Regina Margherita

The Castello della Regina Margherita at Gressoney, with its unmistakable outline of 5 pointed towers, rises at the foot of the Colle della Ranzola in the area known as the Belvedere. It has three storeys above ground and one below.

The ground floor has the living quarters, the royal apartments are on the first floor and the second floor, not open to the public, has the rooms reserved for gentlemen of the court. Below ground are the cellars.

In separate, but nearby, buildings are the guest rooms and the kitchen, linked to the Castle by a tiny Decauville railway which carries the dishes.

Unfortunately little of the original furnishing remains. Most of the items currently viewable at the Castle are from Villa Margherita, the Queen’s previous residence at Gressoney.

The furniture is mainly in the eclectic style fashionable at the time and admired by Regina Margherita. Original to Castel Savoia is the wallpaper, the decorations and the wooden staircase carved with eagles and gryphons leading from the hall on the ground floor to the royal apartments.

Worthy of mention are the ornamental paintings by Carlo Cussetti and the portrait of Regina Margherita by the Turin painter Bertini.