment named after Carlo Ubertini. The regional cellar gathers the wines of the whole province of Turin, and the palace of the old feudal lords has ended up as the place where you taste them.
Our editors' tip
Come in through the park rather than the town hall door. The monumental trees are the reason to stop: they are the living residue of a lordly decision, that of turning the garden of the house into a botanical collection, and they have survived the palace's passage from private residence to public office. Then climb to the Castellazzo, on the hill above the town: it is the fief the Valperga held for a century and a half, and from the ruined wall you can see the roof of the palace the same family moved into once the fortress had lost its purpose.