The formal elegance of the garden of Palazzo Muratori Cravetta in Savigliano seems to us moderns like a relic of the distant past, more an open-air theatre than a “nature” site.
Like a fifth aristocracy, the architecture of the façade dominates the rigorous rectangular symmetry of the garden shaped by gravel paths and squared off hedges. In this rare place, a vestige of the 17th century, the parties, the masks and the courtesan nights seem, as never before, the entrances and exits from a brief, indecipherable act of the past.
The edifice boasts almost legendary origins. We read in the annals that it hosted Emperor Charles V in 1536, that it received Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy in 1560, and then Carlo Emanuele I and Catherine of Austria in 1585 during their wedding trip from Nice to Turin.
The construction of Palazzo Muratori Cravetta, whose architectural style is influenced by the Renaissance-Mannerist models of French synthesis and experience, is attributed to Ercole Negro di Sanfront.
The palazzo of today is the result of a series of changes made over time to the original mediaeval structure from the first Gothic period and a second square construction that remained unaltered until the creation of the grand hall (1474-1477), where Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy died of the plague in 1630.
A new project to restore the garden and the Palazzo is currently underway and draws inspiration from the historical reconstruction of the Renaissance-Mannerist period the building took shape in. The project highlights the importance of the courtly space, which is shown to advantage by the façades of the building (both those of great architectural design and those that are painted). Reference was made to the inventory of illustrations of culturally-related gardens from the same period.
There will be a “parterre de broderie” composed of Buxus sempervirens “Suffruticosa” (Buxus pumila). In memory of the 20th century horticultural designs by Villandry, the centre of the ornamental garden will hold Santolina chamaecyparissus cut lower than the boxwood hedges, which are kept at a height of 30 cm, and the whole will be bordered by rectangular fields to calibrate the straight gravel paths all the more.