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 09 · Railway workshops, modern art, new station, central spine, industrial archaeology and regeneration
A complete guide to Turin’s western and northern transformation, connecting the former railway workshops, modern-art collections, high-rise development, the buried railway spine, Porta Susa and the Dora industrial landscape.
Plan the routeWhy this route must be read in layers
OGR retains the scale of railway repair while replacing heavy work with exhibition, performance and innovation programmes. Both histories must remain visible.
The Spina Centrale buried or reorganised tracks and created a new boulevard, station and development sites. The urban gain came through long construction and uneven neighbourhood effects.
Dora Park and reused factories preserve fragments of a much larger production landscape. Monumental columns and roofs are not complete evidence without labour, contamination and remediation history.
Move by tram, metro and foot along the western spine, compare retained structures with cleared land, and treat current construction zones and institutional access as live conditions.
The route
Begin at OGR and GAM, continue north through the new boulevard and Porta Susa, then reach Dora through public routes that reveal both reused structures and inhabited districts.
Move in the documented order: OGR: railway workshops before cultural reuse; then OGR today: culture, technology and managed access; then GAM: modern and contemporary art as a civic collection. Recheck live access and transport before entering a controlled site.
Move in the documented order: Intesa Sanpaolo tower: a new high-rise beside historic neighbourhoods; then Spina Centrale: a railway barrier remade as boulevard; then Old Porta Susa: a displaced station and unresolved threshold. Recheck live access and transport before entering a controlled site.
Move in the documented order: New Porta Susa: a glass railway gallery; then Parco Dora: public space within industrial remains; then Environment Park and industrial transition. Recheck live access and transport before entering a controlled site.
Move in the documented order: Aurora and Barriera di Milano: regeneration beside lived neighbourhoods. 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.
Vast repair bays, cranes and service geometry preserve the scale of maintaining rolling stock inside the city.
Vast repair bays, cranes and service geometry preserve the scale of maintaining rolling stock inside the city. 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.
The Officine Grandi Riparazioni opened in the nineteenth century and served railway maintenance until closure; later restoration converted the complex to cultural and innovation uses.
Begin with long bays and structural rhythm. Then compare retained industrial equipment with new climate and event systems inside old volumes; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Exhibitions, performance and innovation occupy separated zones within a privately managed public-facing complex.
Exhibitions, performance and innovation occupy separated zones within a privately managed public-facing complex. 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.
The restored site reopened in the 2010s under Fondazione CRT, creating a new institution whose programme and interior availability change regularly.
Begin with cultural routes versus office areas. Then compare temporary work against permanent structure with security and ticket thresholds; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Painting, sculpture, works on paper, film and installations connect Turin’s municipal collecting to changing accounts of modernity.
Painting, sculpture, works on paper, film and installations connect Turin’s municipal collecting to changing accounts of modernity. 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.
The city established an early public modern-art collection in the nineteenth century; the current museum building opened after the war and has undergone later reorganisation.
Begin with collection chronology and rotations. Then compare the post-war building’s galleries with temporary exhibitions distinguished from permanent holdings; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Office floors, auditorium, greenhouse and public-facing facilities form a contemporary vertical institution close to OGR.
Office floors, auditorium, greenhouse and public-facing facilities form a contemporary vertical institution close to OGR. 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.
Renzo Piano Building Workshop designed the tower, completed in the 2010s, as part of development around the transformed railway spine.
Begin with structure and environmental systems. Then compare relationship to ogr’s horizontal mass with ground-level connections to surrounding streets; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Roads, planting, public art and construction sites occupy land reorganised by covering and lowering former tracks.
Roads, planting, public art and construction sites occupy land reorganised by covering and lowering former tracks. 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.
A long urban project from the late twentieth century altered Turin’s north-south railway corridor and released land for transport, public space and private development.
Begin with level differences revealing buried infrastructure. Then compare new blocks against older street grids with unfinished or changing plots; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
The nineteenth-century station building remains near new infrastructure, recording how a transport centre can move without disappearing.
The nineteenth-century station building remains near new infrastructure, recording how a transport centre can move without disappearing. 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.
Porta Susa developed with Turin’s rail expansion and lost its principal passenger function after the new through station opened nearby.
Begin with historic façade and former platform side. Then compare distance to the new station with temporary or evolving reuse around the building; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
A long transparent volume covers tracks and platforms while connecting high-speed, regional, metro and urban movement.
A long transparent volume covers tracks and platforms while connecting high-speed, regional, metro and urban movement. 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 new station opened in phases during reorganisation of Turin’s rail junction, replacing a terminus-like edge with a through corridor and development spine.
Begin with length of the passenger gallery. Then compare vertical routes to trains and metro with summer climate and operational wayfinding; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Concrete columns, cooling structures, planting and sports areas occupy remediated land from major steel and manufacturing plants.
Concrete columns, cooling structures, planting and sports areas occupy remediated land from major steel and manufacturing plants. The site becomes clearer when its surviving fabric, later alterations and present use are read together.
Weather, water levels, trail conditions and seasonal services can alter the route. Use official transport and park information, remain on authorised paths and do not enter farms, vineyards or private gardens without permission.
Factories including Michelin and Fiat-related works closed or contracted before a large redevelopment created park sectors around selected industrial structures.
Begin with retained roof and column fragments. Then compare new ground and drainage with routes linking surrounding residential quarters; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Research and office buildings reuse part of a former industrial zone while presenting environmental technology as a new productive identity.
Research and office buildings reuse part of a former industrial zone while presenting environmental technology as a new productive identity. 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.
The campus developed through European-supported urban regeneration after industrial decline and was tied to broader transformation along the Dora.
Begin with new buildings beside retained infrastructure. Then compare energy and water systems explained on site with public boundaries around working offices; the differences are evidence, not visual noise.
Markets, migrant businesses, housing, schools and former factories show that transformation is social as well as architectural.
Markets, migrant businesses, housing, schools and former factories show that transformation is social as well as architectural. 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.
Northern districts grew through industry and migration, then faced factory closure, infrastructure projects and uneven reinvestment without losing dense community use.
Begin with active ground-floor commerce. Then compare housing and services across different periods with redevelopment boundaries rather than a single district image; 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.
