Italy’s fourth-largest city, Turin, is the essence of la dolce vita.
Not in the full-throttle, scooter-screeching style of the hot south, but with a composed dignity befitting an elegant northern city shaped by the noble House of Savoy and a politically explosive unification movement. This was the country’s first capital in the 1860s and is the capital of Piedmont today.
Turin’s refined vibe might feel more français than italiano, but delve into this handsome metropolis stitched from porticoed streets and palazzo-laced squares, and you’ll quickly find a compelling city screaming “Made in Italy.”
Explore niche, top-drawer museums (football, cars, chocolate, and coffee) and avant-garde galleries bursting with powerful art. Promenade through extraordinary royal palazzi (palaces) and gardens.
Linger over Slow Food and wine in chandelier-lit cafes and centurion osterie. And at every turn, with every morsel, feel the creative pulse of a go-getting city driven by an epic artistic, cultural, historic, and epicurean heritage.
Outdoor adventurers and those seeking a green escape might not find a real buzz here. However, for anyone looking for a weekend of urban Italianate living – with a provocative dash of creativity and curiosity, by day or by night – Turin hits the sweet spot any time of year. Here are the best things to do when you get there.
1. Spend a Day Museum-Hopping
Few Italian cities sport such a varied portfolio of museums – there really is one to suit every taste and interest. Turin’s blockbuster Museo Egizio is among the world’s best when it comes to anthropomorphic coffins, animal mummies, and other priceless artifacts from Ancient Egypt.
The Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento Italiano suits anyone interested in modern Italian history, while car buffs and families rave about Turin’s superlative Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile.
This being Italy, art and design lovers are well served: Palazzo Reale displays the personal art collection of the Savoy monarchy, and the sensational Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli showcases masterpieces acquired by the late Fiat head Gianni Agnelli.
The Galleria Civica d’Arte e Contemporanea is the place to go for 19th- and 20th-century Italian and European art, and Fondazione Merz, Fondazione Sandretto re Rebaudengo, and Museo Ettore Fico for influential contemporary art.
2. Perfect the Turinese Art of Aperitivi
The early-evening aperitivo (aperitif) crawl is a golden opportunity to taste exceptional wine from Piedmont and sample savory delicacies such as acciughe al verde (anchovies in pea-green, garlic-parsley sauce) or carne cruda al’Albese (raw beef) while discovering neighborhoods you might not otherwise frequent.
Favorite addresses to hobnob with locals over well-mixed cocktails, Campari or Aperol spritz, and generous snack buffets include historical Bar Cavour, the Farmacia Del Cambio situated in an 1830s pharmacy, and the fashionable bookshop-cafe-bar Bardotto.
3. Explore Cinematic Turin
A visit to the superlative Museo Nazionale del Cinema – a firm family favorite – is not just about watching silent movies and learning about Turin’s fascinating movie-making heritage.
As engaging as the evocative and well-curated exhibits is the museum building: the eclectic, spire-capped tower of Mole Antonelliana was conceived and designed as a synagogue in 1863, yet only ever used as a museum. Scaling its dome to ogle at the panorama atop the 167.5m-tall (550ft-tall) tower is a rite of passage.
4. Share the City’s Love Affair with Chocolate
Cioccolato (chocolate) is this city’s lifeblood, and family-run chocolate makers have been hard at work in Turin for centuries – there is no point resisting.
Bicerin, the city’s signature cream-topped chocolate-coffee hot drink, has been a reason to flock to elegant Caffè Al Bicerin since 1763. Turin’s favorite contemporary chocolatier, Guido Gobino, is loved for tiny, tile-like ganache chocolates flavored with vermouth or Barolo wine and his classic gianduiotto (triangular chocolates made from gianduja – Turin’s hazelnut paste).
5. Live the Good Life on Piazza Castello
Nowhere does the heady pulse of la dolce vita make itself felt as fiercely as on Piazza Castello, the city’s central square and heart of Savoy from the 16th to 18th centuries.
Framed on all sides by grandiose buildings cocooning palace museums, cafes, and the city’s opera house, the square is a hub of cultural life and the epitome of Turin elegance.
Admire its majestic porticoes (Turin boasts an extraordinary 18km/11 miles of porticoes), built under Vittorio Emanuele I in the 18th century so the royal family could promenade between palace and river in comfort and relative privacy.
6. Unearth Slow Food at the Terre Madre Festival
As the capital of the region where Italy’s Slow Food movement was born, it’s natural that Turin should host one of the world’s largest food and wine fairs: Slow Food’s biennial Terre Madre, next up in September 2024, and subsequent even-numbered years.
One-day passes unlock a banquet of fascinating epicurean encounters, from artisan tastings with Turinese and Piemontese producers and chefs to culinary workshops and meetings with global food activists and sustainable farmers.
7. Tap into Turin’s Art and Music Scene
It’s no surprise that Turin is part of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network: deep-dive into the city’s pivotal contemporary art scene at Officine Grandi Riparazioni. The experimental cultural and innovation hub resides in a regenerated train depot constructed in red brick between 1885 and 1895 near Porta Susa and Porta Nuova train stations.
Catching the latest public art installation, seasonal exhibition, live gig, or other cultural happening is as much an opportunity to admire the industrial architecture of the gargantuan U-shaped space as it is to tap into contemporary Turin’s explosive visual and performing arts scene.
8. Enjoy Views and a Cocktail in Italy’s Highest Bar
Dizzying views of the city and its Alpine amphitheater unfold from the 37th floor of the city’s lofty Intesa Sanpaolo skyscraper – a striking, glass-and-steel work of contemporary architecture, designed by celebrity Italian architect Renzo Piano as the headquarters of the Intesa Sanpaolo banking group.
Its crowning glory is the futuristic rooftop where skilled mixologists behind the bar at Piano35 shake a sassy spin on Italian classics.
9. See How Savoy Kings Lived at a Flurry of Royal Residences
Turin has six royal residences in the city center alone, all with lavish interiors, priceless artworks and tapestries, and occasional museum collections.
Find medieval-to-modern decorative arts in Palazzo Madama; a top-drawer history museum exploring the city’s role in the Risorgimento (Italian Unification) at Palazzo Carignano; and dazzling Greek and Roman archaeological treasures in Palazzo Reale.
10. Shop Vintage and Design in the Quadrilatero Romano
While the city’s elegant porticoes on the main street of Via Roma house chic boutiques of all the big fashion houses, Quadrilatero Romano is the neighborhood for upmarket vintage and fashionable pieces by young designers.
Bargain hunters can follow urbanites on weekends to Balon, a sprawling and mesmerizingly raucous flea market north of Porta Palazzo since 1857.
11. Taste Vermouth in Hipster San Salvario
Savoring Turin’s homegrown Vermouth di Torino – aromatized fortified wine infused with 30-odd botanicals – has been a tradition since 1786 when it was first distilled for the royal court.
Or opt for homegrown vermouth on the rocks or in a cocktail at funky music bar Lanificio San Salvatore in hipster San Salvario.
12. Track Down Street Art with a Purpose
Meander into the northern working-class suburb of Barriera di Milano to uncover old warehouses covered in graffiti and community centers. Explore the artistic murals by Italian street artist Millo; start your Millo tour on Piazza Bottesini.
13. Walk Around Fiat’s Rooftop E-Track
Turin is synonymous with Fiat cars. Its 1920s factory in industrial Lingotto was Europe’s largest, and walking around the rooftop track where cars were tested until 1982 is exhilarating.
New-gen electric Fiats spin around the 1km-long loop today. In 2021, the surrounding rooftop was transformed into a public garden.
