Casa del Conte Verde

On the narrowest stretch of Rivoli's oldest street stands a medieval house with a name borrowed from Savoy legend. The Casa del Conte Verde no longer shelters a count; its medieval rooms preserve the civic history of the borgo.

Why it matters

The building occupies what the municipality describes as the most ancient part of Rivoli's historic centre, facing the tightest point of Via Piol, the main artery of the old borgo. Its popular name refers to the Green Count — Amedeo VI of Savoy, the fourteenth-century condottiero prince — reflecting how deeply Rivoli's identity is braided with the Savoy story that also produced the castle above the town. The three-level palace is now associated with Rivoli's civic and museum history.

What to notice

The façade rewards a slow look before you go inside. It rises over three levels, disciplined by two horizontal cornices that run the full length of the front — a sober medieval profile that has survived the town's many rebuildings. The bend of Via Piol shows how the house narrows the street: the medieval borgo was built to be defended, and this façade is one of the places where you can still feel that compression. Inside, flexible rooms reflect the building's modern civic use.

Context and history

Rivoli's old town preserves the fabric of its medieval and early Savoy centuries, and this house belongs to that earliest layer. The name commemorates Amedeo VI, called il Conte Verde, whose military and diplomatic career in the 1300s made him one of the legendary figures of the dynasty; associating a borgo house with him signals the pride of a town that hosted the court before Turin. In the modern era the municipality converted the building into a multipurpose centre — centro polifunzionale in the official description — assigning its management to the Museo Civico Casa del Conte Verde office, which curates temporary exhibitions and public events. That role makes the house the civic continuation of a history told elsewhere in town by the collegiate church and the medieval gate Porta Sorda.