Castello di Vettigne, Santhia

It is one of the most notable castles in the Vercelli area, both for its position (it stands in the open countryside) and for its architectural structure. What is most striking is the soaring main tower with its characteristic cylindrical shape, very similar to those of the nearby castles of Quinto Vercellese and San Genuario. Furthermore, the machicolations of what must have been the patrol path in the 15th century, the time of its construction, are still clearly visible. It was between the 17th and 18th centuries that the castle lost its original defensive function. It belonged for a long time to the Vialardi di Verrone and subsequently to the Dal Pozzo, until in 1867 it became the property of the Savoia-Aosta; after the Second World War it was sold to private individuals. It deserves five stars for its historical and artistic value, but unfortunately it is impossible to keep silent about the state of abandonment in which it finds itself.

Here in the lands of water the passing of the seasons is able to create a surprising shade of colors, today the bright green of the fields in summer is incredible. Expanses of fields that in spring are covered with water, forming an endless plain of rectangles ... this is "the checkered sea" with this name it is associated with the Vercelli rice area, an unusual landscape that cannot fail to amaze and fascinate those who is found walking the streets of this corner of Piedmont. This morning I find myself driving along the road to the grange, which literally means "granaries", were ancient housing units and agricultural centers within which the Cistercian monks, carried out reclamation works on the territories in order to make them suitable for use agricultural. In the heart of this checkered sea there is an ancient but now abandoned village, formed around an abandoned castle, the oldest parts of which date back to the fifteenth century and I am about to go and visit it. The original quadrangular structure encloses a large courtyard: the surviving buildings occupy the western area and the north-east corner. The construction of the castle dates back to around 1460 and consists of a massive fortress equipped with a cylindrical tower and a small square turret, placed to protrude at the south-east corner. The second body of the building is instead a tower located at the opposite corner, from which you can still see the ancient entrance that allowed access to the complex via a drawbridge. The whole complex underwent, between the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth century, functional and structural transformations, having lost the strategic and defensive function of the past, in 1867, the castle passed to the Savoy when Maria Vittoria Carlotta Enrichetta Dal Pozzo della Cisterna, daughter of the last male heir of the Dal Pozzo family, owners of the castle, married Prince Amedeo of Savoy. In the same period, the east wing was renovated with the construction of a three-storey building to house the royal apartments, where the three sons of Amedeo di Savoia often stayed. The castle was sold by the Savoy family to private individuals at the end of the Second World War and was gradually abandoned, the core of the castle and the buildings of the village, although in a precarious state of conservation, still draw a suggestive panorama, immersed in the changing landscape of the rice fields. framed by the alpine range in the background.

More than a castle, it is an entire village, with towers, a patrician house with frescoed halls, a church haunted by ghosts, stables and houses for the peasants. The buildings date back to the Middle Ages and were also owned by the Savoy-Aosta, before being abandoned after the war. Today the entire village, with the exception of a small side area where a lovely B & b is located, is completely in ruins. The roofs have collapsed and the buildings crumbling. However, everything has a priceless and decadent suggestion.

Unfortunately we could not even get close. Seen only from a distance.

Unfortunately in a state of neglect but extremely beautiful! Immersed in absolute quiet