Villa della Regina

History

The original structure was designed in early 1615 by the Italian soldier, architect and military engineer, Ascanio Vitozzi. When he died in 1615, the project passed to his collaborators, father and son Carlo and Amedeo di Castellamonte. The original building was commissioned for the Prince-Cardinal Maurice of Savoy during the reign of his brother Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy. The private villa was graced with its own vineyard and later associated with women of the House of Savoy, hence it was also called the Vigna di Madama. In 1637, when Victor Amadeus died, a succession crisis ensued pitting the claims of the former duke's brothers, Maurice and Thomas Prince of Carignano against those of his young children, under the regency of Victor's widow, Christine Marie of France. Ultimately Christine and her French alliance forced Thomas into exile, and Maurice into compliant assent. Maurice resigned his appointment as a cardinal, accepted an appointment as governor of Nice, and in 1642 the 49 year old married Christine's putatively illegitimate 14 year old daughter Louise Christine of Savoy. Maurice died in this villa in 1657, and his wife inherited it along with its large art collection. Lacking offspring, in 1692 she deeded the property to her niece, Anne Marie d'Orléans who in 1684 had married King Victor Amadeus II of Savoy in 1684. Anne Marie was also niece of King Louis XIV of France.

She used the Vigna when she could. She engaged the court architect Filippo Juvarra to refurbish the house and gardens. The palace was divided into apartments for the king and for the queen. Ceilings were frescoed by Claudio Francesco Belmont. Most of the present frescoed décor of the Vigna is from her lifetime. Her husband was the King of Sicily from 1713 until 1720 when he exchanged Sicily with Sardinia. From then on, the building was known as Villa della Regina ("Villa of the Queen"). It was here Anne Marie died in 1728. Anne Marie's eldest daughter Maria Adelaide came here and tried to recreate a Ménagerie similar to that of Versailles. …