Venaria Reale: Baroque Gardens and Contemporary Art in Dialogue

The Reggia di Venaria, a former hunting lodge commissioned by Duke Carlo Emanuele II of Savoy and designed by architect Amedeo di Castellamonte, is one of Italy's most important Baroque residences and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It ranks among the top five most visited cultural sites in Italy and hosts annual temporary exhibitions. Its 80-plus hectares of gardens feature 17th-century grottoes, water features, the Hercules Fountain, ruins of the Temple of Diana, and the restored Peschiera pond. Contemporary sculptures by Giuseppe Penone—in stone, bronze, and vegetation—dot the lawns and birch groves, emphasizing the human-nature relationship. Other artists with works in the gardens include Giovanni Anselmo, Giuseppe Maraniello, and Mimmo Paladino. The parterres are designed as green rooms with boxwood and yew hedges, hornbeams, flowers, and citrus pots. The adjacent Tenuta della Mandria, also designed by Juvarra, spans over 3,000 hectares enclosed by a 30-kilometer wall, originally a horse breeding estate for the House of Savoy, now a regional park dominated by oak and hornbeam forests. The gardens offer a blend of ancient and modern, archaeological sites and contemporary works.