Manta (castle)

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Castello della Manta

The castle of Manta , in Italian Castello della Manta , is a castle above the municipality of Manta near Saluzzo in Piedmont .

In 1175 Manta became a fiefdom of the Margraviate of Saluzzo . Margrave Tommaso I built a castle on the foundations of an older fortress which, together with the castles of Revello , Verzuolo , Costigliole and Busca , formed a line of defense along the foot of the Alps. The castle was built in 1370 by Margrave Tommaso III. Gothic expanded and inherited in 1416 to his illegitimate son Valerano del Vasto, whose family kept the castle even after the end of the Margraviate of Saluzzo. In 1587 the castle was rebuilt like a castle. In 1793 the last descendant of Valerano died, after which the castle fell into disrepair. In 1860 the outer fortifications were demolished. In 1984 the FAI took over the facility and began an exemplary restoration.

The castle

The castle is surrounded by a park from the 16th century. The outwardly inconspicuous building with a round tower largely preserves the appearance of the 13th and 14th centuries. A little below the castle is the castle chapel from the 14th century. Michelantonio del Vasto had it decorated with frescoes and stucco around 1560.

Sala delle Feste

The large ballroom on the upper floor was expanded around 1560. Michelantonio del Vasto had the vault painted with mannerist frescoes. The grotesques are based on the paintings of the Domus Aurea in Rome , which were rediscovered shortly before.

Sala Baronale

Godfrey of Bouillon in the Sala Baronale

After 1420, Valerano had the Sala Baronale painted by an unknown artist who is listed in art history as the master of Manta . The frescoes are among the most valuable examples of court art of the 15th century. The themes of the fresco cycle are based on the novel Le Chevalier Errant by Tommaso III. back. The window side is decorated with a huge and very detailed representation of a fountain of youth . The larger-than-life figures of 18 heroes and heroines from the story are depicted on the remaining three walls . The characters are also portraits of 9 Marquis of Saluzzo and their wives. Valerano himself leads the line as Hector , followed by his father Tommaso III. as Alexander the Great . The other heroes are

The heroines appear:

Fresco in the Sala Baronale
  • Deipyle (Eleonora di Arborea, wife of Manfred I.)
  • Sinope (Alasia von Montferrat , wife of Manfred III.)
  • Hyppolite (Beatrice di Savoia, wife of Tommaso I)
  • Semiramis (Aloisia di Ceva, wife of Manfred IV.)
  • Aetiope (Beatrice Visconti, wife of Federico I.)
  • the Amazon queen Lampeto (Riccarda di Sicilia, wife of Tommaso II.)
  • Tamiris (Beatrice di Ginevra, wife of Federico II)
  • Teuca (Marguerite de Roussy, wife of Tommaso III.)
  • Penthesilea (Clemenzia Provana, wife of Valerano)

literature

  • Anita Piovano, Castello della Manta , Gribaudo, Cavallermaggiore, 2001, ISBN 88-8058-109-0
  • Ida Leinberger and Walter Pippke, DuMont Art Guide Piemont and Aosta Valley , 1999, ISBN 3-7701-4741-3 , pp. 238–341.
  • Heinz Schomann, Art Guide Piedmont - Liguria - Aosta Valley , Philipp Reclam GmbH, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-15-010305-3 , p. 381.

Web links

Commons : Castello della Manta  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 44 ° 36 ′ 52 ″  N , 7 ° 28 ′ 58 ″  E