What is Racconigi known for?

UNESCO Savoy residence of the Carignano branch, the country estate that with Govone, Agliè and Pollenzo framed the rural Sabauda circuit. LIPU breeding centre opened in 1985, the site that re-established the white stork as a nesting species in Italy after its mid-twentieth-century extinction. Secret agreement signed in the castle on 24 October 1909 between Vittorio Emanuele III and Tsar Nicholas II, dividing Italian and Russian spheres of influence.

Racconigi is a comune in the province of Cuneo, Piedmont region of Italy, about 42 kilometers from Torino.

Piedmont · Cuneo

Racconigi

A Po-plain town south of Torino built around the UNESCO Castello Reale, the Carignano Savoy residence whose park holds Italy's largest white-stork colony.

42 km / 26 mi

Nearest hub (Torino)

9,634

Population

Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

UNESCO

Why come

Racconigi sitson the Po plain 35 kilometres south of Torino. The town belonged in turn to the marquises of Saluzzo, the princes of Acaia and the Savoia-Carignano. The Castello Reale, with an original eleventh-century fortified core, was granted in 1630 by Duke Carlo Emanuele I to his nephew Tommaso Francesco, founder of the Carignano line; in the late 1600s Emmanuel Philibert commissioned Guarino Guarini to convert the fortress into a pleasure residence and add the pagoda-roofed central pavilion. The 170-hectare park was laid out in 1755 by the French gardener Molard on Le Nôtre's designs and remade in 1835 by the German Xavier Kurten with lakes, canals and romantic follies. UNESCO inscribed it in 1997 with the other Savoy residences. The Centro Anatidi e Cicogne, opened by LIPU in 1985 in a farmhouse next to the park, rebuilt Italy's extinct white-stork breeding population from this site. On 24 October 1909 Vittorio Emanuele III and Tsar Nicholas II signed the Racconigi Bargain in the castle.

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Gallery

4 photos · scroll →

Known for

Castello Reale di Racconigi
UNESCO Savoy residence of the Carignano line, eleventh-century core remodelled by Guarino Guarini in the late seventeenth century, restored continuously since 1980.
Parco Reale
170-hectare romantic park laid out in 1755 by the French gardener Molard on Le Nôtre's designs, redrawn in 1835 by Xavier Kurten with lakes, canals and follies.
Centro Anatidi e Cicogne LIPU
Reintroduction centre opened by LIPU in 1985 next to the park, the breeding site that re-established the white stork as a nesting species in Italy.
Centro storico
Old town between the castle and the rail station, marked by the 1909 Racconigi Bargain signed in the castle between Vittorio Emanuele III and Nicholas II.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June is the best window: castle and Parco Reale on long opening hours, the storks on the nests in the LIPU centre, mild temperatures on the plain south of Torino. July and August touch the mid-thirties and afternoons in the park are hard work; the castle stays cool. September and October are the second strong window, vendemmia on the surrounding plain, fewer visitors than spring. November through February the Po valley fog sits low for days, the castle runs reduced winter hours, and the park calendar pulls back to weekends. March is variable, often the worst light of the year for photographing the residence.