Perched on a hill, in the enchanted scenario of the Morainic amphitheater of Ivrea, you will find the Marino Castle, whose construction goes back to the 11th century, commissioned by the prestigious Valperga family. Due to its strategic position, which allowed it to control a vast territory between Ivrea and Valle d’Aosta, the castle was, from the beginning, at the centre of numerous battles where the protagonists were the Savoia, the Acaia, the Visconti, the same Masino counts and the Valperga cousins. Starting the second half of the XVI century, the castle was rebuilt in its current form, on top of the ruins of the antique fort, taking on the look of a true representational residence.
Around 1780 a new renewal work aimed at a more moder neo-classical taste was started. The authors of these interventions were two important family representatives, the Carlo Francesco II brothers of Masino, viceroy of Sardinia and the abbot TommasoValperga of Causo, mathematician and poet, originator of the Galleria deiPoeti icons and the important library.
After the death of the last inhabitant of the residence, Vittoria Leumann, wife of the count Cesare Valperga, the son, count Luigi Valperga of Masino,in 1988 he assigned the task of preserving the historic memory of this important aristocratic and cultured family of Piedmont to the FAI.
A visit makes it possible to discover the numerous monumental rooms, such as stately rooms with frescos and richly furnished between the 17th and the 18th century, rooms for ambassadors, the secluded living rooms and the apartments of MadamaReale.
The museum of carriages from the XVII and XIX centuries, mostly of the Valperga family, and the great park surrounding the castle, result of the various changes throughout the centuries, where it is possible to visit the labyrinth, is also interesting.