The Pralormo Family
The Beraudo family , in the second half of the 17 th century, reached Turin from Barcellonette in Cardinale Maurizio di Savoia ’s suite and received the title of Counts of Pralormo from the Regent Maria Giovanna Battista di Savoia Nemours.
The family coat of arms, according to the heraldry terminology, is described like this: “Three red silver doves, heads in blue and a gold star.” It graphically translates the family Motto “Puritas et Veritas” in Latin. Purity are the doves and Veritas is the star.
The Beraudo’s di Pralormo were granted important positions: In 1770 Filippo Domenico I was First Magistrate in Piemonte in Valsesia and later on Regent of the Great Chancellery in Sardinia, which had just passed under the domination of the Savoia royal family. His son Vincenzo Sebastiano created a rectification of the Po river- bed at Carmagnola to avoid its periodical floods.
Carlo I Beraudo di Pralormo ( 1784- 1855) was Ambassador in Vienna with king Carlo Felice and then with Carlo Alberto, he was appointed Minister of Finance and Minister for Home Affairs for the reign of Sardinia.
King Vittorio Emanuele II appointed him plenipotentiary Minister for Peace with Austria in 1849, conferred him the collar of Annunziata and later sent him as Ambassador to Paris. In more recent times Emanuele Beraudo di Pralormo (1887- 1960) the present owner’s father, was army- corps General, Gold Medal to Military Value and an excellent horseman in Sports, the winner of a bronze team medal in Riding Complete Concourse at Paris Olympic Games in 1924.
His wife and mother of the present owner, Maria Incisa della Rocchetta (1901-1996), daughter of Marquis Enrico Incisa della Rocchetta and of Eleonora dei Principi Chigi, had a fundamental role in the mantainance of the Castle during the whole second half of the 20th century. The present owner of the Castle is Count Filippo Beraudo di Pralormo with his wife Consolata and their children.
The Pralormos normally live in the Castle, taking care of continuous preservation and restaurations. Consolata Beraudo di Pralormo invented and realized several enterprises, showing great creativity in addition to determination, enthusiasm and tenacity. She graduated in History of Art with a thesis in History of the English park and from 1975 she started designing children cloths. From the early nineties, she adds the rediscovery and the new interest in an old decorative art of Piemonte, Bandera embroidery, decoration embroidery of the seventeenth century.
In 1992 she founds the Consolata Pralormo Design whose task is projecting and organizing events, exhibitions, festivals, most of which have taken place just in the family Castle.
From 2000, MESSER TULIPANO, a botanical event with its bloom of tulips, receives thousands of visitors every year in April.
