It was 1357 when Amedeo VI of Savoy, known as Count Verde, built the Ivrea Castle (Castello di Ivrea) in the upper part of the city, near the present day site of the cathedral dedicated to Santo Maria d’Iporegia. In order to built the castle, 507,625 bricks, 11,000 curved roof tiles, 3,653 stone carts, 6,210 novenes of lime, 216 iron pails to carry the lime, 10,000 flexible cords for the scaffolding, 40 dozen boards, 947 pounds of iron, 400 pieces of metal for the foundation of the roof gutter, 162 shovels and iron hoes were required. For transportation, 246 cows and just as many animal-drawn carts were used. The castle was built between 1357 and 1393. First, the towers were built: the higher and more imposing one, the cylindrical one with the annex, the major wall that connects them, and the remaining two. Then the perimeter wall, the moat, and, finally, the roofs were built. The castle with the four red towers was a trapezium rectangular-shaped fortress. Much loved by the Savoys, who stayed there during the war between Piedmont and France, the castle was, in 1630, seat of the Ducal Chamber and of the Representation of the Savoy State, which in 1648 chose it for Carlo Emanuele III’s coronation. But, 1676 was a bad year for Ivrea: lightening hit one of the four towers - the one used as an arms depository. From that moment, the castle’s decline began, and later, it became a prison.
