Castle of Counts Amico (Castello dei Conti Amico)

Address Piazza Castello, 14033 Castell'Alfero AT, Italia

Tel 0141 406611

Fax 0141 406606

Email segreteria@comune.castellalfero.at.it

Web Site https://www.comune.castellalfero.at.it/it/page/testimonianze-d-arte

Highlights

The castle was primitively built beginning in the year 1290.

The current appearance is due to the interventions commissioned by the Amico family.

In the eighteenth century, the castle was transformed from a simple military building into an elegant Baroque building thanks to the work of Benedetto Alfieri, Vittorio Alfieri's uncle.

The oldest construction from which, with certainty, the current layout of the Castle originated, was built beginning in the year 1290. Built by the free Municipality of Asti, it consisted of a fortified structure with a solid wall (the same existing today, at least in the layout).

It is possible that the origin of the castle is even more remote, as already in the mid-12th century on the hill of the village, a fortress called 'Castrum Alferii' stood.

However, this last building fell into a state of neglect in the period between 1189 and 1290, and therefore any relationship with the fortress then built is not certain.

The interventions that allowed the transition from the primitive medieval structure to the present configuration of the castle were due to the Amico Family.

The first of these interventions, carried out in the seventeenth century, was probably resolved with the simple restoration and expansion of the existing fortification.

A map of the time indicates that the stronghold built in the 17th century by the Amico Counts was a simple building, consisting of a three-story above-ground residential block, with a main facade to the southeast, and a long 'C'-shaped sleeve that enclosed a small courtyard inside

Only in the early 1700s was the transformation intended to entirely change the architectural structure of the castle, transforming it from a simple military building to an elegant Baroque residence.

The functional conversion of the seventeenth-century building was thanks to the genius and imagination of Benedetto Alfieri, uncle of the more famous Vittorio.

Towards the west, leaning against the sleeve of the old building, he built a new residential block, which he connected with the existing one by means of a forepart containing two superimposed niches, from which two symmetrical series of arcades with lowered arches branched off; these support a terrace at the first-floor level, which is accessed externally by a singular staircase to them on the west side of the castle.

In place of the old facade, the current one came to be defined, much more articulated than the previous one, as well as aesthetically more effective: in the center there is a large imposing niche as high as the entire building, which recalls the Palazzo Mazzetti in Asti and the Palazzo Ghilini in Alessandria, both made by Alfieri.

The Green Salon (Salone Verde), so named for the predominant color both in its furniture, its decorations, and its floor, is undoubtedly the most prestigious room created by Benedetto Alfieri on the occasion of his intervention on the Castle.

With its grace and elegance, it replaced in the function of the Party hall (Salone delle feste), the austere and imposing Red Room (Salone Rosso), the ancient state room of the casaforte. The floor was made of hand-painted Vietri ceramic tiles.

The Green Salon occasionally hosts exhibitions, reviews, and chamber concerts, while the Red Salon is the seat of the Municipal Council.

In ancient times Castell'Alfero had two parish churches, both outside the town, one dedicated to St. Peter of Cassano and the other to St. Peter of Lissano; they depended on the Cathedral of Asti in 1345, as shown in the Register of the Churches of the Diocese of Asti drawn up by the will of Bishop Arnaldo de Rosette.

The first had an income of 15 astesi lire, while the second of 12.

• Availability: available for wedding celebrations with a civil ceremony