The Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi is the hunting residence built for the House of Savoy to a design by Filippo Juvarra, in Stupinigi, a village of Nichelino on the border with Turin, about ten kilometres from the city centre. It is one of the Savoy residences declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, and houses the Museum of Art and Furnishing.
What to see
The lands around the small medieval castle, still visible to the east of the palazzina, were already among the court's favourite hunting grounds in the time of Emmanuel Philibert, and were entrusted to the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus. In April 1729 Victor Amadeus II commissioned Juvarra to design the new hunting lodge: the first hunt was held on the feast of Saint Hubert in 1731, and in the following years Giovanni Tommaso Prunotto, Benedetto Alfieri and other architects enlarged it; in 1740 the two wings with stables and coach houses along the entrance avenue were added. Here in 1773 Maria Theresa of Savoy married the Count of Artois, the future Charles X of France; in May 1805 Napoleon stayed here before his coronation as King of Italy, and on 12 April 1842 Victor Emmanuel II married Maria Adelaide of Austria here.
The plan is shaped like a St Andrew's cross: four wings radiate from a large double-height oval hall, covered by a dome topped by the bronze stag, symbol of the hunt; the original by Francesco Ladatte, of 1766, has been in the Portrait Gallery since 1992, and a copy stands on top. The vault of the hall bears the fresco of the Triumph of Diana by the brothers Giuseppe and Domenico Valeriani. In all there are 137 rooms and 17 galleries, with furniture by Turin's three most famous royal cabinetmakers, Pietro Piffetti, Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo and Luigi Prinotto, and frescoes by Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli, Giovanni Battista Crosato and Carle Van Loo. In the apartment of the Duke of Chablais are the gaming room, decorated in 1765 with oriental motifs, and the cabinet of Pauline Bonaparte, with a marble bathtub adorned with the Napoleonic eagle.
Visiting
The palazzina is in Stupinigi, at the end of the long tree-lined avenue that comes from Turin; the restoration, begun in 1988, was directed by Roberto Gabetti, Maurizio Momo and the Isolarchitetti practice. Opening times, tickets and current exhibitions should be checked on the official website.
Our editors' tip
In the nineteenth century Fritz, an Indian elephant given to King Charles Felix, lived here for some years: when he went mad he began to destroy everything around him, and the marks can still be seen on some wooden parts; the animal, stuffed, is now in the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences in Turin.
