Turin (Piedmont): what to see in and around the city center


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What to see in Turin, one-day itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including Mole Antonelliana and the Royal Palace, in the surroundings are the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi and the Reggia di Venaria.


Tourist information

Capital of the province of the same name and the Piedmont Region, as well as the first capital of Italy from 1861 to 1865, Turin is a city comprising a vast historical, artistic and cultural heritage.

From Turin, on clear winter days, the scenic view of the snow-capped peaks of the Alps, which surround the north-west part of the city, is very suggestive.


The vast artistic heritage has mainly Romanesque and Baroque origins,

Among the main monuments include the Mole Antonelliana, the Royal Palace, formerly the residence of the Dukes and then of the kings who ruled the city, the Renaissance-style Cathedral dedicated to St. John the Baptist, inside which there is the Holy Shroud, the Egyptian Museum and Palazzo Madama.

The Cit Turin district is worth a visit, with its many buildings built in the Liberty style.


Particular feature of Turin are the arcades, which extend for about twenty kilometers and are largely connected to each other.

Built in different eras, the first arcades date back to medieval times, while most of those still present were built from the seventeenth century onwards.

The first testimony of this fact is the order of Carlo Emanuele I, dating back to 16 June 1606, which concerned the construction of Piazza Castello following the project by Ascanio Vitozzi, which envisaged the construction of the arcades around the entire square.


In those years the porticoes of Porta Palazzo were built by Filippo Juvarra, while Benedetto Alfieri was in charge of the renovation of the porticoes of Piazza Palazzo di Città.

The portico that connects Piazza Castello with Piazza Vittorio Veneto, crossing via Po on the left side, had the function of allowing, with the complete crossing of all the streets, the reaching of the river Po by the king, without getting wet in case of rain.

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What to see in the center

Royal Palace, palace of the Savoy family until 1865, is located in the heart of the city. The palace dates back to 1660, although its origins are more ancient, but very little has been saved from the period before the sixteenth century. On the occasion of the Savoy weddings, embellishment works were commissioned at the Palace, and over time architects such as Filippo Juvarra, Benedetto Alfieri, Carlo Randoni, Giuseppe Battista Piacenza and Pelagio Palagi worked on it. Behind the palace are the royal gardens, of French taste, built at the end of the seventeenth century.

Palazzo Madama, summarizes the history of the city in the various construction phases. The building incorporates the remains of an ancient Roman gate, transformed in the Middle Ages into a defensive castle. In the seventeenth century the castle was transformed into the residence of Madama Reale Maria Cristina, widow of Vittorio Amedeo I and regent of Carlo Emanuele II, who commissioned important renovation and modernization works.

The Palace was inhabited sixty years later by another woman, Maria Giovanna Battista di Savoia-Nemours, regent of Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, to whom the current appearance of the Palace is due. Currently the building houses a museum with important works of art. Palazzo Reale and Palazzo Madama have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Palazzo Carignano, which belonged to the Carignano dei Savoia branch, was built on a project by the monk-architect Guarino Guarini in the second half of the 17th century in the typical Piedmontese Baroque style. In the second half of the 19th century the building was enlarged and the facade was built towards Piazza Carlo Alberto.

The Palace, which was the seat of the Subalpine Parliament, is linked to the history of the Italian Risorgimento, in fact on 14 March 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed there and in a temporary pavilion in the courtyard, the sessions of the first Italian Parliament were held, until transfer of the capital to Florence. The building currently houses the National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento. Near the Palace there are the National University Library and the Carignano Theater.

Palace of the Academy and Sciences, is a baroque building from the second half of the seventeenth century, designed by Guarino Guarini and built, with several modifications compared to the original project, by Michelangelo Garove.

The Palace intended to house the Collegio dei Nobili, a college for young offspring of the Piedmontese nobility, in 1787 became the seat of the Royal Academy of Sciences.


The Palace is currently home not only to the Academy of Sciences but also to the Egyptian Museum and the Savoy Gallery. The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities preserves exceptional finds from the Egyptian civilization, and is considered the most important in the world after that of Cairo.

- The Turin Cathedral, built in the late 1400s, it is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, and is the only example in the city of Renaissance art. To the side of the presbytery one goes up to the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, by Guarino Guarini, dating back to 1668-94. The chapel houses the precious relic of the Holy Shroud.

- La Church of San Domenico, in Gothic style, it was built by the Dominicans in the 14th-15th century. Over the centuries, various renovations gave the Church a Baroque appearance, but in the early 1900s a series of interventions brought the building back to its original Gothic appearance. This Church preserves the only cycle of fourteenth-century frescoes in the city in the Cappella delle Grazie.

- La Mole Antonelliana, the symbol of Turin, is a daring building, 167.50 meters high, which takes its name from the architect who designed it, Alessandro Antonelli. Construction began in 1863, when the Jewish community of Turin commissioned the architect Antonelli to build a synagogue.

Due to the lengthening of construction times and higher costs, during construction, the structure was sold to the city of Turin, which gave the Jewish community in exchange for another piece of land for the construction of the synagogue.

The works resumed and were completed at the end of the 1800s. On 23 May 1953 a violent thunderstorm precipitated the masonry spire, which was later replaced with a metal structure covered with stone. Currently the Mole is home to the National Cinema Museum.


Palazzo Barolo it is a building built at the end of the 17th century with the participation of the architect Gian Francesco Baroncelli. In the middle of the following century, Benedetto Alfieri was commissioned to carry out some interventions and decorations which in 1906 were partially destroyed, due to the demolitions due to the widening of via Corte d’Appello. The palace was owned by the Falletti family of Barolo.

After 1814, the Marquis Carlo Tancredi Falletti of Barolo and his wife Giulia Vittorina Colbert de Maulevrier resided in the building, making it a highly sought after meeting place for the socially and politically engaged personalities of the time.

The writer and patriot Silvio Pellico also stayed in the building for a long period. Today in the building we can appreciate the architectural styles, the furnishings, the paintings, and above all the work of the Barolo spouses, testified by the promotion of works and the foundation of institutions for the poor.

You can also visit the historic cellars of the fine Barolo wine, which was kept here until 1919.

- On the hill, very dear to the Turinese, there is the Basilica of Superga, built by Vittorio Amedeo II in fulfillment of a vow made on the occasion of the siege of the French in 1706. The work, with a classic taste, was completed in 1731 following the project of Filippo Juvarra.

What to see in the surroundings

In the surroundings of Turin there are the hunting lodge of Stupinigi, in Nichelino, and the Reggia di Venaria, in Venaria Reale

Both assets declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

The Stupinigi hunting lodge, located in the south-western outskirts of the city, is a masterpiece by Filippo Juvarra.

Built in Rococo style it is surrounded by a large park.

The building, completed in 1731, was enlarged in 1740 to a design by the architects Prunotto, Bo and Alfieri.

The Reggia di Venaria, built as a base for hunting trips in 1658-1679, was designed by the architect Amedeo di Castellamonte at the behest of Carlo Emanuele II of Savoy.

The works were resumed by the architect Michelangelo Garove, while in the eighteenth century it was the architect Filippo Juvarra who made some important interventions.


The residence is part of a large complex that includes the park and the historic village of Venaria.

✅ TOP 10: Things To Do In Turin (March 2024)


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