Turin 3-day itinerary

1. Stop 1

   Palazzo Reale

   The Palace was built in the 16th century, modernised in the 17th and converted to a museum in 1946. The result is a wacky hybrid of medieval, baroque and bling. You enter via the palace gardens to reach the ticket office. The ticket covers five attractions: - Galleria Sabauda houses the vast art collection of the rulers of Savoy. - Chapel of the Shroud is accessed this way, and from a gallery looks into the Cathedral. - Royal Apartments: gilt, red flock, chandeliers, vast paintings, and everything else to impress.

2. Stop 2

   Museo Civico d'Arte Antica

   This museum is within Palazzo Madama on Piazza Castello. It's misnamed, as the art collection is Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque, and more ancient (eg Byzantine) work is elsewhere.

3. Stop 3

   CAMERA – Italian Centre for Photography

   Impressive quality photography, with 3 or 4 exhibitions a year.

4. Stop 4 · 9 min walk

   Museo Egizio

   "The road to Memphis and Thebes passes through Turin" said Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion about Museo Egizio in Turin, second only in order of importance to the one in Cairo. Many artifacts were collected by Bernardino Drovetti (1776 - 1852) when he was consul of France in Egypt.

5. Stop 5 · 4 min walk

   Risorgimento Museum

   Fascinating exposition of the tumultuous birth of modern Italy, set in the very building where many events took place: Carlo Alberto and Vittorio Emanuele II were born here, and the first Italian parliament sat here. Garibaldi's campaign was in the context of revolutions and upheavals all over Europe, the greatest of all being the Industrial Revolution. It was a very literary and graphic age, so events are vividly shown in film, photos, political cartoons and other artefacts.

6. Stop 6 · 4 min walk

   Galleria d'Italia

   Galleria d'Italia is a museum chain to show off the art owned by Intesa Sanpaolo bank, the modern nobility. The Turin branch, opened in 2022, is in the Palazzo Turinetti di Pertengo and mostly displays photography. Their others are in Milan, Naples and Vicenza.

Eat · Grom: Renowned ice cream chain. Their other outlets are on Via Accademia delle Scienze, Via Garibaldi, Corso Romania and Via Nizza.

1. Stop 1

   Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist

   Large elegant cathedral dating from late 15th century, enlarged in the 17th to create the Chapel for the Shroud of Turin. However this chapel (rebuilt after a fire in 1997) is nowadays accessed as part of a tour of Palazzo Reale and can't be seen from the Cathedral; visit the nearby Sindone Museum to see a copy of the Shroud.

2. Stop 2 · 6 min walk

   Chapel of the Merchants

   A jewel of baroque architecture and sacred art built from 1680 by businessmen anxious to sanctify their dealings - they were, let's stress, "The Pious Congregation of Bankers, Shopkeepers and Merchants of Turin." One theme of the decor is the Magi, bearing the trade valuables without which the Christian church couldn't exist. The chapel was created within Chiesa dei Santi Martiri, a 16th-century Jesuit church. Its best-known artefact is the "calendario perpetuo" made by Giovanni Amedeo Plana in 1831.

3. Stop 3

   Santa Maria di Monte dei Cappuccini

   A late-Renaissance-style church on a hill overlooking the River Po. It was built 1583 to 1656 for the Capuchin Friars; the delay was through plague and the occasional war. A miracle supposedly occurred in 1640 during the French assault on Turin, when troops seizing the church were repulsed by a sheet of holy flame from the tabernacle. They slew all the defenders anyhow, no doubt in a faith-affirming sort of way. Cannonballs stuck in the walls recall the assaults of 1706 and 1799.

4. Stop 4

   Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice

   Palladian church built 1865-68, originally as part of a care facility for poor and delinquent boys founded by Don Bosco (1815-88). He himself is buried here, along with 6000 bits and pieces of saints.

5. Stop 5 · 39 min walk

   Parrocchia Sacro Cuore di Maria

   Neo-gothic church of 1890.

6. Stop 6 · 30 min walk

   Chiesa Maria Santissima Del Carmelo

   This church was built in the 1730s for a Carmelite convent.

Eat · Piola Cianci: Popular place for fast inexpensive antipasti and main meals.

1. Stop 1

   La Venaria Reale

   Built as a royal hunting lodge from 1675, this grew and grew into a humonguous bling palace, trying to outshine Versailles. It became a barracks and was knocked about in Napoleonic times, remaining military until the 1930s, then the vandals set about it. Restoration was piecemeal until 1996, then a ten-year project brought it back to its former baroque opulence. Highlights include the Salone di Diana, the Galleria Grande, the chapel of Sant’Uberto and the Scuderie (stables). The Gardens are a modern re-imagining.

2. Stop 2 · 32 min walk

   La Mandria

   The "hunting lodge" grew into such a vast palace that what was needed was a new hunting lodge. However, King Victor Emmanuel II needed somewhere to ensconce his mistress La Bela Rosin, so this new lodge in turn became so big and blinged up that . . . life can be really tough when you're a plutocrat monarch. Wild boar, deer and rare breeds of horse roam the park, which has multiple access points. In the 20th century it acquired a golf course and a motor-racing track.

3. Stop 3 · 201 min walk

   Basilica of Superga

   This hilltop basilica was built in thanksgiving for the 1706 defeat of the French at Turin. Often incorrectly called a cathedral, it's in sort-of-classical-with-baroque style, and houses the tombs of many nobles of the House of Savoy. Superga hill derives its name from Serrapergia meaning "mountain between the hills". Nearby is a monument to the air crash of 1949, which wiped out Torino FC.

4. Stop 4 · 61 min walk

   Infini.to

   Two shows midweek and three at weekends, only in Italian.

5. Stop 5 · 63 min walk

   Villa della Regina

   A royal palace and gardens on a hill east edge of the city. It's modest by Savoyard standards but plush with Chinese and Baroque interiors. This reflects the era of Anne Marie d'Orléans, in residence from 1692. Next to the Villa, the Queen's vineyard has been productive since the 1600s, and its "Freisa di Chieri DOC - Villa della Regina" red wine is on sale here.

6. Stop 6 · 86 min walk

   Moncalieri Castle

   This castle was built as a fortress by Thomas I of Savoy, but enlarged into a pleasure palace in the mid-15th century. From the 19th century it was especially used by queen mothers and princesses. Today it houses the Carabinieri, though the castle and its apartments can be visited. Reservation required.

Eat · Focacceria Lagrange: Nice place to eat light and crispy focaccia. Fast service. Mostly takeaway but they have a few tables inside and out.