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The Mole Antonelliana
|  The 167.5 metre high Mole Antonelliana is the tallest masonry building in Italy. From the top of the Mole, visitors can overlook the entire city of Turin with a 360° view of its rooftops and the Po river, which looks like a glittering strip that cuts across the city. Designed by Alessandro Antonelli as a Jewish temple, construction was completed in 26 years, due to financial trouble and some doubts as to the building’s stability.
A visit to the Mole is an experience in itself, even before you’ve reached its terrace. In fact, a completely transparent lift takes visitors up to the top of the building, thus making it possible to admire the stuccoes that decorate the vault.
Most of all, the journey up in the lift is similar to floating in the void inside the building's dome. The Mole Antonelliana currently hosts the National Museum of Cinema. |
The Egyptian Museum
|  The Egyptian Museum in Turin is the most important in the world after Cairo. It contains incredibly important finds which were brought to Italy thanks to Italian archaeological expeditions. The first collection of Egyptian antiquities that led to the opening of the museum, in 1824, dates back to the work of Bernardino Drovetti.
The initial 5628 finds are now located beside those of the expeditions of the early 20th Century, when any finds from the digs were still divided up between Egypt and the expeditions. The museum was built in such a way as to enable a dual visit to Egypt, either chronologically (on the ground floor) or following a thematic trail (on the first floor).
Genuine sites, tombs and temples have been reconstructed inside the museum, and these can be visited “from the inside” in a 360° journey. The Museum currently holds approximately 30,000 finds, in a trail that starts in the Palaeolithic age and continues to the annexation of Egypt to the Roman Empire and the spreading of Christianity with the diffusion of the Coptic language. |
The Museum of Shroud
|  The Shroud is one of the most important relics in Christian tradition. The shroud (from the Greek “sheet”) is said to be the very one used on the body of Christ when he was buried and then found by the Apostles in the empty sepulchre after his resurrection. Tests performed on the fabric were unable to guarantee its authenticity nor to explain the presence of the image of a man imprinted on the fabric, since there is no evidence of any ink or paint, leaving the mystery surrounding the item more or less unsolved.
The Museum of the Shroud was set up in the crypt of the church of the holy Shroud (chiesa del SS. Sudario), on which restoration work was completed in 1998. In addition to the Holy Shroud, the museum guards religious items, including the Sixteenth century silver and hard stone reliquary which contained the Shroud up until 1998. Artistic contributions and the accounts of the scientific enquiry complete the visit, providing the most exhaustive information about the Shroud. |
The Savoy Gallery
|  The Savoy Gallery is one of the most important art galleries in Italy. It is home to a considerable amount of paintings from various periods and kept from the first collection commissioned by Charles Albert of Savoy in 1832, the year in which the Gallery was built.
Donated to the Government in 1860, the collection of paintings, which was initially kept in Palazzo Madama, was moved to its current home in the Palazzo dell’Accademia delle Scienze. Built according to a design by Guarino Guarini the building had housed the College of Nobles during the previous century.
The paintings on show in the gallery cover an extensive historic and artistic range. The Savoy Gallery counts works by 15th and 16th century Italian masters, Piedmontese artworks ranging from 1300 to 1500, Flemish artworks, Dutch art, Caravaggism work as well as Lombard mannerism.
The canvases originating from the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace), from the Palazzo Carignano in Turin and from the Palazzo Durazzo in Genoa, alongside donations from up to the mid 19th century, stand side by side with the collection of ancient art (Duccio di Boninsegna, Signorelli, Veronese and Titian) belonging to Riccardo Gualino and donated to the Gallery in 1928 and laid out according to a “Museum Home” inside. |
The Superga Basilica
|  The Superga basilica was built by Victor Amadeus II of Savoy as a consequence of a vow he had made. Having climbed to the top of Superga hill before facing Louis XIV’s French army, he addressed the Virgin Mary to petition for her mercy in granting them this victory and thus keep Turin and the whole of Piedmont independent.
Construction work on the Basilica went on for over 14 years, from 1717 to 1731. Under the supervision of the Messina-born architect and abbot Filippo Juvarra, the existing church was torn down and Superga hill was lowered by 40m.
The Basilica attracts tourists and pilgrims from all over the world, also thanks to its dome affording a truly breathtaking view. The church also offers architectural masterpieces and figurative artworks provided by the Savoy family to adorn the basilica and some of its lay parts.
The Sanctuary and its complex are also a favourite among pilgrims and guest quarters are available, run by the monks from the Ordine dei Servi di Maria (Order of Mary’s Servants). Appropriate clothing is recommended when visiting the Basilica and the museum’s rooms (royal tombs, etc.), also because it is cooler inside the crypts than it is outside. |
The Car Museum
|  Inaugurated in 1960, the Car Museum in Turin is one of a limited number of museums dedicated entirely to this vehicle in the world, and it is the only one in Italy. It contains a collection of over 170 automobiles which bear witness to the evolution of the car from its origins to the 1980s.
The museum is set in a purpose-built building designed by the architect, Amedeo Albertini. Construction of the building began in April 1958 and it took two years’ work to complete the edifice which is now one of the most important examples of modern architecture. Particular attention needs to be paid to the solution adopted to support the connection hoses between the main buildings and the transverse constructions, in the form of upside-down pyramids, as well as the façade. Indeed, the latter has a convex shape and is held up by an iron truss weighing 60 tons resting on four large concrete and stainless steel pillars.
In addition to cars, which Carlo Biscaretti put together especially for the opening of the museum, the museum exhibits also include paper documentation, photographs and books donated to the museum by the Canestrini family. One wing of the museum is dedicated entirely to racing cars. The Historic Tyre Room instead houses temporary exhibitions. Lastly, the building also treasures figurative artworks inspired by important people and car maker..
The museum has disabled access, a free covered car park, a bookshop and a cafeteria. |
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