Il Torrione is a country estate that is the quintessential expression of Piedmont understatement: with a considerable variety of planted species, landscaped views and spaces, it confidently and charmingly affords sweeping views on the surrounding cultivated areas.
Although funded in the Middle Ages, the current appearance of this complex dates to the first half of the 19th century and is attributed to the Counts Canera di Salasco, who in 1859 sold it to the current owners, the Marquises Doria Lamba. The about 20-hectar park stretches south, creating a green frame around a vast lawn expanse that includes a sinuous lake with a central islet. The project for the park is dated 28 March 1835 and is signed by Xavier Kurten, who at the time was director of the Royal Park of Racconigi. At the southern end of the property are the most distinctive garden features: the remains of a Celtic temple that had been designed in 1832 by Xavier’s brother Ernest, located by the small lake cascade, the gamekeeper’s house and the
Highlights
Hydrangeas
In the shade of centuries-old trees, the park houses a collection of two thousand Hydrangeashrubs of over seventy different varieties. The collection has grown thanks to the passion of Marchesa Anna Doria Lamba and the calibrated intervention of architect Paolo Pejrone, who has integrated elegant brushstrokes of colour into the 19th-century design of the park.
The “bigattiera”
"Bigat” is the regional word for Bombyx mori, i.e. the silk worms that were bred since the early 20th century for the development of the silk industry, a sector in which Piedmont excelled. Among the villa outbuildings, most notable are the “bigataia” (or “bigattiera”), whose architecture reflects a Tudor revival taste. This was where the silk worms were kept and fed white mulberry leaves.
The "ha-ha"
The “ha-ha” or “saut de loup” Is a support wall creating a vertical barrier allowing an uninterrupted view of the surrounding landscape. In the area south of the park of the Torrione, beyond the