Photo 1: Chenonceau Castle
During our journey through the Loire valley we come across another castle of great beauty and great originality. Impossible to see the castle from the parking lot. The estate is huge and a small forest prevents the eye from being able to take some photos from the road. We are at Chenonceau Castle, built in 1500, on the ruins of a 13th century castle that was demolished to build the new residence of the new owners of the place.
Photo 2:The driveway: finally you can see the castle!
Photo 3: the tower of the Marques
Of the castle or rather the pre-existing fortified mill, the tower of the Marques is preserved, which will be used as the residence of the garrison in defense of the castle, from which you enter a beautiful chapel. The chapel was saved from destruction even during the French Revolution. The owner skillfully transformed it into a woodshed without any religious signs that would have decreed its destruction.
Photo 4: the Chapel inside the Marques tower
The castle is not located right on the Loire but on one of its tributaries, the River Cher. The castle itself was the only bridge over the river for many miles, so much so that this fact was decisive for its salvation from the destruction of the guards of the revolution. During the Second World War it also served to save many inhabitants fleeing the territories occupied by the Nazis.
Photo 5:The castle with the access bridge
Crossing a bridge over a moat leads to the castle itself. This castle is also called “The castle of the ladies”, and by ladies we mean queens but also very powerful, politically speaking, lovers of the French kings of 1500. The castle was in fact donated by King Henry II to his mistress Diana of Piotiers, but to death of the king, Queen Caterina de 'Medici forced Diana to give her the castle in exchange for another. Her room evokes these vicissitudes surrounded by numerous works of art, including splendid sixteenth-century tapestries.
Photo 6: Diana’s room of Piotiers mistress of King Henry II
The queen revolutionized the castle. On the bridge built by Diana over the river, she had a gallery built 60 meters long, 6 wide, illuminated by 18 windows, with a tuff and slate floor, ceiling with exposed beams. The gallery thus becomes the sumptuous ballroom which was inaugurated in 1577 for the celebrations in honor of her son, King Henry III. At either end, two fireplaces served to heat the huge room.
Photo 7: The huge gallery, ballroom, is built over the bridge over the River Cher.
In the basement and more precisely inside the piers of the bridge were the kitchens of the castle and the servants’ quarters. On the walls of the glittering copper pots to think about, certainly very challenging to keep these dishes in these splendid conditions knowing that copper tends to green with oxidation, and here it must be a fairly humid place.
Photo 8: The kitchens in the basement of the castle
Going up the stairs, on the first floor we find other rooms and other lounges. Important is the room of the 5 queens which recalls their stays. In particular, I was struck by the fact that Mary Stuart, the Catholic Queen of Scotland, also slept there, but wife of the King of France Francis II, subsequently imprisoned for several years and then executed by her cousin Elizabeth I, Protestant queen of England.
Photo 9: The staircase
Photo 10: The room of the 5 queens, including Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.
Surely this must have belonged to a very powerful woman, the extremely refined furniture and above all the works of art contained in it, best represent her class. In fact this is the room of Caterina de 'Medici, perhaps one of the most powerful women who ever existed, wife and mother of kings and queens, not always loved, indeed hated, but only now it turns out that her political function was very valid and he was inspired by the work of Niccolò Machiavelli “Il Principe”, a work among other things dedicated by the author to his father Lorenzo de 'Medici. The fireplace and the terracotta floor are actually from the Renaissance period and to the right of the bed the painting The education of love by the well-known Italian artist of the time Correggio.
Photo 11: Catherine de Medici’s room is perhaps the most powerful woman France has ever had.
You go through the time of history very quickly. Other chambers lead to other later characters. The room of Henri IV’s favorite, Gabrielle d’Estreès, with a royal four-poster bed
Photo 12: The room of Henri IV’s favorite, Gabrielle d’Estreès
But the one that leaves you breathless, which you would never expect to find in a castle, is the room of Louise of Lorraine, wife and widow of Henry III, on the second floor with the exposed vault. The king was killed by a fundamentalist monk to avenge the death of the noble Guise brothers, leaders of an ultra-traditionalist Catholic fringe, opposed by the king inclined to an agreement with the Protestants, and for this he was killed by the king himself in the castle of Blois. After the murder of her husband, on 1 August 1589, Louise of Lorraine retired to Chenonceau, closed in mourning and prayer. She always dressed in white as a sign of mourning, she will be nicknamed “the White Queen”. The dominant color of the room is black and is decorated with the symbols of mourning: feathers, which symbolize pain, silver tears, gravedigger hoes, widow’s cord, crowns of thorns, all surrounded by the initials of Luisa and Henri.
Photo 13: The chamber of Queen Louise of Lorraine, widow of the murdered King Henry III
I don’t think I would be able to sleep in such a dark and gloomy room, I don’t dare sleep even on dark colored sheets, I love bright colors or white, better to go out and admire the castle from different angles and its magnificent gardens named after Diana, lover of the king, both to his wife Caterina de Medici.
Photo 14: Chenonceau Castle
Photo 15: Chenonceau castle from the garden of Caterina de 'Medici
Photo 16: The Gardens of Diana
Photo 17: The Gardens of Diana
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La scalinata e la torre sono meravigliose.
. Penso che alcuni, ma pochi siano mobili originali, A parte quadri e arazzi, non necessariamente del castello in questione, sono dell’epoca. I castelli hanno subito quasi tutti devastazioni, abbandono e saccheggi. La maggior parte sono rifacimenti ottocenteschi, e anche una guida ad Amboise ce l’ha confermato, caldeggiando siti italiani. Ovviamente era una guida con origini italiane. Ma in effetti la storia è storia e le devastazioni hanno percorso la valle della Loira!!!
e vedere tante belle foto 
