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Gabiano Castle, in Monferrato, is the heart of an important farm. Among the oldest and largest in the area, it is mentioned by historical sources as early as the VIII century. Of great strategic and economic importance, it has long been the scene of sieges and wars, passing from the Montiglio to the Gonzaga family, up to the Duke Ferdinando of Mantua who, in 1622, gave it to Agostino Durazzo Pallavicini granting him the title of Marquis of Gabiano.
In 1908, the Marquis Giacomo Durazzo Pallavicini began the restoration, which was completed in 1935 by the Marquess Matilde Durazzo Pallavicini of the Giustiniani Princes – she had tasked with this important work architect Lamberto Cusani; the latter added some medieval eclectic elements.

Today, Giacomo Cattaneo Adorno Giustiniani and his family, the owners of the Cattaneo Adorno Farm, are still restructuring and enhancing the castle, as well as producing wine combining the latest oenological knowledge with the respect for tradition.

The park

The castle of Gabiano is surrounded by a large English park, which includes a large boxwood labyrinth, designed by Cusani himself in the 1930s; today, it’s one of the very rare documented examples of labyrinths in the historical gardens of Piedmont.

Full of different meanings – mythological, religious, philosophical, and mathematical – it underlines the contrast between the rigid and geometric lines of the castle with the nature in the park, or rather between the concept of a natural forest and an artificial one, where nature is strictly manipulated and managed by man.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)