Castello di Ozegna, Medieval castle in Ozegna, Italy.
Castello di Ozegna occupies the north-western quarter of Ozegna's old ricetto in the Canavese, Piedmont. Its present appearance dates to around 1595, when Count Bonifacio di San Martino turned it into a seigneurial residence. The piano nobile hall is painted with frescoes attributed to Flemish workshops, showing Henry IV's 1593 abjuration and his 1594 coronation.
The castle is first cited in Pietro Azario's "De bello canepiciano" of 1363 as belonging to the Counts of Biandrate. In 1433 Amedeo VIII of Savoy sent Teobaldo d'Avanchier to take it during the war with the Marquisate of Monferrato. Around 1595 Bonifacio di San Martino, count of Ozegna, enlarged it into a seigneurial residence.
In the main hall of the piano nobile, wall frescoes depict the 1593 abjuration of Protestantism by Henry IV of Bourbon and his coronation as King of France in 1594. Count Bonifacio di San Martino, ambassador of Savoy to Madrid, the Emperor and Pope Innocent IX, likely commissioned them after returning home; their style points to Flemish painters.
The castle occupies the north-western quarter of Ozegna's old ricetto, in the centre of the village. The complex is privately owned and not regularly open, so visits depend on occasional openings or organised tours; confirm before travelling. The parish church facade now stands where the ricetto's tall gate with drawbridge once rose.
Bonifacio dei conti di San Martino, count of Ozegna around 1595, had the noble floor's salon frescoed with scenes of Henry IV of Bourbon's 1593 abjuration of Protestantism and his 1594 coronation, events he witnessed as Savoy's ambassador. The style points to Flemish painters. The castle passed through his daughter Elisabetta, who married Count Faraone Solaro of Moretta, since he had no male heirs.
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