facade of Palazzo Madama, which still retains the fifteenth-century appearance of a castle.(Casaforte (or Castle) of the Acaja)
Palazzo Madama e Casaforte degli Acaja is a palace in Turin, Piedmont. It was the first Senate of the Kingdom of Italy, and takes its traditional name from the embellishments it received under two queens (madama) of the House of Savoy. In 1997, it was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list along with 13 other residences of the House of Savoy. At the beginning of the first century BC, the site of the palace was occupied by a gate in the Roman walls from which the decumanus maximus of Augusta Taurinorum (the ancient name of Turin) departed. Two of the towers, although restored, still testify to this original nucleus. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the gate was used as a fortified stronghold in the defences of the the building became a possession of the Savoia-Acaja, a secondary branch of the House of Savoy; in the early 14th century, they enlarged it into a castle. A century later Ludovico of Acaja rebuilt it in square shape, with an inner court and a portico, and four cylindrical towers at each corner. The form of this edifice is still clearly recognisable from the back section of the palace. After the extinction of the Acajas, the edifice became a residence for guests of the house of Savoy. Read more : ,_Turin
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Photo credit: © lugris / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: acaja, age, anzel, casaforte, castello, castle, house, italy, juvarra, lugris2, madama, middle, night, palazzo, piazza, piedmont, piemonte, royal, savoia, savoy, torino, tourism, town, travel, turin, unesco
