La Venaria Reale
La Venaria Reale
The Palace of Italy
La Venaria Reale
Piazza della Repubblica, Venaria Reale (TO).
www.lavenariareale.it
Venaria Reale
Piazza della Repubblica, Venaria Reale (TO)
OPENING DAYS AND TIMES
From 17 March to 2 June 2011
Open every day.
Monday 9am-4pm.
Tuesday-Friday 9am-6pm
Saturday 9am-9,30pm.
Sunday 9am-8pm.
From 3 June to 18 September 2011
Closed Mondays.
Tuesday-Friday 9am-6pm
Saturday 9am-9,30pm.
Sunday 9am-8pm.
From 19 September to 20 November 2011
Open every day.
Monday 9am-4pm.
Tuesday-Friday 9am-6pm
Saturday 9am-9,30pm.
Sunday 9am-8pm.
One of the two homes for Esperienza Italia is the Venaria Royal Palace, an international masterpiece of baroque architecture built between the 17th and 18th centuries just a few kilometres outside Turin as a hunting lodge and residence of pleasure for the Savoy family, the dynasty that ruled Italy after the Risorgimento.
The Venaria Reale was designed by top baroque architects, including Amedeo di Castellamonte who, in the 17th century, created the splendid Salone di Diana, and Filippo Juvarra, an 18th century genius who designed the exceptional Galleria Grande, the Chapel of Sant’Uberto, the Citroneria (Lemonary) and the Scuderia Grande (Main Stables).
During the two centuries, the Venaria was extended so that it not only included the majestic Reggia and Gardens which are some of the largest and most spectacular in Italy, but also the current Historical Centre and various precious buildings in the nearby Mandria Park which is now a wildlife reserve.
After Napoleonic occupation, the Venaria began an inexorable decline, first being used as a military barracks for the whole of the 19th century and then entirely abandoned in the next. In 1997, the Reggia di Venaria and the residence of La Mandria were given World Heritage Site status: a powerful acknowledgement of the direction which the local and national institutions were taking and which would lead within a few years to the full revival of this monumental complex. Since 1998, the Venaria formed the largest restoration site in Europe, finally opening to the public in 2007, quickly becoming one of the top five cultural heritage spots visited in Italy.
In 2011, the restoration project will achieve full flowering by offering further areas to visit in the 80,000 m2 of the Reggia and the 50 hectares of Gardens. The Venaria Reale becomes the Palace of Italy, wherein to admire the qualities making the Italian identity grand: art, taste, fashion and inventiveness.
In the Reggia there are frequent major exhibitions – the two art exhibitions La bella Italia and Leonardo will be taking place in the Scuderie Juvarriane, high fashion exhibition L’Italia si specchia will be on display in the Sale delle Arti – while in the glorious setting of the Gardens, the new Potager Royal is opening: vegetable plots and gardens in which to discover the art of the landscape and the flavours of Italy.
The Gardens and the new Potager Royal
Gardens, vegetable plots and royal tables
The Gardens of the Reggia, surrounded by the woods of La Mandria Park and the mountain chain of the Alps, are unique in Italy for the magnificence of the views and the broad natural panorama. On 15 April 2011, against this splendid backdrop there will be opening, next to the recently restored Cascina Medici del Vascello, the Potager Royal: ten hectares of vegetables gardens and orchards cultivated with a multitude of vegetables and cereals typical to the territory.
Italy’s largest Potager is located where, in the 1800s, there were concentrated the extensive crops of the Royal Family Farm, and has been restored according to the ancient drawing of the vegetables gardens that used to be present in the courtly Gardens of the Venaria, both in the architecture and in the choice of species cultivated. The large square area is a succession of vegetable plots, orchards, pergolas, ponds and fountains.
Visitors can tour the Potager by means of botanical, cultural and gastronomic routes, workshops for educating the senses, horticulture and cookery techniques.
From March to November, one weekend every month this wine&food tour can be completed by enjoying royal dinners of the dishes typical to Italian regional cuisine, prepared by the best chefs and served within the exceptional setting of the Galleria Grande. Alternatively it is possible to go shopping in the market of top wine and food products set up within the Reggia.
Produced by: Consorzio La Venaria Reale and Comitato Italia 150
Project: Maurizio Reggi, Alessia Bellone Settore Conservazione e Giardini La Venaria Reale
Creation of theme routes: Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche, working with Slow Food
Partners: Camera di Commercio, Industria, Artigianato e Agricoltura di Torino
