Venaria Reale

Built from 1658 as a hunting residence for the Savoy, Venaria was later extended by Juvarra, whose Great Gallery runs about eighty metres in white stucco and glass. Napoleonic troops stripped it, and from the nineteenth century it served as a military barracks until 1978, by which point roofs had fallen and the gardens were parade grounds. Restoration ran from 1999 to 2007 at a cost of around two hundred and eighty million euros, described at the time as the largest cultural restoration project in Europe. The gardens cover some sixty hectares, replanted with contemporary interventions rather than an exact historical copy.

What you actually see

• The Great Gallery - Juvarra's 80-metre hall of white stucco and light.
• The restoration - a ruin rebuilt in an eight-year project to 2007.
• The gardens - sixty hectares replanted with modern interventions.
• The stables - Juvarra's vast Citroniera and Scuderia buildings.

When to go

April to October for the gardens; the palace is open year-round but closes Mondays. Summer evening events run in the grounds. Winter shortens garden access.

Honest expectations

The site is very large and requires a lot of walking. Gardens are a modern reinterpretation, not a historical restoration. Some rooms remain bare after the barracks years.

Nearby

Turin lies southeast; Stupinigi is on the other side of the city.