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Viridarium nel Giardino del Castello a Palazzo Madama

Medieval Botanical Garden


History of a Green Space from Medieval Times

Turin's Castle Garden was first mentioned in 1402 in documents that record the expenses for upkeep to the building during the reign of Prince Ludovico d’Acaia (1402–1418): these documents mentioning the Garden are the Conti della Vicaria e Clavaria di Torino, the logbooks in which the city's treasurer, who during the Middle Ages managed the city on behalf of the Princes d’Acaia and then the Dukes of Savoy, recorded the maintenance expenses of the Castle and the city's fortresses.

The logbooks, today kept at the State Archive of Turin (Sezioni Riunite), cover a span of time from 1402 to 1516. In order to recreate the Garden, the notes contained in these Medieval documents were followed, honoring the traditional division of the space into a hortus (garden), a viridarium (forest and orchard), and an iardinum domini (Prince's garden), along with traditional furnishings and fittings (for falconry or raising pigs and chickens).

In addition to the plants and vegetation mentioned in these ancient documents, this space also included plants and herbs that were not listed specifically in the documents but were undoubtedly present in Medieval gardens both across Italy and France, based on the information found in treatises on farming and medicinal plants from the 14th and 15th centuries.

The Garden (hortus) Organized according to a checkerboard pattern made up of rectangular flower beds, the Garden is a special space, one visited by the prince during his strolls in the shade of pear and apple trees, and by the Castle gardeners, who tended to the plants used to supply the kitchens with beans, vegetables, herbs, and medicinal herbs. The enclosure served to block the entrance of animals.

The Forest and Orchard (viridarium) From the Latin viridis (verdant), this small wooded area with tall trees was often located outside the Castle walls where pigs, falcons, doves, and mills were found.

In Turin, the area set aside for the forest and orchard was very vast and, at one point, engaged fifty gardeners at the same time. In addition to chestnut, walnut, willow, plum, sorb, cherry, olive, and palm trees—all mentioned in ancient documents—a section of this space was occupied by the Prince's vineyard, which produced wine for the Castle.

The Prince's Garden (iardinum domini) This was a private space for the princes, used for reading, conversing, resting, and playing.

In the Middle Ages it was located on the southernmost edge of town, near the walls and Porta Fibellona; it was closed off by walls flanked by blackberry bushes and made from stone with a pergola covered in grapevines. It must have looked like the depictions found on tapestries and miniatures from the 1400s: surrounded by a dense field of millefleurs, it hosted a fountain, often present in courtly literature, brick seating covered in grass and ivy, and a series of majolica vases embellished with scented plants like lavender, sage, and marjoram.

The Princess d’Acaia Bona of Savoy kept a cage with parrots in this section of the garden. The garden lent itself to various social-educational purposes. For Palazzo Madama it was a great opportunity to develop and expand its museum offer, for its itineraries and the possibility to guide learning strategies toward new topics related to the city's ecology, to the importance of green spaces in community life, to their history, and to current-day issues related to safeguarding them.

Recreating the Medieval garden also means exploring marginal vegetation species, restoring sense and value as regards biodiversity, as well as favoring and promoting projects in collaboration with other city institutions. The project was completed in 2011 thanks to major financial support (1,100,00 euro) by the Fondazione CRT as part of the broader project, “Historic Gardens and Parks.”

Hortus nel Giardino del Castello a Palazzo Madama_2
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Hortus

Generale_Iardinum domini
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Iardinum Domini

Generale_lapidarium2
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Lapidarium

Generale_Siepe
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Hedges

Generale_volontari
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A group of volunteers at work

Iardinun domini_fontana
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The fontain in the Iardinum Domini

iardinum domini_topia
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The pergola in the Iardinum Domini

Piante_Digitalis
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Digitalis purpurea

Viridarium
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Viridarium and falconara

Iardinum domini_ vaso
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A pot in the Iardinum Domini

Hortus_innaffiatoio medievale
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Medieval watering can in the Hortus

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The Medieval Botanical Garden is located on the moat level of Palazzo Madama. Visits are open to those with an admissions ticket or a Garden ticket at the discounted price of 5 euro.

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The great variety of botanical species grown in the garden has allowed them to be grouped not only according to themed flower/plant beds but also into groups of important collections as regards botany and agronomy, diet and medicine, history and culture. This is why the Medieval Garden is a place to study and observe plants that have been forgotten and which here take center stage.

Roses
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Hellebores
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Textile Dyeing Plants
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Herbs
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Medicinal
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Wild Plants
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Fruit Plants
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Vegetable Plants
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In this section, you can consult and download in-depth information on our Medieval Botanical Garden. Enjoy the read!

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