Discover Turin!
Torino is the first Italian capital. An elegant and aristocratic city, with its Baroque centre built under the disposals of the Savoys, Lords of Piemonte and eventually Kings of Italy Its Palazzos and squares, legitimately give the city the title of “little Paris” … not a coincidence since the Savoys have been tying close relationships with the French King and all the most important European noble dynasties!
Turin lies alongside four rivers including Po, the longest Italian river that divides the centre of the city from its hills rising along the left bank, with its Liberty villas hidden inside the woods, and churches located in the most suggestive viewpoints of the city.
Founded by Romans as Augusta Taurinorum , Emperors’ way through the Alpine valleys to Europe, nowadays on the antique Roman rests lies the so called Quadrilatero Romano, a fizzy district with restaurants, bistrots and wineries where you can enjoy tasting the worldwide famous wines of Piemonte, from the red full bodied Nebbiolo to the vibrant bubbles of the white spumante.
Museums, exhibitions and events. make Turin vivid and up-to-date to new trends.
Being a professional guide in the lovely city of Turin, I would really feel privileged to share with you my emotional and cultural experience, getting to know together my city and its marvellous surroundings.
Amazing temporary exhibitions and top cultural events reaffirm the history and the elegance of the first capital of modern Italy.
I consider myself a good “connoisseur” of my city, not only due to my studies and my job, which I adore, but mainly because I live the city, being involved in all the cultural and artistic processes, that made Turin one of Italy’s most requested destinations.
Contact me for your perfect guided tour in Turin!
WALKING TOUR
First Time in Turin?
Here is my proposal for a 3-hour walk around the city centre
Here is my proposal for a 3-hour walk around the city centre
Enjoy a 3-hour walking tour of Turin’s classic sights, from the baroque palaces and porticoes of the old city center to its medieval Cathedral, home to the fabled Turin Shroud. The tour starts at Piazza Castello, and sets off to visit Palazzo Madama, the Baroque residence of the Ladies of the Royal Court. The Next stop is the Palazzo Reale (Royal Court) where the Savoy kings held court. Admire the splendidly guilded and frescoed S. Lorenzo church and spy the spire of the Cathedral, before getting up-close to its stern medieval façade. Debate still rages as to whether the piece of linen inside is the cloth that wrapped the body of Christ or not.
Walk through Piazza San Carlo, one of the city’s most elegant squares that was once dubbed “Europe’s sitting room.” A square framed by the Twin Churches, precious jewels of Piemonte’s architecture, where the bronze statue of Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Savoy, evokes past glories. Admire the fine baroque architecture of Piazza Carignano, including the palazzo where King Vittorio Emanuele II was born. Next, explore the Quadrilatero Romano, where the Roman grid-like system of the city’s original plan is most evident. During the tour, you will stop for an Italian espresso, accompanied by some “giandujotti,” Turin’s famous walnut chocolates.
The tour can be completed with the guided visit of a museum upon your request.
INSIGHTS
Caval d’ Bronz translated from the Piedmontese “bronze horse”, is the affectionate epithet that the people of Turin gave to the nineteenth-century statue of the Duke of Savoy Emanuele Filiberto, great protagonist in the 16th century of the historical events of the city and of Europe!
Gianduiotti: hazelnut chocolates with an unmistakable shape. True pride of Turin famous all over the world. The Turinese tradition of maitres chocolatiers is very ancient, to the point that it is said that the Swiss learned the secrets of chocolate making right in Turin.
Top Museums of Turin
The Egyptian Museum, famous throughout the world and which needs no introduction: at the beginning of the 19th century, the Egyptologist Champollion wrote “the road to Thebes and Memphis passes through Turin”: from 1824 this museum houses a vast collection of Egyptian artifacts whose initial nucleus is made up of the private collections of the Savoys, great enthusiasts of Egyptian history and art since the 17th century. Today the Egyptian museum in Turin is considered the most important museum of Egyptian art in the world after the Cairo museum, with a collection of over 24,000 artifacts! On April 1, 2016, the museum was reopened after an impressive restyling that bears the signature of the great world-famous Turin architect Aimaro Isola.
The Civic Museum of Ancient Art, in the magnificent halls of Palazzo Madama, houses one of the most important collections of applied art in the world based on the model of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. There are sections dedicated to medieval applied art among which the collection of golden glass stands out, an entire wing dedicated to porcelain and its history, illustrious names of Renaissance painters whose flagship is the portrait of a man by Antonello from Messina. Baroque halls and medieval towers alternate within this “hybrid” building which preserves the stages of the history of Turin and beyond, given that the first Senate of Italy was hosted right here. Museum of Antiquities: a dizzying leap in the history of Piedmont, from Prehistory to the Roman Empire. Inside the halls of the Polo Reale, reshaped by the architects Gabetti and Isola, a path rich in finds unfolds. Very interesting examples of Roman silverware among which the objects of the so-called “Treasure of Marengo” stand out. The vast collection testifies to the syncretism of the official Roman religion that meets the rites of the local Celtic populations. And then the Lombards and their very fine goldsmith’s art. , the museum also houses collections of beautiful ceramics from Magna Graecia and Cyprus, as well as a collection of Etruscan artifacts.
The Museo del Risorgimento whose reopening in 2011 was hailed as one of the major events on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.
The museum is housed in one of the most interesting examples of Baroque architecture in the city, Palazzo Carignano, which housed the Parliament of the subalpine kingdom and which should have housed the Italian Parliament in its 19th-century halls.
The history of the unification of Italy is included in the broader and more complete framework of European national independence mottos starting from the French revolution.
The Car Musem MAUTO was inaugurated in 1960. In 2011 it was reopened on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, after a grandiose restyling. The museum was included in 2013 by the English newspaper The Times in the ranking of the 50 best museums in the world!
3000 square meters of exhibition space developed along a path set up by the French set designer Francois Confino, a little dreamlike, a little hallucinatory, certainly exciting in which the history of the automobile is retraced from Leonardo da Vinci up to today, through the immense original car collection! The museum regularly hosts temporary themed exhibitions in which excellent cars are exhibited.
The Cinema Museum is located inside the symbol of the city, the Mole Antonelliana. Turin, in addition to being the first political capital of Italy, also boasts the primacy of the first capital of Italian cinema. The refurbishment of the museum in 2001 bears the signature of Francois Confino, already mentioned in the refurbishment of the automobile museum: an exciting interactive journey through the history of cinema starting from its origins, inside a building that is unique in the world! Also not to be missed is the ascent with the panoramic lift to the top of the dome of the Mole Antonelliana from which you have a panoramic view of the city.
