The castle of Pianezza is gone: Villa Lascaris was built on its ruins, and only a few fragments survive in the garden. The first document naming it is from 1159, issued by Frederick Barbarossa; the castle stood on the route of the Via Francigena, and under the Simiana it became a noble residence.
What to see
In the garden the ice house survives, already there in 1785: seven metres deep, three metres wide at the top and one at the bottom, twenty-four cubic metres in volume, closed by a buried dome and once sheltered by a canopy that gave shade. Inside, ice was squared and stored, and snow too: it served to keep food, to treat fever and to make ice cream and cool drinks.
Visiting
You arrive at Villa Lascaris, which today hosts events: of the castle you look at what is left, and at the villa itself, raised from 1811 after the structure was dismantled in 1808 and the land sold to the marquis Lascaris.
Our editors' tip
The story to know is that of 5 September 1706. During the siege of Turin some French soldiers took refuge here, and the Brandenburg Grenadiers surrounded the castle. At night it was Maria Bricca who led them through the underground passages up to the ballroom, where the French officers were at a party: the castle was freed. Two days later the siege of Turin was broken. The episode belongs to popular tradition, but it is borne out by French sources of the time.