Tourism has been my passion and my profession since 1990. I began in La Plata, Argentina, at Euromar Turismo, the agency owned by my beloved father, Orazio Filippo Greco, before continuing in Italy with Andina Viaggi. Merlintravel grows from that experience and the desire to keep exploring and sharing the world. The journey continues…
Let’s see where it takes us.
Tourism has been my passion and my profession since 1990. I began in La Plata, Argentina, at Euromar Turismo, the agency owned by my beloved father, Orazio Filippo Greco, before continuing in Italy with Andina Viaggi. Merlintravel grows from that experience and the desire to keep exploring and sharing the world. The journey continues…
Let’s see where it takes us.
Turin Guide 06 · Churches, palaces, squares, axes, arcades and the architecture of a planned Savoy capital
A complete architectural route through Turin’s seventeenth- and eighteenth-century expansions, following Guarini, Juvarra and court planning from sacred geometry to palaces, arcaded streets, gates and public squares.
Plan the routeWhy this route must be read in layers
Guarini’s domes and stairways use structure to produce effects that cannot be understood from photographs alone. Their visibility also depends on worship, museum access and conservation.
Juvarra worked at a metropolitan scale, linking palaces, churches, gates and distant residences. Not every coherent view was realised at one moment, and later street widening altered several relationships.
Arcades shelter ordinary movement and commerce. Their continuity is a public asset sustained by many separate properties, thresholds and maintenance decisions.
Use morning and late-afternoon light to compare brick, stone and dome geometry; enter churches only around services and read the arcades as working circulation rather than a decorative tunnel.
The route
Begin with Guarini around Piazza Castello and Palazzo Carignano, move south through the court axes and Piazza San Carlo, then end at later gates and expansions that reveal the capital’s changing perimeter.
Move in the documented order: San Lorenzo: Guarini’s dome concealed behind the square; then The Shroud Chapel: structure rebuilt after catastrophe; then Palazzo Carignano: a curved brick palace in a narrow city. Recheck live access and transport before entering a controlled site.
Move in the documented order: Palazzo Madama: Juvarra’s stair as urban theatre; then Via Roma: a historic court axis remade in the twentieth century; then Piazza San Carlo: paired churches and a ceremonial room. Recheck live access and transport before entering a controlled site.
Move in the documented order: Santa Cristina and San Carlo: similar fronts, different buildings; then Aristocratic palaces: court hierarchy behind restrained fronts; then Turin’s arcades: one visual system, many owners and uses. Recheck live access and transport before entering a controlled site.
Move in the documented order: Porta Nuova: railway gate on the planned southern axis. Recheck live access and transport before entering a controlled site.
Ten chapters
The order follows terrain, institutions and present-day movement. Use the index to return to a chapter without reducing the route to isolated monuments.
A relatively quiet exterior opens into a centralised interior where interlaced arches and filtered light make structure legible.
A relatively quiet exterior opens into a centralised interior where interlaced arches and filtered light make structure legible. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
This is an active religious place as well as a historic building. Services, ceremonies and conservation can interrupt tourist access; dress appropriately, remain quiet and never treat a booked visit as priority over worship.
The ducal church received Guarini’s major seventeenth-century intervention beside the royal palace, combining court worship with an innovative geometric dome.
Begin with the transition from square to compact interior. Then compare interlocking arches below the lantern with altars and worship occupying the structural space; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Dark stone, rising arches and controlled light form a vertical route whose recent restoration is inseparable from its Baroque design.
Dark stone, rising arches and controlled light form a vertical route whose recent restoration is inseparable from its Baroque design. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
Opening, ticketing, room access and temporary displays can change. Check the institution’s official notice shortly before visiting, use the designated entrance and allow for security or conservation controls.
Guarini transformed the chapel for the Savoy relic; the 1997 fire required a long structural and material conservation project completed before reopening in 2018.
Begin with successive arch levels. Then compare restored joints and stone surfaces with the connection between palace and cathedral; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Guarini used concave and convex brick planes to give a cadet-branch residence exceptional presence without a vast forecourt.
Guarini used concave and convex brick planes to give a cadet-branch residence exceptional presence without a vast forecourt. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
Opening, ticketing, room access and temporary displays can change. Check the institution’s official notice shortly before visiting, use the designated entrance and allow for security or conservation controls.
Commissioned in the late seventeenth century, the palace combined aristocratic apartments and court status before later parliamentary adaptation.
Begin with brick pattern around windows. Then compare curved central bay and entrance with contrast with the nineteenth-century rear wing; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
The glazed monumental stair turns ascent into a public-facing spectacle while joining a new palace front to a medieval castle.
The glazed monumental stair turns ascent into a public-facing spectacle while joining a new palace front to a medieval castle. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
Opening, ticketing, room access and temporary displays can change. Check the institution’s official notice shortly before visiting, use the designated entrance and allow for security or conservation controls.
Juvarra began the eighteenth-century façade and staircase for Maria Giovanna Battista of Savoy-Nemours, but the wider transformation remained incomplete.
Begin with stair flights visible through tall windows. Then compare stone structure meeting older walls with the unfinished relationship between front and rear; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
The direct line between Piazza Castello and Porta Nuova appears Baroque in logic but much of its present architecture results from Fascist-era rebuilding.
The direct line between Piazza Castello and Porta Nuova appears Baroque in logic but much of its present architecture results from Fascist-era rebuilding. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
The area is inhabited and worked, not staged for visitors. Keep doorways, pavements, cycle lanes and deliveries clear, ask before photographing people and use current municipal mobility information.
An earlier route through the expanded capital was widened and substantially reconstructed between the 1930s and 1940s, displacing older fabric while retaining ceremonial alignment.
Begin with long axis toward the station. Then compare differences between construction phases with arcades serving present commerce; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Uniform façades, arcades and the twin church fronts create controlled perspective around a space used for markets, politics, cafés and events.
Uniform façades, arcades and the twin church fronts create controlled perspective around a space used for markets, politics, cafés and events. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
The exterior can usually be read from public space, but events, works and crowd management may change circulation. Keep access routes open and verify any interior visit with the responsible institution.
The square developed during the seventeenth-century southern expansion and accumulated monuments, commercial interiors and civic gatherings through later centuries.
Begin with repeated façade modules. Then compare the two churches compared closely with event use and access routes across the square; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Paired façades close the square but conceal separate construction chronologies, patrons and interior conditions.
Paired façades close the square but conceal separate construction chronologies, patrons and interior conditions. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
This is an active religious place as well as a historic building. Services, ceremonies and conservation can interrupt tourist access; dress appropriately, remain quiet and never treat a booked visit as priority over worship.
The churches were founded in the seventeenth century and received different later façade solutions associated with court architects and dynastic patronage.
Begin with the façades’ deliberate correspondences. Then compare differences in portals and sculpture with active liturgical use behind the urban composition; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Courtyards, stairs and service wings reveal how noble households fitted representation and work into regular street blocks.
Courtyards, stairs and service wings reveal how noble households fitted representation and work into regular street blocks. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
The exterior can usually be read from public space, but events, works and crowd management may change circulation. Keep access routes open and verify any interior visit with the responsible institution.
Palaces such as Birago di Borgaro and Asinari di San Marzano developed through Baroque commissions and later institutional or private reuse.
Begin with entrance-to-courtyard sequence. Then compare state stair versus service access with later office or cultural adaptation; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Kilometres of sheltered passage connect stations, squares, shops and homes while remaining divided by roads, thresholds and management.
Kilometres of sheltered passage connect stations, squares, shops and homes while remaining divided by roads, thresholds and management. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
The area is inhabited and worked, not staged for visitors. Keep doorways, pavements, cycle lanes and deliveries clear, ask before photographing people and use current municipal mobility information.
Arcades expanded with the court city and later nineteenth- and twentieth-century projects, supporting ceremony, commerce and everyday mobility in different districts.
Begin with changes in column, vault and pavement. Then compare doorways and shopfronts within the passage with street crossings that interrupt apparent continuity; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Station façade and train shed turned a court-city approach into a modern mobility threshold.
Station façade and train shed turned a court-city approach into a modern mobility threshold. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
Timetables, engineering works, capacity and accessibility arrangements can change. Check the operator on the day, leave a realistic connection margin and never enter tracks, depots or restricted infrastructure.
The present station developed in the nineteenth century as Turin expanded with national railways; repeated alterations adapted passenger flows, services and metropolitan connections.
Begin with station aligned with via roma. Then compare historic façade versus operational interior with pedestrian, tram and rail routes meeting outside; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Turin through time
From Augusta Taurinorum and the Savoy court to national capital, industrial metropolis and contemporary reuse.
Augusta Taurinorum is founded on a regular Roman grid close to the Po and Dora corridors.
Gates, theatre, walls and urban infrastructure develop within the Roman colony.
Bishops, communes, churches and fortified routes reshape the medieval city and its territory.
The House of Savoy establishes firmer control over Turin, beginning a long dynastic transformation.
The University of Turin is founded and becomes a durable part of the city’s institutional landscape.
Emanuele Filiberto transfers the Savoy capital to Turin, accelerating court planning and fortification.
New squares, straight streets, palaces and churches expand the capital beyond the Roman core.
Guarino Guarini works in Turin, transforming sacred and court architecture through geometry and light.
The siege of Turin ends; the victory is later commemorated through Juvarra’s Basilica of Superga.
Royal status and Juvarra’s projects reinforce Turin’s ceremonial axes and metropolitan residence system.
The Statuto Albertino and the Subalpine Parliament make Turin central to constitutional politics.
Turin serves as the first capital of the Kingdom of Italy before the government moves to Florence.
FIAT, Lingotto and Mirafiori help turn Turin into a major industrial and migrant metropolis.
Bombing, occupation, resistance and liberation damage the city and leave a complex memorial geography.
Deindustrialisation, museum growth, adaptive reuse and metropolitan regeneration repeatedly change Turin.
Before your visit
Opening hours, reservation systems, restoration, exhibitions and transport can change. Recheck the linked official institution shortly before departure.
Churches and sanctuaries remain religious spaces. Services, funerals and community use take priority over visitor itineraries.
Turin · Piedmont combines dense urban routes with lakes, valleys and dispersed towns. Do not compress distant chapters into an unsafe or superficial day.
Arcades, station halls, markets, courtyards, workshops and residential streets must continue to function while you observe or photograph them.
Check the responsible rail, navigation, bus, road or park operator on the day; replacement services and weather can change an otherwise sound route.
Restoration, reconstruction, adaptive reuse and new development have all shaped the landscape visible today.
Method and sources
This guide uses official museum, ministry, municipal, transport, park and UNESCO documentation checked on 29 August 2026. It separates durable historical interpretation from access details that can change, distinguishes surviving fabric from restoration or reconstruction, and treats worship, work, residence and public movement as part of the evidence. Every chapter links its principal institutional source; tickets, closures, weather and transport must always be verified again on the day of the visit.
All ten images are original Merlintravel editorial watercolours based on documented present-day conditions. They are illustrations, not substitutes for archaeological plans. Opening hours, tickets, accessible routes, temporary exhibitions and conservation work can change; consult the linked official pages shortly before visiting.
