The new, generous ramp designed by architect Francesco Bermond Des Ambrois, which climbs along Ivrea’s medieval city walls at the point closest to the Castle, allows the opening of a lane that — by passing directly through the walls — connects the upper and lower parts of the city. Castle Lane also finally opens a path through a small stretch of ground where history has left some of its most remarkable traces: on one side, the enormous and iconic castle, built from 1358 by Amedeo VI of Savoy for both defensive and symbolic purposes, as a declaration of his power; on the other, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, unmatched in its ability to narrate the layering of successive architectural styles across the centuries. Towers, battlements, grandeur and power on one side; Romanesque bell towers, bells, apse, ambulatory, the Chiostro dei Canonici, spirituality and contemplation on the other — it is no coincidence that this is one of the most significant and moving stretches of the Via Francigena.
The new staircase, climbing in a spiral along the ramparts and opening a passage where one once seemed impossible, in some way reverses their meaning: what was once a symbol of dominion becomes, today, a symbol of inclusion. The structure has an iron skeleton with a square base, clad in horizontally laid, thermally treated chestnut boards, spaced apart to leave the gaze free toward the outside. This particular interplay of solid and void gives the staircase an appearance almost like a “fifth tower” of the Castle above. By favouring length over gradient, it also transforms the climb into a pleasant walk that leads to a spectacular view over the Aosta Valley.
In its entirety, Castle Lane is as simple a gesture as it is radical: it does not “merely” open one more passageway, but generates new vantage points over the city and the surrounding landscape. From here, for example, one can become acquainted with the best-preserved section of Ivrea’s city walls — a structure long neglected, though no less significant for that. This is not a detail to overlook: the development of a city is always bound to the strength of its walls, and so it was for Ivrea.
The medieval city developed over the Roman structure, absorbing and transforming the ancient walls — since at the time, reuse of materials was preferred over archaeological conservation. While between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Ivrea had expanded its defensive perimeter to include new districts, by the sixteenth century these fortifications had become obsolete in the face of new military techniques. It was only in the early eighteenth century, during the conflict with France, that significant strengthening works were undertaken, allowing Ivrea to resist the siege of 1704. During the eighteenth century Ivrea entered a relatively peaceful phase, during which some military structures were demolished.
With the arrival of Napoleon, however, the situation changed again: a few years after taking the city in May 1800, the French ordered the demolition of many fortifications, profoundly altering Ivrea’s historic appearance. During the same period, architect Vincenzo Zani del Frà was developing an “abbellimento della città” — a city beautification plan — from which the outer ring road also emerged, one of the principal urban planning features of nineteenth-century Ivrea.
Today, with the opening of Castle Lane, a new chapter is written in the urban life of Ivrea: the long-shared desire to pass through the walls, to enter or leave where it was once unthinkable, to move through history, to enjoy an unusual panorama — it is finally a reality.
