Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi | |
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Palazzina di caccia di Stupinigi | |
Façade of the palace
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General information | |
Coordinates | 44°59′42″N 7°36′14″E / 44.99500°N 7.60389°ECoordinates: 44°59′42″N 7°36′14″E / 44.99500°N 7.60389°E |
UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
Criteria | (i)(ii)(iv)(v) |
Reference | 823bis |
The Palazzina di caccia of Stupinigi (Italian: "The hunting residence of Stupinigi") is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in northern Italy, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. Built as a royal hunting lodge in the early 18th century, it is located in Stupinigi, a suburb of the town of Nichelino, 10 km (6 mi) southwest of Turin.
The original castle was owned by the Acaja line of the House of Savoy, Lords of Piedmont until 1418, and was sold to marquis Rolando Pallavicino in 1493. It was then acquired by Emmanuel Philibert in 1563, when the ducal capital was moved from Chambéry to Turin.
The new palace was designed by the architect Filippo Juvarra to be used as a palazzina di caccia ("hunting lodge") for Victor Amadeus II, King of Sardinia. Works started in 1729. Within two years construction was far enough advanced for the first formal hunt to take place.
Juvarra called upon a team of decorators, many of them from Venice, to carry out the decor of the palazzina interiors. In the reigns of Carlo Emanuele III and Victor Amadeus III the palazzina and its formal park continued to be extended, at first by Juvarra's assistant, Giovanni Tommaso Prunotto, then by numerous North Italian architects, such as Ignazio Birago di Borgaro, Ludovico Bo, Ignazio Bertola and Benedetto Alfieri. The final building has a total of 137 rooms and 17 galleries, and covers 31,050 square meters.Polissena of Hesse-Rotenburg, wife of Carlo Emanuele III also carried out improvements.