Castello di Camino

Private property. Camino started out as ancient Roman and later Germanic settlements. The castle rises in an important strategic location, dominating the hills of northern Monferrato and embraces the bank of the Po and the Vercelli plain. This is a majestic and solemn building with a high turreted and crenelated mass. This strategic location led to the construction of a defensive structure around 1000 on the hill of Camino and was later expanded and fortified as time passed and was still active in the 1600s. Today, despite the many interior and exterior renovations, Camino castle is one of the most important fortresses of the province of Alessandria. The construction of the castle, a true mediaeval fortress due to its architectural volumes, was begun at the behest of the Bishopric of Asti; however, for the construction of the fortress the most important investiture is recorded in the 1300s with the Marquis Teodoro Paleologo when, in serious economic difficulties, he granted Camino to the Scarampi brothers, bankers from Asti. The family is uninterruptedly the feudal lord of the castle, identifying the military and architectural history of the complex with a series of important interventions in three different periods: the late 1300s, 1600s -1700s, and finally the decades that span the 1800s and 1900s. The oldest part is the section that includes the 44-metre-high crenelated tower with an unusual rectangular plan. A draw bridge has been inserted in the lowest part of the building. The Scarampi built an imposing castle by 1300 around this original nucleus and using disengagement areas. The structure has an irregular plan due to the different parts set against each other and for having taken advantage of the natural undulation of the land. The position and the fortified structure make it a powerful castle with excellent defensive abilities, but between the late 1600s and early 1700s the military importance of the Castle of Camino ends. The great staircase was opened, and, above all, the hall was built decorated with faux architecture and floral arrangements open to the south on a stone balcony, in Baroque style. Stuccos frame the 22 oil paintings by Domenico Guala and dedicated to as many members of the Scarampi family. Between the end of the 1800s and the early 1900s the castle was again subject to alterations which involved the decoration and the interior furnishings, in a neo-Gothic style. The ancient chapel was reduced in size and re-decorated and is home to a triptych attributed to Macrino d’Alba. To welcome Vittorio Emanuele II, a room on the first floor of the castle was extensively re-decorated, re-furnished and given the name of "King’s Room". The privately owned castle of Camino is immersed in a large, picturesque park with century-old trees.