Founded in 1978 by the regional council of Piedmont, it occupies a wide area between the Stura di Lanzo torrent and the north-western part of Turin and Venaria.

It is the second largest enclosed park in Europe, with a surface of some 3,000 hectares, bounded by a 30 km long wall built in the mid-19th century by Victor Emmanuel II, who had moved to the castle here (the Borgo Castello) the residence of his morganatic wife, Rosa Vercellana.

In 1860 Victor Emmanuel ordered the enlargement of the village (designers included Ernesto Melano), turning it into a castle with a surface of 35,000 m2.

In 1861 the structure was expanded with the "Villa of the Lakes", a neo-Gothic wing and a fountain of a sea horse fighting a triton by Vincenzo Vela.

After World War II, a testing track owned by FIAT, a golf court and a residential center were added.