Castel Savoia

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EVENTS

The fairy-tale summer residence of Queen Margherita

In order to see the white towers of Savoy Castle, which peer out over the top of a dense wood, one must go to the hamlet of Belvedere in Gressoney-Saint-Jean, in the land of the Walser people where Titsch is spoken, right at the foot of Colle Ranzola.

Here, watched over by Monte Rosa, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries Queen Margherita, the first Queen of Italy, chose the location where she would spend her summer vacations. The building was one of the last gifts King Umberto I would give to his consort, as shortly afterwards he was assassinated in Monza.

The sovereign loved these places which for many years provided the perfect backdrop for her holidays, which she initially spent in the village at the residence of her trusted friend Baron Luigi Beck Peccoz. The towered manor house is an everlasting tribute to Margherita of Savoy, his inspirational muse, for whom the mountains held a deep fascination, while Gressoney was similarly enchanted by its Queen.

Information
Castel Savoia
Strada Castello Savoia 1
GRESSONEY-SAINT-JEAN
tel. 0125355396
e-mail: beniculturali@regione.vda.it

Opening times
October – March: 10.00 – 13.00 / 14.00 – 17.00
April – September: 9.00 – 19.00
Closed on 25th December and 1st January
Closed on Mondays except in July, August and public holidays

ALERTS

Closed from 18 March to 17 April 2025
On Monday 28th April 2025 the regional castles and the MegaMuseum will be open for the long weekend between 25th April and 1st May
Closed from 14 to 29 October 2025

DIRECTIONS
Exit the A5 motorway at Pont-Saint-Martin and follow signs for Valle del Lys. Drive up the valley until reaching Gressoney-Saint-Jean. Before entering the centre of the village turn left, following signs for Castel Savoia. Park in the car park situated next to the entrance avenue and walk the rest of the way to the castle.

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A BRIEF HISTORY

We are in the Gressoney (or Lys) Valley, the first we encounter when arriving from Piedmont. Between the 19th and 20th centuries, Queen Margherita, consort of the king of Italy Umberto I of Savoy, chose Gressoney as the location for her summer residence, launching a trend which turned this valley into the favoured destination of the nobility of Turin for their excursions and holidays. The project was entrusted to Emilio Stramucci, head of the Technical Office of the Royal Family, who managed the workers both local, guardians of the Walser tradition, and from Piedmont. In 1904 the castle was completed: a manor house with its exterior walls clad in local grey stone and with five cuspidate towers of different sizes, its appearance refined by manifold windows and its semicircular veranda overlooking the valley. The residence was equipped with all mod cons and stamped with a sumptuous and varied Eclecticism; the cabinetmaker Michele Dellera crafted furniture and wainscoting in a neo-medieval style, while the stained-glass windows were the work of the artist Carlo Cussetti, who was in charge of all pictorial decoration in the abode. References to the Royal Family abound in every room, with monograms, mottos, and Savoy knots and daisies which peep out of the wooden ceiling coffers and window splays. The living area was on the ground floor, while the royal apartments were on the piano nobile. The top floor, however, was reserved for members of the court. The “royal palace” is surrounded by a dense conifer forest and overlooks a rich rocky garden, created at the end of the 20th century. Guest lodgings and a garage were also to be found in the castle grounds, while the kitchens were located not far from the main building and connected to it via a Decauville Feldbahn (narrow-gauge field railway), used for the transport of food.

https://youtu.be/i1jPr-e9vCQ

PROTAGONISTS

QUEEN MARGHERITA
EMILIO STRAMUCCI
LUIGI BECK-PECCOZ
MICHELE DELLERA

QUEEN MARGHERITA

Margherita of Savoy was born in Turin in 1851 to Elisabeth of Saxony and Ferdinando of Savoy, Duke of Genoa. At only 16 years of age she married her cousin Umberto and moved with him to Naples, then to Rome. In 1869 she gave birth to Victor Emmanuel III, the future king. She was the first queen of the recently united Italy and is remembered for her appreciation of fashion, music, and the mountains. In Gressoney she had her future summer residence built, Savoy Castle, so that she could spend her summer holidays there. An ardent Catholic and proponent of conservative ideals, she intervened on political questions in fields such as culture and society. She was widowed in 1900 after the assassination of the king and died in 1926 in Bordighera.

EMILIO STRAMUCCI

Emilio Stramucci was born in Rome in 1845 and died in Florence in 1926. After graduating in architecture and engineering, he took part in the much praised restoration of the Church of Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome. This was where his good fortune began, which would see him given the task of building Savoy Castle, an eclectic abode with all mod cons which Queen Margherita chose as her summer residence. In Gressoney he employed not only his own tried and tested group of workers who had already worked on the Royal Palace of Turin and other properties belonging to the House of Savoy, but also local builders and craftsmen, including Floriano Lateltin. He is recalled in the bust depicting him on the first floor of the museum itinerary.

LUIGI BECK-PECCOZ

Queen Margherita came to Aosta valley in 1880 to stay in Sarre Castle, while her first visit to Gressoney was in 1889, when she was a guest of Baron Luigi Beck-Peccoz. The baron, member of an important family of Walser origin, put his family castle, today the location of the town hall, at the queen and her court’s disposal. During her stay the baron moved to another of his properties in the same valley. Through the time she spent with Luigi Beck-Peccoz, a skilled climber, a passion was born in Margherita for the mountains and for walks, an activity which was subsequently to attract many tourists to the area. Her friendship with the baron lasted until his death to a sudden illness during an excursion on the Monte Rosa glacier in 1894. The Regional Museum of Alpine Fauna, created at the behest of Beck-Peccoz himself, holds the collection of his family’s hunting trophies, weapons and relics.

MICHELE DELLERA

Michele Dellera was born in Turin in 1860 and graduated from the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti (Albertina Academy of Fine Arts), where he was to subsequently teach. He opened a cabinet maker’s workshop and received prestigious commissions for the Royal Palace of Turin, which led to him being awarded the title of Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy. For Queen Margherita he designed the chapel of her palazzo in Rome and some furnishings for Stupinigi. He also worked in Lyon and Genoa, winning various prizes at national exhibitions. He produced the furniture and furnishings of Castle Savoy, including the durmast oak staircase, the carved and decorated ceiling coffers, and the boiserie. He died shortly after the completion of the works in the castle, in 1905.

FOCUS

THE WOODEN STAIRCASE

One of the most surprising elements of the castle is most certainly the wooden staircase made of “choice durmast oak” designed by the cabinetmaker to ...[..]

THE PORTRAIT OF MARGHERITA

Queen Margherita’s passion for the mountains, and in particular for the Lys Valley, is well known. This passion was shared with her son Victor Emmanuel ...[..]

THE BOTANICAL GARDEN

Created in 1990, the botanical garden of Savoy Castle is situated in a clearing at the foot of the castle walls among firs and larches, ...[..]

ECLECTICISM

Eclecticism is a term in art and architecture indicating a style, widespread in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, mixing and combining elements and ...[..]

THE DECAUVILLE

Among all the mod cons and innovative works installed at the behest of Queen Margherita, the system for transporting food from the kitchen, situated outside ...[..]

THE QUEEN’S GARAGE

In the large park surrounding Savoy Castle there are other buildings which were originally guest lodgings, houses for the guards and gardeners, or simply warehouses. ...[..]