Turin

Basilica di Maria Ausiliatrice

Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians

Palladian church built 1865-68, originally as part of a care facility for poor and delinquent boys founded by Don Bosco (1815-88). He himself is buried here, along with 6000 bits and pieces of saints.

Mon-Sat 07:00-19:00, Sun 07:00-22:00·Free

Basilica of Superga

This hilltop basilica was built in thanksgiving for the 1706 defeat of the French at Turin. Often incorrectly called a cathedral, it's in sort-of-classical-with-baroque style, and houses the tombs of many nobles of the House of Savoy. Superga hill derives its name from Serrapergia meaning "mountain between the hills". Nearby is a monument to the air crash of 1949, which wiped out Torino FC. Get here by car, bus, rack-railway, or the hiking trails, but the approach road is narrow with no sidewalk so it is not safe for walking.

Daily 10:00-13:00, 14:30-17:00·Free

Birichin

Gourmet restaurant with wide selection of Italian fare and huge wine selection, mostly good reviews.

Mon-Sat 12:00-15:00, 19:00-23:00

Birrificio Torino

Brewpub restaurant with six beers brewed on premises. Good menu with recommended matched beers. More restaurant than pub, it can be very busy.

Mon-Fri 12:00-15:00, 18:00-01:00; Sat Sun 18:00-01:00

CAMERA – Italian Centre for Photography

Impressive quality photography, with 3 or 4 exhibitions a year.

Fri-Wed 11:00-19:00, Thu 11:00-21:00·Adult €12, conc €8, under 12 free

Caffe Rossini

Calls itself a restaurant, but it's really a café and late-night pub with music and a young crowd.

Mon-Thu 16:00-02:00, Fri Sat 16:00-04:00

Caffe al Bicerin

Home of the classic Torinese drink, the Bicerin, a mix of coffee, hot chocolate and cream. But pricey and long queues.

Thu-Tue 09:00-19:30

Castello di Rivoli

Museo d'Arte Contemporanea

The hilltop castle was built around 900 AD but from the 17th century had so many incomplete extensions, abandoned or wrecked by the French, that owners and architects risked being driven mad. One who did go mad was King Victor Amadeus II (1666-1732), who horrified noble society by publicly marrying his mistress here; he was deposed and incarcerated within the castle to stop him declaring war on Milan or Poland or heaven knows where. The building later became a barracks but fell derelict until restored in the 1980s. It's now a museum of contemporary art.

Wed-Fri 10:00-17:00, Sat Sun 11:00-18:00·Adult €10, conc €6.50

Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist

Duomo; Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista

Large elegant cathedral dating from late 15th century, enlarged in the 17th to create the Chapel for the Shroud of Turin. However this chapel (rebuilt after a fire in 1997) is nowadays accessed as part of a tour of Palazzo Reale and can't be seen from the Cathedral; visit the nearby Sindone Museum to see a copy of the Shroud.

Daily 09:00-13:00 & 15:00-19:00·Free

Chapel of the Merchants

Cappella dei Mercanti, Negozianti e Banchieri

A jewel of baroque architecture and sacred art built from 1680 by businessmen anxious to sanctify their dealings - they were, let's stress, "The Pious Congregation of Bankers, Shopkeepers and Merchants of Turin." One theme of the decor is the Magi, bearing the trade valuables without which the Christian church couldn't exist. The chapel was created within Chiesa dei Santi Martiri, a 16th-century Jesuit church. Its best-known artefact is the "calendario perpetuo" made by Giovanni Amedeo Plana in 1831. This predicts lunar phases, tides, days of the week and Christian holy days for 4000 years from Year Zero (1 BC in the Gregorian calendar); thereafter it's askew as it misses an extra leap-day tweak. It ranks among the world's earliest computers, though pipped by Babbage's "difference engine" of 1822.

Sept-June Sat 15:00-18:00, Sun 10:00-12:00

Chiesa della Gran Madre di Dio

A neo-classical miniature pantheon at the far end of Vittorio Emanuele I bridge, closing off the view down Via Po. It was built to celebrate the defeat of Napoleon and return of the Savoy monarchy in 1814, but only completed in 1831.

Mon-Sat 07:30-19:00, Sun 07:30-22:00

Da Mauro

Good reviews for their home cooking. Great value for money, come early or you won't get in.

Tue-Sun 12:00-14:00, 19:20-22:00

Focacceria Lagrange

Nice place to eat light and crispy focaccia. Fast service. Mostly takeaway but they have a few tables inside and out.

Daily 09:00-21:00

Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

Art exhibition gallery in a former automobile factory and outdoor sculpture park.

Thu 20:00-23:00, Fri-Sun 12:00-19:00·Adult €7, conc €5

Foundation Accorsi-Ometto

Decorative Arts Museum

Extensive display of furniture, painting and other decorative art.

Tue Wed Fri-Sun 10:00-18:00, Thu 10:00-20:00·Adult €14, conc €12

Fratelli La Cozza

Pizzeria and seafood. Try for a balcony seat for views down the boulevard.

Daily 12:15-14:30, 19:30-00;00

Galleria d'Italia

Galleria d'Italia is a museum chain to show off the art owned by Intesa Sanpaolo bank, the modern nobility. The Turin branch, opened in 2022, is in the Palazzo Turinetti di Pertengo and mostly displays photography. Their others are in Milan, Naples and Vicenza.

Tue-Sun 10:00-18:00·Adult €10

Gofreria Piemontèisa

Gofri are waffles Piedmont style, thin with sweet or savoury fillings.

Tue-Fri Sun 11:30-15:30, Sat 11:30-18:30

Juventus FC

"Juve", founded in 1897, play soccer in Serie A, Italy's top tier, and have almost never been out of the top flight. Allianz Stadium, capacity 41,000, has a club museum.

Mon Wed-Sun 10:30-19:00

La Mandria

The "hunting lodge" grew into such a vast palace that what was needed was a new hunting lodge. However, King Victor Emmanuel II needed somewhere to ensconce his mistress La Bela Rosin, so this new lodge in turn became so big and blinged up that... life can be really tough when you're a plutocrat monarch. Wild boar, deer and rare breeds of horse roam the park, which has multiple access points. In the 20th century it acquired a golf course and a motor-racing track.

Tue-Sun 10:00-16:00·Adult €8 or combi-ticket with Venaria

La Venaria Reale

Built as a royal hunting lodge from 1675, this grew and grew into a humonguous bling palace, trying to outshine Versailles. It became a barracks and was knocked about in Napoleonic times, remaining military until the 1930s, then the vandals set about it. Restoration was piecemeal until 1996, then a ten-year project brought it back to its former baroque opulence. Highlights include the Salone di Diana, the Galleria Grande, the chapel of Sant’Uberto and the Scuderie (stables). The Gardens are a modern re-imagining. The palace was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.

Tue-Fri 09:30-17:00, Sat Sun 09:30-18:30·Adult €20, conc €16, under-22 €10

Lab Vittorio

Small lively bar with good cocktails and tapas. They have another bar at Via Mazzini 5.

Sun Tue-Thu 17:00-01:00, Fri Sat 17:00-03:00

Lobelix

This bar serves a nightly aperitivo - your drink buys access to the food, which runs out towards 21:00.

Sun Tue-Thu 18:30-01:30, Fri Sat 18:30-03:00

Mare Nostrum

Excellent southern Italian and Sicilian seafood fish dishes. The starter is a must, just one entry on the menu, but you receive six small dishes of the day.

Mon-Sat 20:00-22:30

Mausoleo della Bela Rosin

Pantheon di Mirafiori

Rosa Vercellana (1833-1885) became the mistress of the future Victor Emmanuel II and had two children by him before she was 16. She was made a countess when his legitimate wife and queen died in 1855, and in 1869 when the king thought he himself might die, he hurriedly married Rosa. It was a morganatic marriage, so it conferred no crown or right of succession on her or her children. He survived to do the same thing over in 1877, likewise morganatic, then died. His Savoy dynasty wouldn't let this upstart floozie be buried next to him, so here lies La Bela. The neoclassical building was handed over to the city in 1970 but vandalised and fell derelict; it was restored in 2005 and now houses a public library.

Mon Thu 09:00-13:00, Wed 09:00-13:00, 14:00-17:00, Sun 14:00-17:00·Free

Mezzaluna

Friendly staff serving vegan versions of Italian and other dishes.

Tue 09:00-17:00, Wed-Sat 09:00-23:00·Antipasti for €7, primi and secondi for €12

Mole Antonelliana

National Cinema Museum

The Mole, Turin's landmark building built in 1888, was intended as a synagogue but the size and cost got out of hand and the Jewish community never used it. The 167.5-metre tower is the highest work of masonry in Europe and you can ride a lift to the cupola at the top. Within it, the National Cinema Museum is a vast exhibition space spiralling up five floors. The themes of the floors are the archaeology of cinema, the video camera, a collection of cinema posters, video installations (with side rooms screening clips), and the Great Temple where you recline in comfy red chairs and watch — or is it worship? — Italian film classics projected on giant screens overhead. Artefacts include magic lanterns, optical illusions, photographs, drawings, models, props and costumes, such as the original cape worn by Christopher Reeve in Superman in 1978.

Wed-Fri, Sun Mon 09:00-19:00, Sat 09:00-22:00·Museum €12, lift €9

Moncalieri Castle

This castle was built as a fortress by Thomas I of Savoy, but enlarged into a pleasure palace in the mid-15th century. From the 19th century it was especially used by queen mothers and princesses. Today it houses the Carabinieri, though the castle and its apartments can be visited. Reservation required.

Fri-Sun 10:00-17:00·Adult €7, conc €5

Museo Egizio

"The road to Memphis and Thebes passes through Turin" said Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion about Museo Egizio in Turin, second only in order of importance to the one in Cairo. Many artifacts were collected by Bernardino Drovetti (1776 - 1852) when he was consul of France in Egypt. In 1824, King Carlo Felice di Savoia purchased the diplomat's entire collection and housed it in the palace built in the 17th century by design of architect Michelangelo Garove (which was firstly Collegio dei Nobili, then seat of Accademia delle Scienze and still houses the museum). The visit begins with floor -1 hypogeous with History of the Museum (highlights - Mensa Isiaca, statue of Isis from Coptos, Iuefankh's Book of the Dead); taking the escalator we reach floor 2 with Material Culture Galleries, Predynastic, Old Kingdom, Textiles Gallery, Tomb of the Unknown (intact), Tomb of Iti and Neferu, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom (highlights - Gebelein Canvas, pleated tunics, faience hippo statuette, statue of Aanen, statue of Hel); taking Sanpaolesi staircase we reach floor 3 with Writing Gallery (highlights - double cartouche from Temple of the Aten, Papyrus of Kings, Judicial Papyrus, pyramidion from the Tomb of Ramose); returning to floor 2, then descending Mazzucchetti staircase we reach floor 1 with Village of Deir el-Medina, In Search of Life (human remains), Egyptian Gardens (on the terrace), Tomb of Kha and Merit (intact), Coffin Gallery, Valley of the Queens, Late Period, Ptolemaic Period, Roman and Late Antique Period (highlights - statue of Pendua and Nefertari, Erotic-Satirical Papyrus, Maya Chapel, Butehamon Coffin, animal mummies, amulets); the visit ends taking Mazzucchetti staircase to floor 0 with Gallery of Kings and Temple of Ellesiya (highlights - statues of Ramses II, Sethi II, Tutmosis III, Sekhmet). Analog services: cloakroom (floor -1 hypogeous), rest area "Caffè con ME" (reached from Room 7), museum shop (floor -1 hypogeous), kids area "Spazio ZeroSei Egizio"

Mon 09:00-14:00; Tue-Sun 09:00-18:30·Ticket online (suggested)

Museo Ettore Fico

MEF

Only open for temporary exhibitions, but with a small permanent display of the work of Ettore Fico (1917-2004).