For decades, those who crossed the threshold of Palazzo Solaro on a diplomatic mission on behalf of the King of France were received as if in a small royal palace. The palazzo was the official seat of the French embassy in Turin, and its master — the ambassador — was among the most powerful figures in the city.

In 1771 these rooms were the stage for the lavish celebrations of the marriage of Maria Giuseppina of Savoy to the future King Louis XVIII. It is said that the French ambassador then in office, wishing to impress his guests with a gesture of theatrical magnificence, had his white horse brought into the main hall — provoking a mixture of scandal and admiration that remained in the annals of Turinese aristocratic gossip for generations.

In 1827 the palazzo passed to the Russian ambassador, Count Woronzoff Daschkoff: confirmation that this address was considered the most prestigious in the city for hosting European diplomatic power.

Purple — the colour of empire and diplomacy par excellence — envelops this suite in a light that evokes treaties signed by candlelight and conversations that shaped the history of a continent.