#02 The Galleria Carlo Alberto and the small Mansion
The Galleria Carlo Alberto
The Galleria Carlo Alberto (XIX century) links the Borelli mansion to the garden; it was built by Count Giacinto Borelli in the first half of the XIX century and it is a two-storey building adjoining the oldest Small Mansion.
Part of the ground floor forms an arch on Via dell’Archivolto, which connects Piazza Statuto to Via Parrocchia; a second part, adjoining the massive wall of the park was once a coach shed. After a careful restoration,it is used today as Tourist Office.
On the first floor, the Galleria Carlo Alberto, a wide corridor of 16.50 by 2.50 metres allowing a good view of Piazza Statuto through five windows on the left; on the right there is the entrance to the Small Mansion.
A recent restoration has revealed XIX century decorations, hidden under many layers of plasterwork.
The door at the end of the Galleria leads to the first terrace of the garden.
Il Palazzetto
The transformation and the restoration of the Small Mansion by Count Borelli stems from the need to create guest-rooms for members of the aristocracy (the King of Sardinia Charles Albert I was his guest in several occasions) with rooms symmetrically distributed around a vaulted hall, called Hall of the Emperors because it is decorated with four medallions bearing the bas-relief profiles of Roman emperors.
The restoration divided some rooms, such as the “prayer room” (where women could attend Mass without going out) overlooking the interior of the church of the Holy Cross.
Next to it, in the large “Stanza degli Uccelli” there is a fine pink marble mantlepiece, very similar to the ones in the Borelli mansion.
The feudal character of the site, and the quality of the structure, support the hypothesis that the Small Mansion belonged to the Bolleris family since the Middle Ages.
Certainly it became their home when, in 1588, the Angevine castle was destroyed, and until the Bolleris/Borelli mansion was built in 1606.
Today the Small Mansion, perfectly restored, is the seat of the “Piero Camilla” Library of Demonte.
Underlying the Stanza degli Uccelli there is the “House of the blacksmith”. Refurbished in 2007, it is an interesting example of the everyday life of the population and of an artisan workshop.
At the entrance, on the left there is a little cellar, while on the right there are the forge, the tools to shoe horses, the fireplace and the bellows. Upstairs, there’s a modest but decent bedroom.
Bibliography
– “Relazione storico-tecnica preliminare al restauro del Palazzo Borelli”, 1996 del Politecnico di Torino, Professoressa Dottor Arch. Claudia Bonardi
– “Parrocchia S.Donato di Demonte” Ed. Diocesi di Cuneo, 2008
– Studio Architetti Associati Torino – “Palazzo e Parco Borelli, progetto di restauro e valorizzazione”, 2010, Arch. Carla Bartolozzi,
– “Demonte ieri e oggi”, Primalpe Edizioni, 1983
– Archivio storico della Confraternita di San Giovanni Decollato di Demonte