Valentino Castle

In the style of French castles, it has four square towers with pointed roofs and porticoes and galleries in Italian style. […] Since 1860 it has housed the Scuola di Applicazione per gli Ingegneri and the very rich Museo di Geologia e Mineralogia del Politecnico. The Museo Industriale is also there.

In the midst [of the Giardino Pubblico del Valentino] rises the Castello del Valentino, which since 1861 has been home to the R. Scuola d’ Applicazione per gl’Ingegneri. […] The Castello del Valentino is one of the most distinguished buildings in the city, helping to give greater prominence to the beauty of the site on which it stands. Its façade is turned to the hills and a vast courtyard is laid out between the two rear wings, adorned with a loggia and enclosed by railings. It is worth visiting the hall and a dozen or so carefully restored rooms whose stuccoes, paintings and ceilings still attest to the extravagant and fanciful tastes of the seventeenth century.

The Valentino is a castle situated on the bank of the Po, beyond Porta Nuova. It was rebuilt in 1660 by the duchess Christine of France, as shown by the inscription. It is decorated with porticoes and columns arranged around an oval courtyard, creating a wonderful effect. […] The promenade, which leads from Porta di Torino to the Valentino, consists of three big avenues lined with trees that make the journey to the castle more pleasant. The princes go there and their carriages line up like all the others; when one meets them in the curve, one moves aside as much as possible and sometimes stops.

For relief of the spirit often oppressed by the constant care of state government, and for the honest entertainment of the royal sons, Madama Reale [Christine of France] built this grand edifice on the banks of the Eridano; she made it lofty in the height of its walls, admirable in its architecture, flourishing in its fields, extensive in its avenues, shady in its woods, rich in its gold, and no less graceful than mysterious in its paintings.