Walking is definitely the best way to feel the
pulse of Turin: stroll around the city parks, drop into its
historic cafès, take in the multiethnic quarters, enjoy fashion and
shopping, but don’t forget that Turin is magical too. So put on your walking
shoes and let your curiosity lead the way.
Architecture
Turin has a
Baroque face and an Art Nouveau face, it has its
Royal Residences, its bridges and 18km of arcades lining the city center, but there are innovative installations too, set on
creating a brand new look.
A tour of
20th-centuryand
contemporary Turin combines a history lesson with an introduction to
some avant-garde infrastructures and works of art.
Baroque Turin
Palazzo Reale
For centuries Turin lingered on the edge of the Ancient
Roman “checkerboard” layout legacy (even today a distinguishing feature of
the city center) and it entered a golden age in the 1600s, thanks to the
commitment of the Savoia family, who commissioned the greatest architects of
the time to enhance their capital.
Capital of the Duchy of Savoy, the Kingdom of Sardinia and
then the first capital of Italy, the heart of the Torinese baroque system is the “Corona
delle Delizie”: a circuit of 14
Royal Residences – urban, suburban and some located in the rest of
Piedmont – declared “Patrimonio dell’Umanità” in 1997.
The entire region is starred with these magnificent
buildings that form a vast circuit. Stately palaces, fairytale castles and
immense parks recount a history of dukes and bellicose kings, lovers of art
and collectors, refined royal ladies who loved ballet and the theatre,
famous royal architects.
Places built for the purpose of entertainment and
leisure, splendid hunting lodges, palatial buildings at the heart of modern
Italy, the Royal Residences narrate the epic deeds of the House of Savoy,
from the grand dukes to the first kings of Italy.
Palazzo Madama
In town we should remember:
Palazzo
Reale, the Royal Palace was the Savoia residence until 1865,
Palazzo Madama, the home of the
Museo di Arte
Antica and
Palazzo Carignano, location of the Subalpine Parliament and first
national Parliament, following the Unification of Italy.
The Palazzo
Reale is an impressive seventeenth-century building, which has been
altered and extended on various occasions down the centuries. It still bears
traces of the work of the most important artists active in Turin. Until 1865
it served as the residence of the Dukes of Savoy, the Kings of Sardinia and
the Kings of Italy.
Out of town: the Stupinigi Hunting Lodge or Palazzina di
Caccia, the palace at
Venaria Reale
and Rivoli Castle.
Stupinigi, a small hunting hut...
The Stupinigi Hunting Lodge, with its beautiful
park and extensive surrounding grounds, is extraordinarily bold and
original.
Today it houses the Museum of Art
and Furnishing, with its furniture, paintings and objects of great value
from the original furnishings of the Lodge, as well as from other Savoy
residences.
The Rivoli Castle is connected by a 20-kilometre direct road to the Basilica of Superga,
that was built to satisfy a vow made
by Vittorio Amedeo II in front of the statue of the Mother of Graces
during a difficult time for the Savoy dynasty. In 1706 Turin was invaded by
the French troops of Luigi XIV who ambitiously hoped to transform Piedmont
into a French province, but found a fierce resistance on the part of the
Duke Vittorio Amedeo II.
On 2 September 1706 the Duke,
along with Prince Eugenio, climbed the hills of Superga to examine the
battlefield from a great height. The small church at the top of the hill
served the few parishioners of Superga. In front of the statue of the
Madonna, the Duke made a vow: if he obtained victory against the French, he
would erect in that place a large church in her honor.
Superga
On the morning of the 7th September at 10 o'clock the
fighting began. The battle was bloody and terrible but the Piedmontese army
had the better of their French counterparts who were defeated. Turin was
free and Piedmont maintained its liberty.
The Duke Vittorio Amedeo II assumed the crown of Sicily
and then Sardinia and in 1717 laid the first stone of the glorious temple
vowed in the honor of the Madre del Salvadore - The Savour of Turin.
