Turin city guide

Recently named Italy’s Capital of Sustainable Tourism, Turin balances historic elegance with a modern, inventive streak: grand architecture sits alongside up-and-coming design studios, and century-old cafés line arcades beside new bakeries roasting single-origin coffee. Once the seat of the royal House of Savoy, it was Italy’s first capital, and there’s a touch of Paris in its architecture and a hint of Vienna in its cafés. The Alps frame the horizon, trains connect it easily to the rest of Europe, and prices remain refreshingly reasonable.

Beneath the grandeur, Turin buzzes with industry and invention. This is the city that built Fiat and exported Italian design to the world, but also the place that invented cinema and turned chocolate into an art form. You can still feel that creativity today in the way old factories have become galleries and warehouses now house restaurants and concert halls.

cristiano caligaris

Piazza Castello.

Palaces, piazzas, and porticoes

Turin's impressive grid layout was built by the royal House of Savoy in the 17th century. The long boulevards that lead the eye straight to the Alps were built in the image of other cities of power across Europe for carriages, ceremonies, and armies, rather than the tangle of medieval lanes you find elsewhere in Italy.

At the center of the design lies Piazza Castello. The square is surrounded by palaces and arcades that once housed ministries and royal guards. The Palazzo Reale was home to the Savoy kings and is constructed in pale stone, with a perfectly symmetrical design. Its formal gardens with sculptures by modern Italian artists are open to the public. Next door, Palazzo Madama is older. It now houses the Museum of Ancient Art, but the rear still holds the brick towers of a medieval fortress, while the front was rebuilt in Baroque style by architect Filippo Juvarra.

Antonio Sessa

Piazza San Carlo.

A few minutes’ walk away, Piazza San Carlo is just as grand, but with a more relaxed vibe. Two almost identical churches mark the southern edge, facing cafés that stretch beneath portici (arcades) on either side. Designed for the city’s unpredictable weather, the portici have become one of Turin’s defining features. Pause at the historic Caffè San Carlo for espresso and the 'La Carla' (a puffed-up pastry made from cocoa dough, filled with coffee custard and coffee caramel), then pick up some specialty slabs of chocolate, or a scoop of gelato, at Domori Store. The square is best in the late afternoon when the facades catch the light and it fills with people meeting for aperitivo.

Grigorii Shcheglov

Portici in Turin.

The slow food capital

The Slow Food movement began just outside Turin, in the town of Bra, as a response to the rise of fast food in the 1980s. It set out to protect regional recipes and ingredients, championing food that is good, clean, and fair. Turin has taken those values to heart, and you can taste them everywhere, in its markets, restaurants, and cafes where local produce is celebrated.

Porta Palazzo Market is the best place to experience the city’s food culture up close. It’s one of the largest open-air markets in Europe and a meeting place for chefs, vendors, and families doing their weekly grocery shopping. Look out for toma cheese from the mountains, fresh agnolotti del plin (small, hand-pinched pasta pockets filled with roasted meat and served with butter and sage), and jars of bagna càuda, a hot anchovy and garlic dip that is a staple in Piedmontese winters.

Takeaway/CC BY-SA 4.0

Porta Palazzo market.

A short tram ride away, Eataly in Lingotto is another landmark in the story of slow food. It turned a former factory into a celebration of regional produce. Part market, part restaurant, you can eat in its small restaurants or shop for local wine, olive oil, and truffles, all sourced from nearby producers.

Beyond the markets, the city’s restaurants mix tradition with invention. Tre Galline, in the Quadrilatero Romano, serves dishes rooted in the region’s history: tajarin pasta (fine, golden strands made with many egg yolks and often served with butter, sage, or truffle), veal tartare, and beef braised in Barolo. For something more relaxed, Pastificio Defilippis on Via Lagrange makes pasta by hand and serves it with simple sauces that change with the seasons.

Takeaway/CC BY-SA 4.0

Tajarin al Castelmagno (pasta served with local Castelmagno cheese).

For something sweet and distinctly Turinese, try gianduja, a blend of chocolate and hazelnut that became the base for Nutella, as well as the city’s signature drink, the bicerin (espresso, chocolate, and cream). You’ll find the best version of it at Al Bicerin, a tiny café that has been serving the same layered combination of chocolate, espresso, and cream since the 18th century.

Geobia/CC BY-SA 4.0

Al Bicerin.

The ritual of aperitivo, an early evening drink with small plates, is a big part of the city’s food culture. Try Bar Cavour, hidden above the restaurant Del Cambio, where vermouth was first mixed into cocktails. The bartender will make you a perfect Negroni, while talking you through the city’s history as the birthplace of vermouth.

Evgheni Liuft

The Mole Antonelliana.

Where art meets industry

Turin’s museums chart its transformation from royal capital to center of cinema, design, and contemporary art. The Mole Antonelliana, with its distinctive spire, rises far above the rest of the city’s rooftops and is Turin’s best-known landmark. Originally built as a synagogue, it now houses the National Cinema Museum, which explores film through light, sound, and movement. Instead of static displays, you wander through recreated sets, lie back in cinema chairs to watch projections above you, and ride a glass elevator through the dome for a panoramic view across the city to the Alps.

Nearby, the Museo Egizio holds the second-largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world after Cairo and deserves an unhurried afternoon. It’s beautifully organized, displaying everyday objects beside monumental statues and tombs, and the story of ancient Egypt unfolds as you move through the galleries.

Georgius LXXXIX/Public Domain

Museo Egizio entrance.

For contemporary art, head west to the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, set in a minimalist concrete building on the city’s edge. Exhibitions change frequently and focus on international artists working with new ideas and materials, often with a social or environmental edge. Across town, the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli occupies the rooftop of the former Fiat factory at Lingotto. Its small but striking collection includes works by Matisse, Renoir, and Modigliani, all shown against the backdrop of the old test track where Fiat cars once raced.

Arno Senoner

Fiat factory.

Where to Stay

Many of Turin’s best places to stay sit inside former palazzi, with views of the Alps or arcades just outside the door, while newer hotels reflect the city’s focus on design and detail.

Hotel Victoria

Hotel Victoria courtyard.

Hotel Victoria is tucked behind Via Cavour, hidden enough that you might miss the entrance if you weren’t looking for it. Inside, it feels more like a collector’s house than a hotel, filled with art, old travel prints, and an indoor winter garden that glows softly at night. The spa downstairs is small but beautifully designed, and the sense of calm makes it an ideal retreat after a day in the city.

If you prefer something with a modern edge, NH Collection Piazza Carlina does it well. The building once housed the philosopher Antonio Gramsci as a student, and it’s now a light-filled hotel built around a 17th-century courtyard. The rooms are understated but spacious, and the rooftop terrace gives one of the best views over the Mole Antonelliana and the Alps.

Duparc Contemporary Suites

Duparc Contemporary Suites.

Those with a design bent should check out Duparc Contemporary Suites. The 1970s building has been carefully restored with clean lines, sculptural furniture, and large windows that frame the park. Artworks from the owners’ collection hang throughout, while the spa offers a quiet, modern space to unwind and the restaurant focuses on local produce with a modern edge.

Maël BALLAND

Line 7 streetcar, Turin.

Where to Next

Turin’s position at the foot of the Alps makes it one of the best-connected cities in northern Italy. Fast trains run south to the coast, east across the plains, and west through the mountains into France.

Head south to Genoa for sea air. Its historic port is a maze of narrow lanes, and from there trains run along the Ligurian coast to Camogli and Santa Margherita Ligure, both perfect for slow days by the water and long seafood lunches.

Travel east to Florence for a complete change of scene from Turin’s boulevards. Spend time getting lost in Florence’s Renaissance streets, visit the Uffizi, and walk over the Ponte Vecchio to eat in the small osterie that line the Oltrarno.

If you want to stay closer, the wine towns of Alba, Barolo, and Bra show the quieter side of Piedmont. Alba is famous for white truffles, Barolo for its vineyards, and Bra as the birthplace of the Slow Food movement. All are easy day trips or relaxed overnight stops.

Take a trip to Turin by train, or check out our other slow travel vacations by rail to Italy.

Short on time? Take a mini-trip within a trip through the Bernina Pass from Turin as one of our bite-sized excursions.

Read our other city guides: Zurich, Rotterdam, Girona. Alternatively, discover six of the best scenic train journeys in Europe.

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