The castle of Masino, in Caravino, was the main residence of the Valperga di Masino counts for ten centuries. Until the Renaissance it was defended by high walls and imposing watchtowers, then demolished to make way for monumental and splendid gardens with romantic features and typical of aristocratic Italy. The entire building is literally covered with frescoes, highly refined furniture and home to a truly extraordinary eighteenth-century carriage museum. Currently the castle is managed by the Italian Environment Fund and is included in the Canavese castles circuit. The castle was built in the 11th century at the behest of the Valperga family, a family that declared itself descended from King Arduino of Ivrea. Due to its strategic position, the fortress was immediately the scene of numerous battles between the various noble families of the time (Savoy, the Acaia, the Visconti and the counts of Masino themselves) who competed for the Canavese area.
In the sixteenth century the castle was demolished and completely rebuilt by the French, assuming the function of a stately home. In the 18th century it was enriched with neoclassical decorations. On the death of the last inhabitant of the residence, in 1988, Vittoria Leumann, wife of Count Cesare Valperga, her son, Luigi Valperga di Masino, ceded the building to FAI.
The Masino Castle is located on a moraine hill in the center of the Ivrea plain, in Canavese, near the Serra d'Ivrea and is surrounded by an immense park in which a maze of hedges is placed. The Museum of carriages has been set up in the eighteenth-century stables, while inside the richly furnished monumental rooms have been restored to the beauty of the past, among which the splendid ballroom stands out.