Description
The Castle rises near Casale Monferrato, province of Alessandria. The current structure is of relatively recent origin. The castle of Cereseto was built between 1909 and 1913 thanks to three men: the French architect Eugenio Viollet Le Duc, the financier Riccardo Gualino, the engineer from Casale Vittorio Tornielli. Inside it were collected works of primary importance, from Botticelli to Van Dyck . It has 153 rooms, 6000 gross sqm of housing and 17,000 sqm of parkland. Used as a private home. It’s still well preserved externally as it was inhabited until a few decades ago. The Castle stands on the ashes of a much older stronghold that was completely demolished in 1600: the dating of the ancient stronghold falls in the medieval period, as Cereseto was a small fiefdom born between 500 and 600 AD. , and between 900 and 1000 it was governed by the noble family of Asti Groseverto and it’s precisely in this period that the stronghold was probably built, then demolished in 1600 to leave a space for the beautiful and sumptuous reconstruction of the twentieth century that can still be admired today. The medieval style castle dominates with its superb and picturesque structure and its towers and turrets the wide valley below, up to the very high Sacred Mount of Crea that bars the horizon a short distance to the West. The architectural structure of the castle is a classic example of the Gothic influences of the late 800s. It presents facades in brick, interrupted by several orders of single-light windows, mullioned windows and three-light windows; these facades, already very high, are slimmed even more by the presence of beautiful towers and turrets. Built according to the eclectic style that derives from the studies of Viollet Le Duc and the Italian architects D'Andrade and Nigra, the complex has a monumental dimension: for a decade it engaged a large number of workers who brought life and development to the town of Cereseto; the most famous artisans of the area worked there, and the monumental staircase with its sculpted railing, the internal chapel, the capitals of the columns, the grilles and the grilles, as well as all the ceilings and walls entirely frescoed, are proof of this. The castle is also known because it contains a bronze bas-relief of the Canonica: it is depicted a typical mugik (Russian peasant) and was originally a gift to the tsar of Russia who was never delivered to the vicissitudes of the war and was later transformed into a monument to the memory of the veterans of the war of 1915-1918.