Giardino Storico della Palazzina di Stupinigi

The historic garden of the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi forms part of the eighteenth-century royal hunting complex designed around Filippo Juvarra's palace.

Why it matters

The garden is an integral landscape counterpart to the Palazzina, connecting the palace's architecture with the hunting and courtly life for which the complex was created.

What to notice

The garden's formal axes relate to the palace's plan and frame views of its rear facade and central dome. The grounds also preserve traces of later uses, including a nineteenth-century zoological garden associated with the Savoy court.

Context and history

Landscape works at Stupinigi began in the 1740s under Michael Bernard. The grounds changed over time from a hunting park to a landscaped pleasure garden and later included exotic animals such as ostriches, kangaroos and an elephant presented by the viceroy of Egypt. The present garden is a restored historic landscape.