{"id":23075,"date":"2026-01-13T22:36:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T21:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/the-bucentaur-of-the-house-of-savoy\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T15:13:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T13:13:58","slug":"the-bucentaur-of-the-house-of-savoy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/explore-the-venaria-reale\/the-masterpieces\/the-bucentaur-of-the-house-of-savoy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bucentaur of the House of Savoy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Great Stable currently hosts The Royal Stables<\/em>, an exhibition that includes the Bucentaur of the House of Savoy<\/strong> and some sumptuous ceremonial carriages used by the House of Savoy in the early 19th century.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe splendid Bucentaur, commissioned by Vittorio Amedeo II between 1729 and 1731<\/strong> and crafted in Venice, is the only remaining of its kind<\/strong> and it is presented “armed” in full with mast, oars and sails.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Bucentaur was\u00a0constructed in Venice in the squeri <\/em>(or boatyards) and on September 4, 1731<\/strong> it was entrusted to the concierge of the\u00a0Castle of\u00a0Valentino\u00a0after 32 days after being drawn by animals up\u00a0the Po river.\u00a0
\n\tFrom its landing at the dock of the Valentino\u2019s Castle, the Savoy’s Bucentaur, richly decorated with carved and gilded sculptural groups and allegorical paintings in the \u201ctiemo\u201d (the guest cabin), became the sumptuous parade boat to be displayed as a symbol of royal power in the ceremonies and shows held on the river, an authentic stage on the water.\u00a0
\n\tFrom Charles Emmanuel III to Victor Emmanuel II, the \u201cfloat palace\u201d accompanied the history of the dynasty, up to the gift that the first King of Italy made of it in 1869 to the city of Turin, which in 1873 destined it to the Civic Museum<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAbandoning the waters of the Po River that had seen it as a protagonist for over a century, the Savoy Bucentaur was thus turned into a museum and conserved as a great work of art, the only one of its kind left, since the last Bucentaur of the Doges, built in the same Venetian shipyards, had been destroyed by fire in 1798.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe restoration <\/strong>of the elegant vessel, thanks to the support and financing of the Consulta per la Valorizzazione dei Beni Artistici e Culturali di Torino<\/em> (Council for the Enhancement of the Artistic and Cultural Heritage of Turin), is completed at the laboratories of the Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale <\/strong>(La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre) with the masterly conservative restoration, which restores brilliance to the gilding and paintings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Great Stables and the Citroniera<\/h3>\n

\n\tJuvarra\u2019s Great Stables are one of the most imposing architectural spaces of La Venaria and a masterpiece of European Baroque.
\n\tThe Great Stable<\/strong>, which houses the Bucentaur, is part of the dual Great Stable and Citroniera<\/strong> building, designed by Filippo Juvarra<\/strong> between 1722 and 1727 for King Victor Amadeus II. The building unites the two areas behind a large fa\u00e7ade that acts as an architectural backdrop to the Gardens.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe great aisle of the Great Stable, 148 m long, 12 m wide and 15 m high, (wider than any other stables in a royal residence in Piedmont and comparable with the one built by Jean Aubert in 1719 at Chantilly), could hold around 200 horses. Its presence provided shelter to the north side of the Citroniera.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the 19th century, the building maintained its function, perfectly suited to military needs.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Citroniera<\/strong>, lit on the south side by large windows, 148 metres long, 14 metres wide and 16 metres high, housed some 400 crates of citrus fruits from the Grand Parterre during the winter, along with jasmine, pomegranates and oleanders.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe\u00a0space of La Citroniera was designed to inspire awe by virtue of its considerable proportions as well as its plastic and\u00a0chiaroscuro effects: to the south the arc-shaped openings are topped by oculi or round recesses to maximize light\u00a0and heat in the winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tJuvarra had originally designed a rich set of stucco decorations for pilaster strips, recesses and openings\u00a0like those that can be found in the Great Gallery: however they were only partially completed and\u00a0eventually disappeared in the 19th century.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe imposing and elegant space of the Citroniera is the ideal location to host the largest events <\/strong>taking place at the Reggia di Venaria.<\/p>\n

\n\t\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe splendid Bucentaur commissioned by Vittorio Amedeo II between 1729 and 1731 and crafted in Venice, the only remaining of its kind<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21994,"parent":23070,"menu_order":572,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"area-tematica-evento":[],"class_list":["post-23075","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23075\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"area-tematica-evento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lavenaria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/area-tematica-evento?post=23075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}