The Heraldic Room
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Descrizione
In the 1820s, Miradolo Castle was given a new lease of life thanks to Maria Elisabetta Ferrero della Marmora, known to all as “Babet,” Marquess Maurizio Massel’s widow.
After her husband died in 1816, though left with three small children, Maria Elisabetta decided not to remarry and began personally managing the family’s estate. Dividing her time between the family houses in Miradolo, Pinerolo, and Turin, she single-handedly consolidated the estate, restoring the lands devasted by battle during the Napoleonic Wars. Managing affairs traditionally reserved to men, she oversaw extensive renovation work, financial lending, the negotiation of contracts, and the repair of the farmhouses.
In particular, between 1820 and 1839, Maria Elisabetta devoted her efforts to Miradolo Castle. Transforming the manor in neo-Gothic style, she had the greenhouse built in 1831 and the round tower added in 1839 to celebrate her son’s wedding. Thanks to Babet’s fine sensibilities, Miradolo Castle today presents a poised harmony and elegance in its architectural design and decorative features, as well as in the layout of the park.
Here in the Heraldic Room, the vaulted ceiling features the coat of arms of the Massel family. The Cacherano di Bricherasio coat of arms is instead found in the niche on the wall, where it is shown supported by a double-headed eagle holding a globe and a sword in its talons and surmounted by a crown. The escutcheon features horizontal black and white, or more properly silver, indented lines. Below it is a banderole with the family motto, “Sureté,” meaning “safety” in French. Traditionally, family mottos always included virtues, written in Latin for noble houses of medieval age and in French for modern noble houses.
The walls here were originally frescoed, but later covered over with wall tiles in the years when the castle belonged to the religious congregation. Today the walls are bare as the removal of the tiles irreparably detached the frescoes.