Masino Castle crowns a morainic hill at the edge of the Ivrea plain, in the village of Caravino, and was held for the best part of a thousand years by the Valperga di Masino family, who claimed descent from Arduin, Italy’s first king.
The keep is documented from 1070, and later generations turned the fortress into a noble residence with frescoed rooms, a library and eighteenth-century apartments. Around it spreads a landscaped park with a hornbeam labyrinth of about 1,400 trees, one of the largest in Italy. FAI, Italy’s national trust, has cared for the castle since 1988, and the park makes it an easy half-day out from Turin or Milan.
