The Shroud chapel
Guarini's spiralling dome — Italy's boldest Baroque space, back from the ashes.
Benjamin Smith — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Phyrexian — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Phyrexian — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Phyrexian — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Royal Palace is the house of Savoy, unifiers and kings of Italy: from here the dynasty ruled duchy then kingdom for centuries, and its ticket today is the Musei Reali — one linked sequence compressing an entire royal capital: the apartments in gold and silk; the Royal Armoury, among Europe's richest, its armoured horsemen in file; the Sabauda gallery of dynastic painting (Van Dyck and the northern courts); the archaeological museum on Roman Turin's remains; royal gardens to finish. The stunning jewel is the Chapel of the Shroud: Guarini's Baroque sanctum built expressly for the Turin Shroud, its impossibly spiralling dome — reopened after a quarter-century's restoration from the 1997 fire and visited on the route (the Shroud itself stays sealed, shown only at rare papally decreed ostensions). Give it two and a half hours and open Turin with it: every square and arcade branches from here.
Guarini's spiralling dome — Italy's boldest Baroque space, back from the ashes.
Armoured riders on armoured steeds — a gallery seizing young and old.
Savoy gold and silk as they ruled from it.
Piazzetta Reale 1, 10122 Turin
Chapel of the Holy ShroudOn the night of 11 April 1997, Turin's most famous dome caught fire. A firefight1 minute walk4.8
Turin CathedralTurin's cathedral is the Shroud's house and the city's one Renaissance oasis ami1 minute walk4.5
Galleria SabaudaThe private collection of Italy's kings: the Galleria Sabauda is the picture gal2 minutes walk4.8
Palazzo MadamaPalazzo Madama is Turin's history in one building: its east face a genuine Roman3 minutes walk4.5
Piazza CastelloCastello is Turin's geometric and royal centre: from it the city was planned, it3 minutes walk4.9A linen bearing the imprint of a crucified body whose wounds match the Gospel account — Savoy property for centuries, deposited in Turin (1578). Science stands split since the carbon dating (medieval) and its contested rebuttals — the Church shows it as an icon for contemplation, ruling nothing on authenticity. Public ostensions come a few times a generation, drawing millions.
Two offices: this is the historic capital's heart in the city itself — Turin's natural opening; Venaria a half-day suburb of splendour with its gardens. Two days take both; one day favours the palace for its centrality to everything.
Take the entrance map and obey the arrow: apartments, armoury, Sabauda, antiquities — the chapel arrives on the apartments' route. Two and a half hours passes it honourably; the rescue rule: if strength fails, armoury and chapel are never surrendered.