Royal castle of Cogne, Medieval castle in Cogne, Italy

The Royal Castle of Cogne is a squat five-storey building with a quadrangular plan beside the church of Sant'Orso in the centre of Cogne. Its tower-house form recalls its medieval origin; a stone plaque on the facade marks it as an Italian national monument. It is now divided into private apartments and cannot be visited.

In 1191 Count Thomas I of Savoy, Aosta and Maurienne allowed the Bishop of Aosta, his spiritual and temporal lord, to build a castle at Cogne. The first certain record is a 1245 charter naming a «turris domini episcopi»; the bishop's castellan governed the county from the tower. The parish was expropriated in 1867, the castle auctioned in 1873 and bought for Victor Emmanuel II, who made it a hunting base for his royal reserve, later the Gran Paradiso National Park. Private owners took it over in 1915.

In the 15th century the castle was where local politics were decided and general audiences were held, with the bishop's castellan administering the county of Cogne from the tower. A stone plaque on the facade marks it as an Italian national monument.

The castle stands beside the church of Sant'Orso in the centre of Cogne and is a private building divided into apartments, so it cannot be visited inside. Visitors can look at the five-storey exterior and the stone plaque on the facade that marks it as an Italian national monument.

The castle was auctioned in 1873 and bought by a representative of the king; Victor Emmanuel II, nicknamed le roi chasseur, turned it into a hunting lodge for access to the royal reserve that later became Gran Paradiso National Park. His successor Victor Emmanuel III, less interested in ibex, let it fall into disuse until private owners took it over in 1915.