A.Welcome

Miradolo Castle and its park are the home of the Cosso Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 2008 at the heartfelt behest of the Cosso family.

The foundation promotes projects and initiatives of key cultural and social interest. Through the pursuit and use of creative languages and a multidisciplinary approach, its mission is to promote cultural consumption and engagement, in the firm belief that cultural participation is essential for understanding the complexity of our world and ourselves.

A strategic project for the foundation has been the restoration and opening of Miradolo Castle and its historical park. Since 2007, the foundation has been working to bring the original estate back to light and make it fully accessible to the public, with a view to restoring to the local community an essential part of its heritage. In this way, Miradolo Castle has become a thriving cultural hub and hive of ideas, linked once again to its glorious past, in the late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds, as the cenacle for the coterie of artists that gravitated around Countess Sofia Cacherano di Bricherasio, the last owner of the estate.

When the countess died in 1950, Miradolo Castle was part of the rich bequest left to the Little Work of Divine Providence founded by Don Luigi Orione, which transformed the castle and its park into a spiritual retreat and summer home for the elderly. The repurposing in those years entailed major renovation works that, in many cases, were irreversible and not in keeping with the heritage of the estate. The extensive transformations affected the structure of the building, its finishings and materials, and the decorative elements. The original furnishings were sold off or stolen, and many of the majestic trees in the park were felled to be sold as timber. The botanical species introduced to replace them bore little resemblance to those envisaged by the original garden design.

By the mid-1990s, Miradolo Castle lay in a state of neglect and ruin. That was until it was purchased by a group of private investors, who assigned it to the Cosso Foundation for its activities.

My name is Paola Eynard and I’m vice-president and director of the Cosso Foundation. Since 2007, my mother Maria Luisa Cosso Eynard, the president of the organization, and I have been the caretakers of the castle and its park. Together we have strived to bring back the identity that was stripped from this place, working with care, step by step, observing and listening. After having suffered such injury and neglect, Miradolo Castle now shines again in all its splendor, able to enrich the days of those who choose to spend a few hours with us.

Every historical building has stories to tell, every heritage garden a genius loci, a spirit of the place that persists across time. We sincerely hope that our tour together today will inspire you to gaze on the nature of every building, every garden, every forest, or public park with a sense of wonder. The same wonder that the castle and its park inspired in us when it came into our lives. For they were here before us and will still be here after us.

If you use the audioguides, along the tour route, signs mark out the key points of interest—towering trees, shrubs of note, panoramic views, frescoes, the various rooms. To listen to the corresponding content, type the site number on the keyboard of the audio guide or scan the QR code with your smartphone.

Our voices will guide you through the discovery of this place, its projects, and the people who bring it to life.

Before starting on the tour, a few words of advice.

As you wander through the rooms, around the trees, and down the paths, take your time to listen and see, to feel and perceive, with all your senses, what you find here and what you find in yourself. It’s how we believe you’ll enjoy the tour best, attuning to the spirit of the place and respecting it by not picking the flowers and plants, not littering, and not disturbing the peace of a time and space that are a part of us all.

Welcome to Miradolo. Enjoy your tour.