Castello della Manta

Castello della Manta is a medieval fortress transformed into a noble residence, known for its late-Gothic fresco cycle in the Sala Baronale.

Why it matters

The Sala Baronale preserves an exceptional cycle of secular late-Gothic painting, commissioned for the Saluzzo court. The building also contains later Renaissance decoration and service spaces cut into the rock.

What to notice

The Sala Baronale depicts the Fountain of Youth and the Nine Worthies and Nine Heroines in fifteenth-century dress. The Salone delle Grottesche has mid-sixteenth-century decoration. The castle complex also includes old kitchens, cellars, towers, curtain walls and a surrounding park.

Context and history

A watchtower on the hill is documented by 1277. Valerano, son of Marquis Tommaso III of Saluzzo, transformed the fortress into a residence and commissioned the Sala Baronale cycle around 1420, drawing on his father's French chivalric romance Le chevalier errant. Later additions included the Grottesche rooms. The castle passed to the FAI in 1985 and was restored for public heritage use.