The two-thousand-year building
Augustus's gate, castle, Baroque — history in stacked faces.
Federico Spadaro — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gianni Careddu — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart — Public domain · Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart — Public domain
Palazzo Madama is Turin's history in one building: its east face a genuine Roman gate of Augustus's age, towers still standing in its body; the body a medieval castle with its courts; the west face Italian Baroque's most sumptuous front — Juvarra's masterpiece (1721) with the twin royal staircase counted Europe's loveliest, built for the two royal Madame of Savoy, regents who gave it their name. Inside is the civic Museum of Ancient Art: Piedmont's centuries in miniatures — Fouquet's famous praying portrait its jewel — ceramics, ivories and furniture in Baroque rooms over the square. Its tower opens Piazza Castello panoramically. It is the building all Turin crosses in its central square — enter its body if only for Juvarra's stair: the free-hall ascent repays the detour.
Augustus's gate, castle, Baroque — history in stacked faces.
The twin royal stair — Europe's loveliest Baroque ascent.
The fifteenth century's famous miniature — a face centuries before realism.
Piazza Castello, 10122 Turin
Piazza CastelloCastello is Turin's geometric and royal centre: from it the city was planned, it1 minute walk4.9
Royal Palace (Musei Reali)The Royal Palace is the house of Savoy, unifiers and kings of Italy: from here t3 minutes walk4.9
Palazzo Carignano and the Risorgimento MuseumPalazzo Carignano is Turin's boldest Baroque and Italy's weightiest political ad3 minutes walk4.7
Chapel of the Holy ShroudOn the night of 11 April 1997, Turin's most famous dome caught fire. A firefight3 minutes walk4.8
Turin CathedralTurin's cathedral is the Shroud's house and the city's one Renaissance oasis ami3 minutes walk4.5Two royal regents who ruled Savoy from this palace in the seventeenth century — Christine of France, then Giovanna Battista — steering the duchy shrewdly through Europe's storms, the second commissioning Juvarra's front and stair. Madama being the regent's title, the palace became theirs.
Free first: façade, stair, hall, then the circle to the Roman back — fifteen minutes tell the building. The ticket is for lovers of decorative arts and miniatures, and a calm hour above the square.