Avigliana Castle

Location

The castle is on the summit of Mount Pezzulano (467 m a.s.l.) just above the town of Avigliana. It lies a short distance from Avigliana's medieval town centre (Piazza Conte Rosso). It overlooks the Avigliana lakes (especially Lago Grande), the morainic hill of Rivoli and the famous Sacra di San Michele.

History

It is said that Cleph, king of the lombards, built the earliest fortification on the Pezzulano peak in 574, but the earliest mention of the current structure is in 924 under the margrave of Turin Arduin Glaber. With its mighty bulk and high towers, it expanded rapidly thanks to its position (it was the last stronghold before Turin for those invading from France), undergoing frequent assaults and much looting over the centuries.

The earliest mention of a castrum Avilianae dates back to 961. It is first documented in the marginalia of a chronicle dated between 1058 and 1061 concerning the foundation of the Sacra di San Michele. The chronicler mentions that the margrave Arduin V used to reside in the castle of Avigliana. This stronghold also performed an important defensive function as a base during the 10th century in the long fight against the Saracen invasion of north-western Italy.

In 1137, the building is documented as being one of the favourite seats of Amadeus III, Count of Savoy when he resided on this side of the Alps (the Counts of Savoy had only acquired Piedmont in 1091 through the dowery of the margravine Adelaide of Susa). It was the base for his expansion towards Turin in the following century. Humbert III of Savoy, Amadeus III's son and heir, was born there on 4 August 1136.

Avigliana was a significant source of revenue for the Savoy family as it stood on a popular merchant route to France and Flanders and was a source of tolls.

When there were no counts in residence, the castle of Avigliana was the permanent seat of a castellan (appointed by the count) who administered the surrounding territory on behalf of his master, who in turn was a feudal lord of the Holy Roman Emperor.

Frederick Barbarossa destroyed the castle during his descent into Italy, together with the surrounding villages of Ferronia and Pagliarino, and it was later rebuilt by Thomas I of Savoy.

Over the course of three centuries, the castle was established as one of the count's main command centres, resulting in the growth of an urban settlement at the foot of the hill on which it stood. …

Legends

It is said that during the final battle, some French soldiers sneaked into the orderly room and stole a chest containing the officers' pay and made off with it, burying the loot in a grove to the right of the castle entrance where it might still be found today. Legend also tells of a large boulder bearing an arrow indicating the direction in which to look for the treasure.

Because of its evocativeness, the area near the ruins is full of spectral 'apparitions'; it is also said that Philip II of Savoy-Achaia was imprisoned in this manor and after he drowned his soul still hovers over the surface of the lakes.