The power circle
Royal, Madama and Regio in one orbit.
Fred Romero from Paris, France — CC BY 2.0 · FOTO:Fortepan — ID 61391: Adományozó/Donor: Lencse Zoltán. archive copy at the Wayback Machine — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Moliva — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Meinhertz77 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Castello is Turin's geometric and royal centre: from it the city was planned, its streets a Roman-souled grid, and around it all power circles — the Royal Palace behind its gilded rail, Palazzo Madama two-faced amid the space, the Teatro Regio's modern dome behind its old front, and the church of San Lorenzo disguised without church façade, hiding Guarini's octopus dome — Baroque's most astonishing cupola from within. Four squares and arcades branch from it like arms, the city's lines meeting beneath its floor — the axis you will cross dozens of times, each with a new face, from clerks' morning to theatre night. Stand at its centre and turn a full circle: rarely do four centuries of power surround you so coherently.
Royal, Madama and Regio in one orbit.
Façade-less San Lorenzo hiding the ribbed marvel.
Piazza Castello, 10122 Turin
Palazzo MadamaPalazzo Madama is Turin's history in one building: its east face a genuine Roman1 minute walk4.5
Palazzo Carignano and the Risorgimento MuseumPalazzo Carignano is Turin's boldest Baroque and Italy's weightiest political ad3 minutes walk4.7
Royal Palace (Musei Reali)The Royal Palace is the house of Savoy, unifiers and kings of Italy: from here t3 minutes walk4.9
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 ami4 minutes walk4.5The city resisted breaking the royal square's unity, leaving the church behind an ordinary palace front — and Guarini compensated within: interlacing rib-dome, an eight-star turning stone into mathematical light-lattice. The result is Italy's greatest free surprise: plain door, then awe.
Turin's opera house — its historic building burned (1936) and was rebuilt daringly seventies inside the surviving front: a red ovoid hall ranked among the twentieth century's most successful. Its season merits attendance, its day tours the modern-architecture curious.