History

The Valperga family were one of the oldest noble houses of Piedmont — their origins in the Canavese region predate the establishment of the Savoy dynasty in Turin, and their loyalty to first the Savoys and later the kingdom of Sardinia made them one of the most important families in Piedmontese political life from the twelfth century onward. The castle’s location on a moraine hill was strategic: it commanded the routes from the Po plain to the Alpine passes, and the medieval tower (still standing at the castle’s highest point) was a signalling station in the communication network that connected Turin to the northern passes. The Valperga were also major patrons of literature: the poetess Bianca di Savoia Acaia lived at Masino in the early fifteenth century, and the castle’s library was built up over three centuries of intellectual collecting.

The eighteenth century was the great building period: the Valperga of the early 1700s remodelled the state apartments in the Baroque manner that was transforming Turin (and, via the Savoy connection, all of Piedmont) at this period. The architect is uncertain, but the work is consistent with the Piedmontese school of the period. The frescoes in the chapel by Giambattista Crosato (c. 1750) — Crosato was the principal fresco painter working in Turin at this time, and had painted the Royal Palace at Turin and the Stupinigi hunting lodge — represent the highest level of decorative ambition that the Valperga were able to commission.