Turin Walking Tour: 3 Hours with a Licensed Local Guide

Highlights

• Licensed tour guide
• Roman and royal heritage
• Mole Antonelliana

What's included

Itinerary

1. 1

   Piazza Castello

   20min

   The focal point of the city, Piazza Castello, is dominated by Palazzo Madama, the former entrance gate to the Roman city. It is offered to the eye with a marriage between medieval and baroque architecture. On the same square overlooks the Royal Palace, the first residence built by Savoy in the new capital of the Duchy, Turin.

2. 2

   Cattedrale Di San Giovanni Battista

   15min

   Crossing the Piazza Reale, one reaches the Duomo of Turin, a Renaissance building from the late fifteenth century, the place that houses the Holy Shroud, the most important relic of Christianity, which belonged to the Savoy for centuries. From its courtyard, one can admire the Palatine Gate, one of the best-preserved Roman gates in the world. Crossing the Piazza Reale, one reaches the Duomo of Turin, a Renaissance building from the late fifteenth century, the place that houses the Holy Shroud, the most important relic of Christianity, which belonged to the Savoy for centuries.

3. 3

   Piazza San Carlo

   20min

   Walking through the arcades of the central Via Roma and stopping to admire the Galleria San Federico, one reaches Piazza San Carlo, called "The Drawing Room of Turin" by the Torineli. It is one of the most elegant squares in the city, built in the first half of the seventeenth century and dominated by the presence of the equestrian statue of Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, the "Caval d'Brons," and the so-called "twin churches" dedicated respectively to Saint Cristina and Saint Charles. Three of the numerous historic cafes still present in the city overlook the piazza arcades, and invite Turin residents and visitors to take a break to taste the delights of tradition, such as the famous "Bicerin," a clever mix of hot chocolate, coffee, and fresh milk cream, or the gianduiotto.

4. 4

   Piazza Carignano

   20min

   Eighteenth-century frame dominated by Palazzo Carignano, the historic residence of the Savoy Carignano family that gave birth to King Charles Albert and his eldest son, Victor Emmanuel II, the first sovereign of the unified Italy. The palace is home to the Museum of the Risorgimento, which houses the first Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy. In front, since 1757 there is the Ristorante del Cambio, the oldest in the city, as well as the Pepino ice cream parlor where, in the 1930s, the first ice cream in the world was born, the "Pinguino".

5. 5

   Galleria Subalpina

   10min

   One of the city's three covered galleries, which has continued to fascinate Turin residents and visitors since 1874. You will find the Luxemburg Bookstore, the oldest in Turin, and the historic cafe Baratti e Milano, where the cremini were invented.

6. 6

   Mole Antonelliana

   10min

   The headquarters of the National Cinema Museum dominates the city from the height of its 167 meters. Built in the mid-nineteenth century to be a Jewish synagogue, its destiny changed radically thanks to an architect with curious ambitions.

Before you go

Location