Castello della Manta
The castle of Manta, Italian Castello della Manta, is a castle above the town of Manta at Saluzzo in Piedmont.
1175 Manta fief was the Margraviate of Saluzzo. Marquis Tommaso I built on the foundations of an older fort, a castle, which was formed with the castles of Revello, Verzuolo, Costigliole and Busca, a defensive line along the foot of the Alps. The castle was built in 1370 by Margrave Tommaso III. gothic expanded and in 1416 his illegitimate son Valerano del Vasto whose family inherited the castle beyond the end of the Margraviate of Saluzzo retained. In 1587, the castle was rebuilt castle -like. 1793 died the last descendant of the Valerano, then fell into the castle. In 1860 the outer fortifications were demolished. In 1984, the FAI and the plant began an exemplary restoration.
The castle
The castle is surrounded by a park of the 16th century. That outwardly unassuming building with a round tower preserved to a large extent the appearance of the 13th and 14th centuries. Slightly below the castle is the castle chapel from the 14th century. Michel Antonio del Vasto let them equip around 1560 with frescoes and stucco.
Sala delle Feste
The large banquet hall upstairs was built around 1560. Michel Antonio del Vasto left the vault with Mannerist frescoes imagine. The grotesques have the paintings in the Domus Aurea in Rome for the model which has just been rediscovered.
Sala Baronale
The Sala Baronale let Valerano after 1420 drawing by an unknown artist, which is guided in the history of art as a master of Manta. The frescoes are among the most valuable examples of courtly art of the 15th century. The themes of the frescoes go to the novel Le Chevalier Errant by Tommaso III. back. The windows side is decorated with a huge and very detailed representation of a fountain of youth. On the remaining three walls which are life-size figures of 18 heroes and heroines of the story is presented. The people are also portraits of 9 Marquis of Saluzzo and their wives. Valerano itself leads the series as a Hector, followed by his father Tommaso III. when Alexander the Great. The other heroes are
- Julius Caesar ( Marquis Federico II )
- Joshua ( Marquis Tommaso II )
- King David ( Marquis Federico I. )
- Judas Maccabaeus ( Markgraf Manfredo IV )
- King Arthur ( Marquis Tommaso I. )
- Charlemagne ( Markgraf Manfredo III. )
- Godfrey of Bouillon ( Markgraf Manfredo I. )
As heroines occur:
- Deipyle ( Eleonora di Arborea, wife of Manfred I. )
- Sinope ( Alasia of Montferrat, wife of Manfred III. )
- Hyppolite ( Beatrice di Savoia, wife of Tommaso I. )
- Semiramis ( Aloisia di Ceva, wife of Manfred IV )
- Aetiope ( Beatrice Visconti, wife of Federico I. )
- Queen of the Amazons Lampeto ( Riccarda di Sicilia, wife of Tommaso II )
- Tamiris ( Beatrice di Ginevra, wife of Federico II )
- Teuca ( Marguerite de Roussy, wife of Tommaso III. )
- Penthesilea ( Clemenzia Provana, wife of Valerano )