VALENTINO, Medieval Village

You are now in the Medieval Village that was built within the Parco del Valentino along the banks of the Po River.

Although it certainly has some ancient Roman origins, Turin saw its largest phase of development starting in the second half of the 1500s, and has very few monuments from previous centuries. This shortcoming was compensated by creating the Medieval Village around the end of the 1800s. You should know that at that time, a passion for so-called "Historicism" had spread throughout Europe, which consisted in the restoration of old buildings and new "in style" buildings, also for highlighting a country's national identity through architecture.

The village is designed as a summary of characteristic regional monuments, which were carefully reproduced and built close together to simulate a village of prevailing Gothic style: most of the reproduced buildings date back to the 15th century. Perhaps this architectural collage will look "fake" to you, but you can't deny that its whole certainly isn't ugly, and that the paved road that crosses the village and passes by arcades, fountains, and towers is a blast from the past that has a certain charm....