'Castle Impossible': Is There Secret Treasure Buried in the Chateau?

High school sweethearts Ian and Daphne Fig were in the process of settling into a tiny home in California and thinking about starting a family when, as Daphne put it, they “got this huge baby!” That “baby” is the 500-year-old Château de Lésigny, a historic property about 15 miles outside of Paris that her grandfather purchased in 1981, spent decades rehabilitating, then bequeathed to Daphne upon his death in 2020. The French government expected about a million dollars in back taxes when Daphne took possession of the chateau, and she and Ian poured their life savings into keeping it in the family.

“[A]gainst all odds, Ian and I have managed to keep the chateau, but it is still a question every single day of whether or not we can still make it work,” Daphne says. “One day, I’d love to be able to share the chateau with my own children, and I’d love to be able to pass it on to them like my grandfather did for me. Making this work, keeping the chateau for our family, is keeping my grandfather’s legacy alive.” Castle Impossible — HGTV’s new show that follows them as they do just that — premieres on Tuesday, April 29 at 9|8c.

The Care and Feeding of a 500-Year-Old Chateau

Daphne’s grandfather focused on renovating the chateau’s main-floor spaces, a strategic move that enabled him to make those areas available for location shoots and weddings. Daphne and Ian, in turn, devoted themselves to upkeep of the rest of the house. “We like to think of the chateau as Beauty and the Beast,” Ian explains. “You know, the bottom floor is the beauty, but then the three floors above are the beast.”

“Every project is enormous,” Daphne adds. “We’re not just fixing one window, we have to fix 134 windows — that’s just for the chateau. And then there’s the lodge. The 28 horse stables. We have the farmhouse, the dove tower — and then there’s the cabin in the woods. And the two lakes, and the forest and 133 acres of land. It’s immense!”

They aim to make the whole chateau livable both now and in the future — they simply have to invest the time and resources needed to make that happen. That’s what makes one of the most persistent bits of chateau lore particularly interesting.

Leonora Dori Galigai's Fortune and Misfortune

“One day when I was visiting my grandfather, he received a phone call from a treasure hunter who claimed that there was some treasure on the property,” Daphne recalls. “He knew where to find it, he was going to dig it up and he would split the profits 50-50 with my grandpa. Grandfather, of course, laughed about it, but later that evening when he took me on a drive around the lake, he told me the true story of the Galigai — the white witch — and her lost treasure." Say what?

Leonora Dori Galigai was born in 1568 to a working-class family in Florence, Italy. Her mother was a wet nurse to the wealthy and powerful Medicis. "You can think of them as, like, House Lannister [in HBO's Game of Thrones]," Ian says. (Yes, this is foreshadowing.) In 1588 — when Grand Duke Francesco de’ Medici needed a companion for his 13-year-old niece, Maria — 20-year-old Leonora was called into service at the Palazzo Pitti. The two young women became the best of friends, and Leonora’s fortunes rose fast. Her best friend purchased her a name and title — she became Lady Galigai — and brought Leonora with her to France when she married King Henry IV and became Marie, the queen consort of France. Leonora married the ambitious Italian courtier Concino Concini the next year. Concino became the French queen’s chief steward, and the newlyweds enjoyed a very advantageous (and lucrative) position in the French court.

“Through their affiliation with the queen, they made a lot of money, took some bribes and got a lot of deals,” Daphne says. “This chateau was one of them, the Château de Lésigny. And let’s just say they got it at a pretty solid family and friends discount.” Leonora and Concini made their own significant renovations to the property, which had been built in 1508 on the ruins of a medieval fortress, so it bore significant similarities to the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, where Leonora’s remarkable change in circumstances first began.

Alas, the couple’s meteoric rise culminated in an even more dramatic fall from favor. The power-playing Concino, who many suspected of having had a hand in King Henry IV’s assassination in 1610, was barred from court when Henry and Marie’s son, the young prince Louis XIII, seized power and became king in 1610. Upon his attempted return, he was stabbed to death; Leonora, in turn, was tried and convicted of witchcraft, sentenced to death and beheaded. So, what became of their riches?

“Leonora was very clever and she put a lot of effort into creating a luxurious life for herself. She and Concini must have amassed a massive amount of gold and wealth and belongings,” Ian says. “Some people believe that when she was preparing to turn herself in to the king, she may have hidden some or most of that treasure.” Daphne adds, “Because it was not found when they raided the place.”

It seems unlikely that Leonora buried her fortune in the forest surrounding the chateau. "I can’t imagine that Leonora Dori would [in a few days] be able to dig like 20 feet deep to bury a treasure," Ian says.

It’s also improbable that she sent it to her 14-year-old son, who lived in Italy at the time, as that kind of money would have been pretty tough to conceal. “If the accounts are right, they essentially had billions for that time,” Daphne says. “So, you know, whoever got the money, it would have become … apparent.”

“All of a sudden her son is, like, buying a yacht,” Ian laughs.

“And a Ferrari!” Daphne adds.

“A bunch of Bitcoin!” Ian continues.

“So many horses,” Daphne concludes.

“What is interesting, though, is how much people have really believed that the treasure is somewhere here at the chateau, enough to actually bring in professional equipment and invest in it,” Ian says. “But I don’t know, I mean I haven’t seen it yet, and it’s not over there in the dungeon, because I just checked today.”

“We know it’s not in the moat, because that was emptied in like the '40s, [and] it’s not in any area that’s been renovated in the chateau,” Daphne adds. It’s unlikely, it seems, that the Castle Impossible story will become a rags-to-riches one (again). Then again, it’s awfully difficult to make a massive fortune disappear, especially if you’re not a witch. Either way, it’s safe to say Ian and Daphne’s relationship with their chateau will continue to be full of surprises — and if their stables are suddenly full of horses and Bitcoin, we'll all know what's gone down.

How to Watch Castle Impossible

Castle Impossible premieres on HGTV Tuesday, April 29 at 9|8c and will be available to stream on Max and discovery+. Stay up to date with the latest news on #CastleImpossible at HGTV.com and via @HGTV on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and Threads. Follow Daphne and Ian on Instagram @thewildfigs. 

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