On Sunday, October 18th and Sunday, October 25th, the Granda gardens will open in autumn. In Cuneo, it will be possible to visit the house and garden of Villa Oldofredi Tadini and the exhibition "Margherita, Queen of Style," one hundred years after her death.
The tour, by reservation, is led by the owners, descendants of the Oldofredi Tadini family, and includes the chapel, with its mementos of the Shroud of Turin; the main floor of the house, with its succession of living rooms furnished with period furniture and rich in Risorgimento relics; the first floor with the bedrooms; and the garden, the oldest in the city, which still retains its original 17th-century "French" layout, with a central avenue and symmetrical arrangement of trees and green areas.
Opening hours: 10am – 11pm – 2pm – 3pm – 4pm.
Entrance fee: €10.00; free for children under 10.
The Villa Oldofredi Tadini complex is built around a medieval watchtower built to defend the city of Cuneo. The villa, commissioned in the 16th century by the Counts of Mocchia di San Michele, underwent numerous expansions and additions over the centuries, culminating in the construction of the chapel in 1764. In 1799, the French, who occupied Cuneo, beheaded Count Mocchia for his anti-French stance; his ghost is said to still haunt the house. In the mid-19th century, the house passed to the Oldofredi Tadini family, an ancient Lombard family, lords of Lake Iseo and Franciacorta.
Inside the villa, one hundred years after the death of Italy's first queen, the exhibition "Margherita, Queen of Style" has been set up. Count Gerolamo Oldofredi Tadini was a gentleman at the court of Queen Margherita; the villa preserves documents, letters, photographs, and objects that belonged to the first queen of Italy, which are on display in the exhibition.
