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THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CASTLE - 2

The ground floor was dedicated to the garrison and servants: there was the armoury (the room in which today a scale model of the castle can be found), an office for the collection of taxes, the kitchen for the servants and soldiers, the Lords’ kitchen and the soldiers’ dormitory.

Besides this there were the cellars, the storehouses, and a prison consisting of only two cells. The punishment cell was that reserved for those who had committed particularly serious crimes. Prisoners were undressed, held tied up and soaked with cold water. Exposed to cold draughts from the two little windows, they died in only a few days, of “natural causes”. This was the justification given by the Challants to the Savoy family, the latter of superior noble status and considerably more humane.

The second cell, known as the “common cell” - was reserved for those who had committed lighter crimes. We know nothing about the length of internment in this cell, but its limited size and the particularly cruel culture of those times would lead one to think that mortality rates were rather elevated.

Last of all, the inside courtyard is probably the most evocative place in the Fénis castle. The semi-circular-stepped stairs, above which lie two galleries and splendid frescoes, make it a true masterpiece of the medieval era.

The inner courtyard has been faithfully reproduced in Turin’s “Rocca medievale”, a project pioneered by the architect Alfredo D’Andrade.