"Magliano is called a hill of the mountain of the seven castles, because, according to local tradition, seven-strong houses already existed on the summit, "wrote G. Casalis in 1842 in his" Gazetteer of the States of the King of Sardinia. The legend was fed by Maglianesi place names (like "Castellero"and "Rocchetta, perhaps indicative of ancient fortifications devices) and the ruins of the ancient fortress of Magliano, built by the noble" De Malian "and whose first historical records go back to '998 years ("intus castro here dicitur Malijano) .
That first fort was built from a strong core circular houses (shelter) and towers crowning the hilly front of the existing castle and now a public park named after Vittorio Alfieri. It was defended on three sides by steep slopes of the hill and on one side by a ditch. His latest walls, already precarious, were demolished in the mid-800. In the House of Magliano Alfieri and Castagnole Lanze belonged Catalano Alfieri (1602-1674), who in 1649 began the construction of the castle where, since 1300, there was a "palatium" or fortified house, which was demolished to make room for the new building.
Catalano was employed by the House of Savoy, one of its tasks was to collect the taxes in the entire area and did so with such zeal to be hated by all, it is said that the people saying "Nusgnur a man whom one chain by ra Losne from u trun ed'ar Catalan cunt "(May the Lord protect us from lightning, the thunder and the Catalan count). And the fate would have it in his castle are now exposed plaster ceilings of the humble homes of peasants who hated him.
In 1660 he was appointed Knight of SS.Annunziata and was awarded the collar of the order. His life ended tragically, however: accused of treason for failing to seize Savona and Genoa, in the disastrous expedition of 1672, was sentenced to death and thrown in the dungeons of the Palazzo Madama in Turin, where he died of a heart attack on 14 / 9 / 1674 (but was subjected to autopsy because they suspected a murder). In 1679 he was rehabilitated after his accuser, slanderer was executed by beheading in 1676. In a letter to his wife Catalano had written "The slander can not have lasting success" and
this could send us back to the motto "Tort them hard", which can be read on the show once in the arms of Alfieri. Catalano is also said that before he died, he wrote this motto with his blood on the walls of the same cell where he was imprisoned before being executed his slanderer.
By the will of his son Charles Emmanuel was built a marble mausoleum "in memory of the great and beloved father, still visible today in the Presbytery of St. Andrew's Parish, in the town of Magliano. Charles Emmanuel, who was minister of the Savoy in Madrid, Paris, Vienna and ambassador to London, succeeded his father therefore concluded parts of Catalonia and the main building of the castle, circa 1680. His bust was placed in a niche of the main staircase with a dedication by his son Joseph Catalano mail Alfieri and his widow Eleanor of Entracque.
A Charles Emmanuel succeeded Hyacinth Louis fourth and last Earl of Magliano Alfieri Magliano of male and Castagnole, which in 1768 built the chapel inside the castle. It was the third husband of Monica Maillard de Tournon: this from a previous marriage with Count Amedeo Alfieri Cortemilia in 1749 was born in Asti Vittorio Alfieri. Monica Magliano destination that often, the child, advisable to go to the family castle, he wrote from Paris: "It 's a beautiful place, and good air, and I think that should help considerably. "
With the death of Giacinto's Ludovico di Magliano Alfieri became extinct in 1797, the castle passed through various hands until the Marquis Cesare, Support of Alfieri (lords of nearby St. Martin from 1615), all recovered in 1843. Succeeded by his son Charles Albert's nieces and Adele (1851-1937) and Luisa Alfieri (1852-1921) with which it also became extinct branch of Alfieri. In 1952 the Marquise Pallavicino Margaret (widow of the son of Louis Alfieri, Giovanni Visconti Venosta) offered the building as a gift to the city that rejected him, he accepted instead the pastor of St. Andrew, Don Drocco. After various vicissitudes and misuse, as he took the form of an ethnographic museum project, the Superintendence of environmental and architectural built a first speech protection in 1976, thanks to the efforts of a group of young Maglianesi (the "Group-Ethnographic spontaneous Maglianesi, more or less the current association "Friends of Alfieri Castle") and Section of Italy Albese Nostra..
In 1988, the District of received it as a donation from the parish of St. Andrew, Father Guido, with approval of the City Council December 22, 1986 and deed of 1988. The castle, albeit stripped of all its rich furnishings (documented inventories of 1691 and 1854), after several passages in his hands do not always respect, comes to the District of structurally intact. Even the most severe alteration (construction, in the early '60s, housing on the first floor, four in the west and one in the east) was fortunately reversible. It was possible that by the municipality in 2001, remove partitions and floors, and restore the original premises, bringing in light, in the west, vaults, which have varied architectural forms and traces of old colors worthy of restoration. The aforementioned premises of the west wing has been allocated by the City Council at a future second section of the museum dedicated to popular culture and landscape of Roero, Langhe and Monferrato, for which we will also use the immense documentation gathered by the late Antonio Adriano.
After the splendor of its first 150 years, and after a long period of decline, accentuated in the second half of the 900, a first operation of partial renovation of the roof at the end of the '70s was funded by the Ministry of Culture. But it's the '90s, after the transfer of ownership to the Municipality, which begins the rebirth of the castle Alfieri (undisputed symbol of mesh), strongly supported by the municipalities that have occurred since 1985 until now and thanks to funding from the determinants Regione Piemonte and Banking Institutions (Savings Bank of San Paolo di Torino and Cuneo).
