A few miles from Turin, behind the Superga hill, on a hilltop that is a foretaste of the plateau that separates the main city of Piedmont from Langhe and Monferrato, stands the elegant silhouette of Castello di Montaldo. A stern castle, its first stones laid in the year 1011, built at the request of Landolfo, Bishop of Turin. The remains, dating back to the 18th century, are instead the result of the many changes the castle experienced over the years. In this case, it was Count Carlo Emanuele Ferrero d’Ormea who made the major renovation works, turning it into a sumptuous villa as his main dwelling. As it changed hands, the castle was also inhabited by a few religious orders, then in recent times it was converted into a hotel and spa that wrenched it out of a state of dilapidation and desertion and brought it back to its pristine glory. The project, designed by Gianni Arnaudo, entirely changed the space in conceptual terms, thinking not just of shaping it into an exclusive “design hotel” in the footsteps of what has already been made all over the world, but into a veritable museum. There, the guests may not only benefit from its new well-balanced areas and a renewed physical and sensory wellbeing, they can also broaden their cultural horizons as they walk through the trails, the rooms and the suites, by coming into contact with designer pieces, a selection of the most outstanding international ancient and contemporary works of art.
The layout that changed the castle so dramatically had to consider the rigidity of the shell and the interior partitions, balancing the needs of a hotel, the addition of a brand-new spa, and the inclusion of adequate reception and eating areas. The building consists of four levels. On the ground floor are the swimming-pool and the larger spa equipment, connected by a double lift to the attic which houses the rest of the spa and offers a wonderful view. The other floors house the suites, meeting rooms and restaurants. Within the old walls, the guests are guided by sketches that describe the designer pieces, their history, features, the authors’ philosophy and poetics through an attractive journey amidst objects from all ages, learning about one of the least known areas of figurative art in the best possible way.
With his design, Gianni Arnaudo aimed at sewing together, in time and space, some masterpieces of design and creativity, providing guests with a chance to explore new horizons of thinking, new items, to understand their value, their charms, and maybe to love them as evidence of the endless, innovative research that progress is built on.
