Palace Carignano, Torino
Palace Carignano is a historical building in the centre of Turin which currently houses the Museum of the Risorgimento, commemorating the most significant events of the Risorgimento, the First World War, the antifascist underground, and the Resistance.
In 1679 Emanuele Filiberto commissioned Guarino Guarini to design a palace for his family. The building, constructed in brick in a typical Baroque style, has an elliptical center façade. This facade offers the only domestic project to make use of the undulating ‘concave – convex – concave’ rhythm established by Francesco Borromini in the church of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. The decorations over the windows of the piano nobile recall the campaign of the Carignano family with the French against the Iroquois in 1667.
Since 1814, the building’s history intertwined with that of the Italian Risorgimento: from its balcony, on March 21, 1821, Prince Regent Carlo Alberto read out a proclaim granting the Spanish Constitution.
Following Carlo Alberto’s accession to the throne and his move to Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Carignano was ceded to the State Demesne. In 1848, the building was chosen as the seat of the Chamber of Deputies of the Subalpine Parliament and to this purpose architect Carlo Sada modified the Feast Hall. When the first Italian Parliament was established, the old Parliament hall turned out to be too small. Temporary quarters were built in the courtyard, and were used till Italy’s capital was transferred to Florence in 1864.
