The plan of the building is defined by the four arms of
St. Andrew's Cross, divided by the central axis that is aligned with the path that leads from
Turin to the palace through a tree-lined avenue that runs alongside farms, stables and other old dependencies of the building. The core nucleus consists of a large central oval hall from which the four wings depart, which includes the royal apartments and those for guests. The large double-height oval hall with balconies concave-convex, is covered by a dome surmounted by the statue of the "Cervo", by Francesco Ladatte. With the departure of
Juvarra from Turin, King
Charles Emmanuel III entrusted the direction of the work to Giovanni Tommaso Prunotto, who provided for the expansion of the building starting from the sketches left by Juvarra, thus trying to safeguard the complex play of lights and shapes. The interior is in
Italian Rococo, made of precious materials such as lacquers, porcelains, gilded stuccos, mirrors and roots that today extend on an area of about 31,000 square meters, while 14,000 are occupied by adjacent buildings, 150,000 by the park and 3,800 by the external flowerbeds; Overall, there are 137 rooms and 17 galleries. Among the fine furniture made for the building should be mentioned that of the carver Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo, Pietro Piffetti and Luigi Prinotto. The building preserves decorations by the Venetian painters Giuseppe and Domenico Valeriani, by
Gaetano Perego, and by the Viennese Christan Wehrlin. The frescoes by
Vittorio Amedeo Cignaroli,
Gian Battista Crosato and
Carlo Andrea Van Loo are also noteworthy.
Entrance The entrance to the complex gives access to the vast area of the Galleria dei Ritratti (
Portrait Gallery), which was part of the side stables designed and built by Filippo Juvarra after the completion of the central complex of the building. This space was therefore used for the carriages and coaches and to house horses during the hunts. Here today stands the original statue of Stupinigi's deer, created by Francesco Ladatte in 1766, which overlooks the dome of the central hall. It was placed in this room in 1992, and the top of the dome was replaced with a modern bronze copy. The sculpture is surrounded by carved wooden bas-relief portraits commissioned by
Victor Emmanuel II and originally intended for the
Moncalieri Castle. In the first library and then in the second library one can find the change of taste in the mid-eighteenth century when the stables area was reduced to make room for a library sandwiched with shelves designed by
Benedetto Alfieri and painted in blue, ivory and gold, accompanied by allegories of the arts and sciences painted by
Giuseppe Nogari.
Apartment of the Duke of Chiablese Also called "Appartamento di Levante" (as opposed to the specular Appartamento di Ponente), the set of rooms was enlarged under the direction of Benedetto Alfieri in the 18th century to accommodate the rooms of
Prince Benedetto, Duke of Chablais, son of King
Charles Emmanuel III.
Gambling hall The room of greater consistency for size and style in the apartments of the Duke of Chiablese is undoubtedly the gambling hall, a large space intended for the leisure of the court, inserted into a rectangular hall with rounded corners and two large niches on the sides, shorter. The ceiling, decorated by Giovanni Pietro Pozzo in 1765, incorporates the same exotic and
oriental motifs of the walls that play the role of an elegant frame for the game furniture inside the room: a mid-eighteenth century drawing room, a
Louis XV style game table with a precious chessboard inlaid with ebony and ivory, as well as a desk with refined ivory figures inlaid from the beginning of the 18th century. Noteworthy are also the
chinoiserie and the porcelain present in this environment that are well suited to the exotic decoration of the complex. ==== Hall of Mirrors and Cabinet of
Pauline Bonaparte ==== The first room, decorated with a very special rococo style, is decorated with stucco and mirrors from the walls to the ceiling, designed by Giovanni Pietro Pozzo in 1766 with the help of Michele Antonio Rapous in the realization of the boiserie. The chandelier, dating back to the 1940s, is more ancient and is decorated with sculptures of wrought iron birds. The Cabinet of Pauline Bonaparte owes its fame to the fact that it was made to equip in current forms by
Pauline Bonaparte,
Napoleon's sister, during her period of stay at the palace when her husband
Camillo Borghese was appointed governor of Piedmont. The room, small in size, contains a beautiful marble bathtub, decorated with bas-reliefs representing the imperial insignia with the Napoleonic eagle.
Central Hall The central hall, the core of the building, was the first idea of Juvarra to be completed and the focus around which its entire building complex was developed. The room consists of a large oval-shaped room culminating in a dome enclosed by a vaulted ceiling. The hall was completed in 1730, and on 10 February 1731, the king commissioned to the
Bolognese brothers Giuseppe and Domenico Valeriani a large fresco on the vault, depicting the Triumph of
Diana, the classic goddess of hunting that appears between the clouds, above a celestial chariot overlooking woods. Around there are also
putti with game or wreaths of flowers, flanked by
nymphs. At the apex of the four pillars that support the dome of the hall, just below the large fresco, there are four monochromatic medallions representing similar episodes related to the same deity. The works for the realization of such frescoes began already on 8 March, ending in 1733. Juvarra imposed a quadrature scheme on the two brothers so as not to ruin his complex overall design.
Frescoes of the upper vault After Juvarra left, his idea to place large sculptural groups of dogs and deer in the large windows of the salon was abandoned, so as not to excessively limit the splendid perspective view that is still enjoyed looking outwards. The project was entrusted to Giuseppe Marocco, who envisioned the thirty-six wooden fans (appliques) with deer heads that show off themselves on the walls of the hall. From the same period are the gilded wood inlays of the balustrade of the singers in the upper part of the hall and the paracamels painted by the Lombard
Giovanni Crivelli (1733). Also worthy of note are the four marble busts made in 1773 by
Giovanni Battista Bernero, which overlook the same number of entrances to the hall and which represent minor divinities linked to hunting and the fields:
Ceres,
Pomona,
Naiad and Napea. The salon, steeped in its structure and in the decorations characteristic of the eighteenth century, also attracted the attention of several contemporaries who were able to see it personally as the French engraver
Charles-Nicolas Cochin, who however criticized the superabundance of decorations and excessive eccentricity. Of the same opinion was
Jérôme Lalande, who reported how the Juvarra was almost completely focused on the salon, leaving behind all the rest and revealing how it was arranged as the "dream of an architect", too risky for a city palace and only for a sumptuous country residence. ==The park==