A plan for Turin

"Taurini" first appears in history in 218 BC, when the tribe of that name was subdued by Hannibal. Over the centuries it grew into a sizeable city but was repeatedly attacked or occupied by foreign troops, and Italy was a patchwork of warring principalities. One powerful faction was the Savoy dynasty, relocating from their original Alpine home to re-base in Turin, and they embellished it in the 18th century with baroque palaces (not all of these for their mistresses), elegant boulevards and grand piazzas. Napoleon captured Turin and the Piedmont region in 1802, but after his downfall the Savoyards were re-instated and the city (now a royal capital) was further enhanced. The Savoyards just-about stayed on the right side of history during the revolutionary era of 1840-60 and the struggle to unify Italy, and Turin was for four years the country's first capital.

The city became an industrial powerhouse in the 19th century, especially through the automobile industry: "FIAT" stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, founded here in 1899, and Lancia set up in 1906. These sucked in labour from the poor south, and were subsidised by Mussolini. Turin was heavily bombed by the Allies during World War II but afterwards was restored to its former grandeur as a second Paris.

Car manufacture and other traditional industries withered in the late 20th century, as elsewhere in Europe, and the city became run-down, hollowed out and de-populated. It re-invented itself with new industry, design and services — not least to tourists — and in 2006 hosted the Winter Olympic Games.

The climate of Turin is continental, with cold winters and warm summers. Snow is common in winter and summer thunderstorms are not uncommon either. The wealth of indoor attractions and open spaces make the city a year-round destination.

Tourist information

Tourist information centres are on Piazza Castello (corner with Via Garibaldi, daily 09:00-18:00) and on Piazza Carlo Felice (front of Porta Nuova station, likewise daily 09:00-18:00).

Turin's main attractions include important baroque palaces and churches, an attractive arcade-lined street grid, an extensive network of arcades, famous coffee shops and several renowned museums. Five palaces in Turin and nine more in the region served as residences for the Savoy royalty and are now inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Torino+Piemonte Card gives you plus one child under 12 free access to all the museums and most other city attractions listed below. It does not include regular public transport but does include the bus to and from Venaria Reale (plus palace entry), the rack-railway to Superga, selected city tours, and a discount on the airport bus. In 2024 a 24-hour card is €29, 48-hour €38, 72-hour €44 (€18 under age 18), and 120-hour €49. At these prices you may struggle to break even, given the regular entry fees, and the hours needed to take in each of the top sights. Holders of the card can buy a supplementary pass for public transport for €5.50 48 hours, €7.50 72 hours. All cards are timed from first use

1 Palazzo Reale, Piazza Castello, ☏ +39 011 543889. Tue-Sun 09:00-19:00. 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.- Royal Armoury: dating from the 16th century, the 1833 collection of Sardinian king Carlo Alberto.- Royal Library: this contains some 200,000 print volumes, 4500 manuscripts, 3055 drawings, 187 incunabula predating 1501, 5019 16th-century books, 20,987 pamphlets, 1500 works on parchment, 1112 periodicals, and 400 photo albums, maps, engravings, and prints. It contains several works Leonardo da Vinci's: Codex on the Flight of Birds, his self-portrait, his study for the angel in his Virgin of the Rocks and his study for the angel in Verrocchio's The Baptism of Christ. Adult €15. (updated Jan 2024)

Parks: closest to the centre is Parco Valentino, ranged around Castello Valentino (above) on the riverside.

1 Parco Pietro Colletta is a large green space upstream, at the confluence of the Po and Dora river.

Performance arts

Teatro Regio, Piazza Castello 215, ☏ +39 011 881 5557. The city opera house is active Oct-June. It was opened in 1740 but burned down in 1936. Reconstruction took until 1973, with a modern building behind the original facade, seating 1500. (updated Jan 2024)

2 Teatro Carignano, Piazza Carignano 6, ☏ +39 011 516 9411. The city's oldest and premier theatre, opened in 1753. It was wrecked by fire in 1786 but swiftly rebuilt to the original plan, and from 1936 to 1973 it was the opera house during Teatro Regio's lengthy closure. (updated Jan 2024)

3 Teatro Colosseo, Via Madama Cristina 71, ☏ +39 011 669 8034. A modern concert hall seating 1500. (updated Jan 2024)

Other theatres include the Alfieri, Stabile, Astra, Tedaca, Gioiello and Erba; Teatro Araldo has closed down. Alfa Teatro is a puppet theatre.

Stadio Olimpico the Torino FC football ground hosts the biggest live events, see below, or they're held in the adjacent Pala Alpitour aka Inalpi Arena.

4 Villa La Tesoriera is a mansion of 1713, centrepiece of Tesoriera Park, that's now a concert venue.

OGR (Officine Grandi Riparazioni) is an events venue at Corso Castelfidardo 22.

Sport

5 Juventus FC, Allianz Stadium, Corso Gaetano Scirea (Trains towards airport stop at Rigola Stadio). Mon Wed-Sun 10:30-19:00. "Juve", founded in 1897, play soccer in Serie A, Italy's top tier, and have almost never been out of the top flight. Allianz Stadium, capacity 41,000, has a club museum. (updated Jan 2024)

6 Torino FC, Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Via Filadelfia (Bus or tram to Sebastapoli). "Toro" also play in Serie A. The original club was founded in 1906 and dominated until 1949, when team and staff died in the Superga air crash. They had mixed fortunes thereafter and went bust in 2005, so this is a phoenix club. The stadium, capacity 28,000, was built in the 1930s and renovated for the 2006 Winter Olympics, and for some obscure reason is no longer named for Benito Mussolini. (updated Jan 2024)

Stadio Primo Nebiolo is a multi-use facility (capacity 7200) in Parco Ruffini in the west of the city. It hosted Torino FC from 1993 to 2009 but no longer has a resident team.

Turin has good public water, surging out of the nearby mountains. You'll see public drinking fountains everywhere, usually in the shape of a green bull, locally called Turet. Restaurants will happily serve you a carafe of tap water and not hassle you to buy bottled.

Many restaurants serve Piedmontese dishes, obviously, but the other regional Italian cuisines are also well represented.

Turin and the region of Piedmont has a very distinct regional cuisine that you will not often find easily around Italy.

Traditional dishes that you should look out for include vitello tonnato, tajarin, agnolotti, and bagna cauda.

In addition, there are a number of traditional products from Turin such as torrone, bicerin, grissini, and gianduiotto.

Budget

La Piadineria is a chain with about 20 city locations, serving wraps; they have 3 outlets in or by Porto Nuova station.

Grom, Piazza Pietro Paleocapa 1D (north side of Porta Nuova station), ☏ +39 011 511 9067. Daily 12:00-23:00. Renowned ice cream chain. Their other outlets are on Via Accademia delle Scienze, Via Garibaldi, Corso Romania and Via Nizza. (updated Jan 2024)

1 Piola Cianci, Largo IV Marzo 9/b, ☏ +39 353 342 6322. Mon-Fri 07:00-00:00, Sat Sun 12:00-16:00, 19:00-00:00. Popular place for fast inexpensive antipasti and main meals. (updated Jan 2024)

2 Focacceria Lagrange, Via Giuseppe Luigi Lagrange 11, ☏ +39 011 562 9244. Daily 09:00-21:00. Nice place to eat light and crispy focaccia. Fast service. Mostly takeaway but they have a few tables inside and out. (updated Jan 2024)

3 Gofreria Piemontèisa, Via San Tommaso 7. Tue-Fri Sun 11:30-15:30, Sat 11:30-18:30. Gofri are waffles Piedmont style, thin with sweet or savoury fillings. (updated Jan 2024)

4 La Stuzzicheria, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi 21a, ☏ +39 342 673 5217. Tue-Sun 10:30-21:00. Good local good pizza and excellent farinata. (updated Jan 2024)

Bicyclette, Via Sant'Agostino 4 (round corner from Chapel of Merchants), ☏ +39 011 436 9705. Mon-Fri 12:00-15:00, 18:00-01:00; Sat Sun 11:30-01:00. Impressive variety of sweet and savory crepes; high quality dough and ingredients. (updated Jan 2024)

The main concentration of bars is along the river near Ponte Vittorio Emanuele, while the historic centre has many charming old-world cafés.

The late night spots are around Piazza Vittorio Veneto, Murazzi, Lungo Dora Firenze at the corner of Via Reggio, Largo Saluzzo in San Salvario and Piazza Santa Giulia.

1 Caffe al Bicerin, Piazza della Consolata 5, ☏ +39 011 436 9325. Thu-Tue 09:00-19:30. Home of the classic Torinese drink, the Bicerin, a mix of coffee, hot chocolate and cream. But pricey and long queues. (updated Jan 2024)

2 Birrificio Torino, Via Parma 30, ☏ +39 011 287 6562. Mon-Fri 12:00-15:00, 18:00-01:00; Sat Sun 18:00-01:00. Brewpub restaurant with six beers brewed on premises. Good menu with recommended matched beers. More restaurant than pub, it can be very busy. (updated Jan 2024)

3 Caffe Rossini, Corso Regina Margherita 80, ☏ +39 011 521 4105. Mon-Thu 16:00-02:00, Fri Sat 16:00-04:00. Calls itself a restaurant, but it's really a café and late-night pub with music and a young crowd. (updated Jan 2024)

4 Lab Vittorio, Piazza Vittorio Veneto 13/E, ☏ +39 347 187 2102. Sun Tue-Thu 17:00-01:00, Fri Sat 17:00-03:00. Small lively bar with good cocktails and tapas. They have another bar at Via Mazzini 5. (updated Jan 2024)

Distilleries in the city mostly make vermouth and grappa. They include TUVÈ, Aquaglia, Arudi, Cornelio and Ducale.

Public transport

Turin has an integrated system of buses, trams and metro all operated by GTT. These run 04:00-01:00, and out of hours there are night buses fanning out from Piazza Vittorio Veneto. Their website has a journey planner and network map.

You should buy your ticket before you get on and must validate it as soon as you board, though the metro and most buses and trams now let you pay by credit card on board. All tabaccherie (tobacconists) sell transport tickets as do some bars and kiosks at stations. There are also vending machines at Metro stations. The standard ticket is the "City + Suburban 100", valid for 100 mins for unlimited bus rides plus one journey on the Metro. In 2024 this costs €2; daily, 48-hr and 72-hr tickets are available for €4.50, €9.50 and €12.50 respectively. Longer season tickets will need photo ID. The spot fine for travelling with an unvalidated ticket, or without one, is €25.

Bus and tram stops are clearly marked with yellow signs, and display maps of the city routes. There may be electronic indicators at the stop and on board.

Turin Metro, opened in 2006, is a single line, Linea 1, with driverless trains. The south terminus is Bengasi. The line runs north to Lingotto, near the mainline Lingotto train station, the Lingotto Conference, Exhibition & Trade Centre, Eataly and the Automobile Museum. The line continues north under Via Nizza stopping at Spezia, Carducci, Dante, Fermata 8226 and Marconi to Porta Nuova railway station. It there turns west beneath Corso Vittorio Emmanuele II stopping at Re Umberto and Vinzaglio, then north again to Porta Susa railway station and Piazza XVIII Dicembre. It then runs west under Corso Francia into the suburbs, stopping at Principi d'Acaja, Bernini, Racconigi, Rivoli, Monte Grappa, Pozzo Strada, Massaua, Marche, and Paradiso to end at Fermi. Fares are the same as for buses, eg a 100-min single journey including bus transfers is €2, it's automatically validated by passing the platform entrance gates.

As of 2024, a westward extension of Linea 1 and a new Linea 2 are under construction, and Linea 3 is in planning.

Turin is generally safe. But the top end of Via Nizza, flanking Porta Nuova railway station, can be seedy or even dangerous in the small hours. The nearby San Salvario area (Via Nizza to Parco del Valentino) is lively, going on raucous, but attracts drug peddlers and similar low-life. The areas between Porta Palazzo and the Dora River can be dangerous at night.

As in other European cities, beware pickpockets in any busy place, especially if you have luggage or backpacks.

Don't wear a football shirt or other club colours, unless you've come mob-handed with thousands of fellow supporters. Any Italian or major European club colours will be a red rag to the young bulls of either Juventus (black and white) or Torino (brownish red) or both. In particular, avoid wearing the jersey of Milanese club Internazionale, as they have a very heated rivalry with local club Juventus, and violent confrontations have been known to occur between the supporters of both clubs.