Before being the residence of the Royal Madams, before the Savoys, before the precious interventions of the architect Filippo Juvarra, Palazzo Madama was a castle. 

A castle with a millenary history, whose origins date back to the Roman age, when the majestic Porta Decumana of the colony of Augusta Taurinorum stood here. 

This forgotten and misunderstood history comes back to life in the exhibition The rediscovered castle. Palazzo Madama from the Roman age to the Middle Ages, visitable in the Medieval Courtyard of Palazzo Madama from December 20, 2025, to March 23, 2026.

Created in collaboration with the University of Bergamo as part of the PNRR CHANGES project (Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Sustainable Society), funded by the European Union-NextGenerationEU, the exhibition restores to the public the original appearance of parts of this extraordinary building, too often identified only with the Savoy queens who gave it its name.

The Medieval Courtyard has been the subject of a new scenographic setup that proposes a reconstruction of the lost fourteenth-century portico on the west side and an enhancement of the space connected to the Roman gate, enriched with Roman and late antique artifacts.

The exhibition path guides visitors on a fascinating journey through time, starting from the Roman age with the Porta Decumana - of which material evidence is still preserved today - to cross the early Middle Ages and reach the Fifteenth century, when the castrum of Porta Fibellona was the residence of the princes of Savoy-Acaia.

The exhibition is built around an innovative scientific study conducted on fifteenth-century documentary sources - including precious inventories in Latin and French preserved at the State Archives of Turin - and on the analysis of the medieval material remains still visible in the building. Thanks to 3D and 2D painting reconstruction technologies, it will be possible to "immerse" in the environments of the medieval castle, discovering how its inhabitants lived: not only the prince and his family, but also the court of nobles and officials, the service staff, the guards, the guests, and the ambassadors.