Medieval Village of Turin

Notice the sprawling complex of red brick towers, defensive stone walls topped with notched, tooth like gaps called crenellations, and a multi story fortress sitting right on the riverbank. It looks like a pristine, untouched slice of the fifteenth century, does it not? But I have a secret to share. It is entirely, wonderfully fake.

Turin was constantly reinventing itself during this era, testing new boundaries in culture, society, and industry, and this place perfectly captures that experimental spirit. This entire medieval village was constructed from scratch as a temporary pavilion for the 1884 exhibition. Talk about obsessive architectural ambition. A Portuguese former merchant turned architect named Alfredo d'Andrade led a team of intellectuals across the region, obsessively measuring and copying real medieval ruins. The public thought they had lost their minds. One newspaper even mocked them, saying the Portuguese architect was building a new Tower of Babel.

But their dedication was absolute. One team member, Vittorio Avondo, had actually purchased a genuine ruined castle with his own money just to study its architecture. Thanks to his intense passion, the village was built with staggering precision. When it opened, the inauguration was pure theater. Guests drifted down the river in boats, dressed in extravagant costumes as fairies, friars, witches, and even Hercules, completely surrendering to the illusion.

The project cost an absolute fortune. They spent over 548,000 lire, an astronomical sum back then that would be equivalent to several million dollars today. Originally, all these beautiful houses were supposed to be demolished when the exhibition ended. But the public fell so deeply in love with this theatrical dream that the city of Turin purchased the whole complex for a bargain of just 100,000 lire, saving it from destruction. It narrowly escaped ruin again during the Second World War when heavy bombing tore through the southern section. The city almost bulldozed the wreckage, but thankfully chose to meticulously restore it instead.

For over a century, the village felt truly alive because real artisans worked and lived inside these walls. Sadly, that tradition recently met a heartbreaking pause. In early 2024, a massive modern restoration project required the village to close for two years. The last historic craftsmen, like the blacksmith Mastro Corradin and the printer Mastro Cerrato, whose print shop had operated there since 1947, were painfully forced to pack up their tools and leave the only homes they knew. Still, the walls remain, holding onto the memory of those master craftsmen and the wild imaginations of the men who built them. Now, we are going to make a leap from this beautiful, fake medieval fantasy into genuine, breathtaking modernism. Take a lovely four minute walk with me to our final stop, the Turin Exhibitions building.