Basilica of Superga (1) and other Torino, Italy Things to Do Tips

The hill of Superga is Turin's second tallest after that of the 715 metres high Faro della Maddalena.
The Basilica of Superga is a must for tourists. The view from the large square before the temple is exceptional, especially at dusk when you can perceive the progressive wings of the festive choir of the great Alps in the background of the shadowed town.

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The Basilica of Superga is a must for tourists. The view from the large square before the temple is exceptional, especially at dusk when you can perceive the progressive wings of the festive choir of the great Alps in the background of the shadowed town. This sensation was underscored by personages such as Jean Jacques Rousseau and Napoleon, Stendhal and Le Corbusier. Behind the Basilica, the panorama opens up to the hills of the Monferrato.

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The Basilica stands 75 metres high from ground level to the tip of the Cross, is 51 metres long inside and 34 metres wide. The inside is completed with rich chapels adorned with stuccoes, marbles and precious sculptures and paintings.
The bas-relief representing the Blessed Amedeo of Savoy and the 1706 battle of Turin by Bernardo Cametti (1773) on the high altar is quite remarkable.
The tall dome dominates the surrounding landscape between the two 60 metre tall bell towers inspired by Borromini.

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The Basilica's crypts contain a great mausoleum with the tombs of the Savoy rulers from Vittorio Emanuele II to Carlo Alberto (except for Carlo Felice who is buried at the Abbey of Altacomba) and of other 50 princes and princesses, that is all the House of Savoy members who died after 1732. Vittorio Emanuele !II, the first King of Italy, was buried in the Pantheon of Rome.

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Another Turin closed its season of glory here: the Grande Torino Football team. On May 4 1949, the aircraft carrying the footballers back home from a victorious match played at Lisbon crashed against the base of the rear wall of the Basilica complex, maybe due to adverse weather conditions.
31 died: all the regular and reserve team members, the six people accompanying them and the air crew. A great plaque placed on the crash area commemorates the tragedy and is the destination of many pilgrimages.

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This circular church was built in strict Neo-Classical style between 1827 and 1831 by Ferdinand Bonsignore to celebrate the return of Vittorio Emanuele I to Turin after the Congress of Vienna. In the interior of the church there is a sculpture of the Virgin and Child by Andrea Galassi on the main altar. Also of interest is the magnificent crypt which contains the bones of the fallen from the First World War, designed by the architect Giovanni Ricci in 1932.

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Phone: 011/8193572
Address: Piazza Gran Madre

This church has been designed by architect Giulio Valotti in 1929.
The facade, majestic for the steeple height (44 metres), is very articulated notwithstanding the shape's rigidity and semplicity.

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In piazza Carignano, a place which conjures up memories of the glorious era of the Risorgimento, when Turin attracted patriots from all over Italy you can find Palazzo dei Principi di Carignano that housed first the Subalpine Parliament, then the Italian Parliament. The chamber itself can be visited as part of the tour of the present-day Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento.

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Phone: 011/5621147
Address: Via Accademia delle Scienze, 5

One of the most beautiful areas of the city. On the one side of the piazza you have Teatro Carignano (theater), the ristorante del Cambio, and the gelateria Pepino; on the other side, Palazzo Carignano. This is the best place to enjoy the baroque architecture of Guarino Guarini and perhaps even the best place to enjoy a good lunch. If you walk through Palzzo Carignano, you will arrive in the beautiful piazza Carlo Alberto.

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Address: Piazza Carignano
Directions: Not far from Piazza Castello

The Museo dell'Automobile it's Italy's only motor museum. Even if you know nothing about cars, this has some appeal – you'll spot models you haven't seen since your childhood and others familiar from films, as the museum traces the development from the early cars, handcrafted for a privileged minority, to the mass-produced family version. There's one of the first Fiats, a bulky 1899 model, close to a far sleeker version, built only two years later and, just three decades later, the first small Fiat family-targeted vehicle, a design which was still on the streets in the Sixties.
Look also at the gleaming Isotta Fraschini driven by Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, still with the initials of Norma Desmond, the character she played, on the side.
The pride of the collection is the 1907 Itala which won the Peking-to-Paris race in the same year; you can read of its adventures in Luigi Barzini's book Peking to Paris.

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Phone: 011/677666/7/8
Address: Corso Unita' d'Italia, 40