Purchased in the 12th century by the Marquis’ of Saluzzo, the Manta Castle (Castello della Manta) is a fortified structure, which only in the 15th century was transformed into a splendid court, where French was spoken and Paris fashion was in use, thanks to an intervention by Valerano of Saluzzo - a cultivated and refined gentleman. It is, in fact, during this period that Manta’s interior was adorned with the frescoes unanimously considered among the most important pictorial documents of the Late Gothic Period in Piedmont. Among these, in the “Sala Baronale”, the nine figures from “Heroes” stand out, as do those from “Heroines”, and the fresco painting that depicts the “Fountain of Youth” attributed to an unknown student of Giacomo Jaquerio, known as the Maestro of Manta. Since 1989, the castle has been the property of Fai, which oversaw the castle’s restoration and which organizes nationally important cultural events there.
