Is Turin worth visiting? The answer is yes, and the fact that the question is asked more than it should be tells you something important about how the Italian tourist hierarchy works. Turin is the fourth-largest city in Italy (875,000 inhabitants), the first capital of unified Italy (1861-65), a city of extraordinary Baroque architecture, home to the world's second-largest Egyptian museum outside Cairo, the birthplace of Italian cinema, the city where aperitivo (pre-dinner drink with snacks) culture as practised throughout Italy was invented, the chocolate capital of the country (gianduiotto, the hazelnut-chocolate invention of the 1860s, was born here), and the site of one of the most historically debated objects in Christendom (the Shroud of Turin). It has been consistently overlooked in international tourism in favor of Milan (which is primarily a business and fashion city with a great Duomo and Leonardo's Last Supper) and Venice/Florence. This gap between quality and visibility is Turin's specific position in Italian tourism, and the visitor's advantage.
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What Turin Is
The historic center of Turin is a 17th-18th century Baroque city planned by the Savoy dynasty with a rigour and grandeur that very few Italian cities can match. The main arteries (Via Roma, Via Po, Via Garibaldi) are lined with porticoed palaces of consistent architectural quality, creating covered walkways on a scale comparable to Bologna (though in Baroque rather than medieval style). Piazza Castello, the civic heart of the city, is surrounded by Baroque palaces including the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace, now a museum with extraordinary state apartments), the Palazzo Madama (medieval castle converted to Baroque facade by Juvara, the architectural highlight of the piazza), and the Duomo di San Giovanni (15th century, contains the Chapel of the Holy Shroud). The Mole Antonelliana, the 167-metre structure begun as a synagogue and completed as a secular monument, defines the skyline and contains the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, the finest cinema museum in the world.
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The Egyptian Museum
The Museo Egizio di Torino is the most important collection of ancient Egyptian art and artefacts outside Egypt, superior in quality and quantity to everything in Europe, second globally only to the Cairo Museum. The collection was assembled primarily through 18th-19th century excavations financed by the Savoy kingdom. It includes complete tomb furnishings, a complete intact papyrus of the Book of the Dead, statues of pharaohs, mummies, and everyday objects from every period of Egyptian civilisation. The renovation completed in 2015 transformed the presentation into one of the finest museum experiences in Italy, immersive, well-lit, chronologically clear, and dramatically designed. Ticket €15. Queue: book online at museoegizio.it. Allow 3 hours minimum.
Questions: Is Turin Worth Visiting?
Is Turin better than Milan for a weekend trip?
For cultural tourism: yes, significantly. Turin has more interesting museums (the Egyptian Museum, the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, the Palazzo Reale, GAM for modern art), more interesting architecture (the Baroque city is more coherent than Milan's eclectic historic center), better food (the Piedmontese tradition is among Italy's finest), and comparable aperitivo culture. Milan has the Duomo, the Pinacoteca di Brera, and the Last Supper. For fashion and design: Milan. For everything else: Turin.
What is the Shroud of Turin?
The Sindone di Torino is a linen cloth bearing the image of a man with wounds consistent with crucifixion, believed by many Catholics to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. It has been in Turin since 1578 and is normally housed in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud (Cappella della Sacra Sindone) in the Duomo. It isn't on permanent public display, it is exhibited during specific events (Ostensioni) that happen approximately every 10-20 years. Outside these events, a photographic reproduction is visible in the chapel. The scientific debate (radiocarbon dating in 1988 dated the cloth to the 13th-14th century. Next challenges to the methodology have kept the controversy alive) hasn't been resolved to anyone's satisfaction.
What is Turin's aperitivo culture?
Turin invented the modern aperitivo ritual, the pre-dinner drink served with free food, in the 18th century when the city's cafes began serving Vermouth (also invented in Turin, by Antonio Benedetto Carpano in 1786) with small plates. The tradition migrated to Milan and became the Spritz era. In Turin it maintained its original form, a Vermouth, a Campari-based drink, or a Barolo Chinato, served with small plates of cured meats, cheeses, and finger food. The aperitivo hour in Turin's historic cafes (Caffè Mulassano, Caffè Fiorio, Caffè San Carlo, all 19th-century interiors of extraordinary quality) is among the finest of all Italian daily rituals.
How do I get to Turin?
By high-speed train from Milan: 1h (Frecciarossa, €15-30). From Rome: 4h30 direct. From Florence: 3h. Turin Porta Nuova station is in the center. The city is easily walkable from the station to the main historic sites.
Curiosità su Torino
Torino era la capitale del cinema muto italiano, i primi studi cinematografici italiani (Ambrosio Film, Itala Film, Cines Torino) furono fondati qui tra il 1904 e il 1908, e per un decennio la città fu il centro della produzione cinematografica nazionale. Il cinema di produzione torinese dominò il mercato italiano fino allo scoppio della Prima Guerra Mondiale, quando la produzione si spostò definitivamente a Roma. Il Museo Nazionale del Cinema nella Mole Antonelliana racconta questa storia con la collezione di apparecchi originali, manifesti, e spezzoni di film muto che è probabilmente la più completa d'Europa. La Mole stessa. 167 metri, costruita tra il 1863 e il 1889 su progetto di Alessandro Antonelli, fu commissionata dalla comunità ebraica di Torino come nuova sinagoga ma divenne così costosa che la comunità la cedette al Comune prima del completamento. È una delle strutture architettonicamente più bizzarre dell'Italia del XIX secolo: una sinagoga che non fu mai usata come sinagoga, diventata simbolo di una città laica e industriale. Vedi anche: Piemonte · Barolo · Milan.
