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Pralormo castle was built as a defensive fortress by the Lords of Anteriosio, in 1200. With a square plan, it was surrounded by a moat and thus accessible via a drawbridge. In the following centuries, the manor passed to the Biandrate family and subsequently to the Roeros.

In 1680, it became a property of the Beraudo di Pralormo Counts(belonging to Giacomo Beraudo’s family) – the ancestors of the current owners. Several important transformations were thus initiated, including the construction of the chapel by the architect Galletti (1730), an elevation of the castle with the insertion of new halls and frescoed rooms, the covering of the central courtyard, with a skylight, transforming it into a three-storey high hall of honour and a grand staircase designed by the architect Ernesto Melano. In the early XIX century, the drawbridge was removed and replaced by a proper entrance portico.
Today, Pralormo Castle is part of “Grandi Giardini Italiani” circuit.

Il parco

In the XIX century, Count Carlo Beraudo di Pralormo asked the famous landscape architect Xaver Kurten to renovate the garden (dating back to 1500): he did so by redesigning it according to the popular English style, with long grassy expanses, two pools of water (designed to feed the elaborate irrigation system of the park), and winding paths among large and small trees (maples, cedars, oaks limes, flowering shrubs, ornamental cherry trees, yews, lilacs, meadowsweets, etc.)
To connect the garden to the territory, Kurten drew virtual telescopic views among the vegetation onto the surrounding landscape. An orangery was also erected, as well as a grand farmhouse and an iron and glass greenhouse set against a wall of the castle – a true work of art by the Lefevre brothers from Paris, which was renovated at the end of the XX century by Officina dei Giardini.

Il castello oggi

The current owners have preserved and rearranged the castle interior, which dates back to the XIX and XX century. It can thus be visited following a specific visitors’ route that starts in the lower floors and goes across the cellar (housing harvesting and winemaking tools), a large room with brick vaults (with service furnishings, antique heating systems, lighting and laundry equipment), the “Office” (with porcelain and ceramic tableware arranged in large drawers and wardrobes), the servants’ quarter, the kitchen (still full of equipment with a corner dedicated to the pastry chef), the pantry, the well, the bathroom, the great hall in the courtyard, and the dining room (featuring a table set up for twelve guests, evoking a meal given by the great-great-grandfather of the current owners and decorated with Meissen porcelain). Then, there’s the room of Carlo Beraudo di Pralormo (1784-1855) who was the Ambassador to Vienna and Paris and the Minister of Finance; not to mention the blue drawing-room, where the ladies practised the arts of embroidery, listened or played music and engaged themselves in conversation.

Messer Tulipano Event

Since 2000, the park has been opened to the public (every year in April, for about a month), hosting “Messer Tulipano” event: 75.000 Dutch tulips and daffodils bloom and are part of themed exhibitions and shows.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)