Turin: Royal Arcades Beneath the Alps
Turin is the capital of Piedmont in north-western Italy, set on the River Po with the snow-capped Alps rising behind it, and known for its royal heritage, its baroque boulevards and its café culture. It was the first capital of the unified kingdom of Italy, from 1861 to 1865, and the House of Savoy left a legacy of grand residences, among them the Palazzo Reale and the Reggia di Venaria, which form part of the UNESCO-listed Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, inscribed in 1997. The city's orderly grid and kilometres of arcaded streets make it exceptionally pleasant to explore on foot.
Culture here is rich and unusual. The Museo Egizio holds one of the most important collections of ancient Egyptian art outside Cairo. The Mole Antonelliana, the city's landmark tower, houses the National Museum of Cinema, with a glass lift rising through its dome. The Cathedral of St John the Baptist is home to the Shroud of Turin, kept in the adjoining chapel, and the broad squares of Piazza San Carlo and Piazza Castello show the city's baroque ambition at its most confident.
Bicerin, Gianduiotto and the Piedmont Table
Turin's cafes are institutions. Historic rooms serve bicerin, a layered mix of espresso, hot chocolate and cream, and the city invented gianduiotto, the smooth hazelnut chocolate wrapped in gold foil. Vermouth, too, has its roots here, and aperitivo hour in the old cafes is a civilised pleasure. The Piedmont table includes agnolotti, vitello tonnato and bagna cauda, and the original Eataly at Lingotto celebrates the region's food culture in the former Fiat factory, a building with a famous rooftop test track.
Beyond the city, the Langhe and Roero hills, home to Barolo and Barbaresco wines and the white truffles of Alba, were inscribed by UNESCO as a vineyard landscape in 2014. Those hills make a perfect day trip or overnight extension. A tourist board could use Turin to pair gastronomy, heritage and Alpine landscape in one coherent story, and the city's relaxed scale suits long weekends.
Read the full Turin guide on Visit Travel Group, or see VisitTurin.co.uk on Visit Travel Group.