Piedmont

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Overview

Italy's second-largest region is arguably its most elegant: a purveyor of Slow Food and fine wine, regal palazzi and an atmosphere that is superficially more français than italiano. But dig deeper and you'll discover that Piedmont has 'Made in Italy' stamped all over it. Emerging from the chaos of the Austrian wars, the unification movement first exploded here in the 1850s, when the noble House of Savoy provided the nascent nation with its first prime minister and its dynastic royal family.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Castello di Rivoli

Turin

Some 21km west of Turin, the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art is a giant of modern art in Piedmont. Its ambition and reach, not to mention…
Reggia di Venaria Reale

Turin

OK, it may not enjoy the weighty publicity of its French counterpart, but this is one of the largest royal residences in the world, rescued from ruin by a…
Museo Egizio

Turin

Opened in 1824 and housed in the austere Palazzo dell'Accademia delle Scienze, this Turin institution houses the most important collection of Egyptian…
Sacra di San Michele

Piedmont

This Gothic-Romanesque abbey, brooding above the road 14km from Turin, has kept sentry atop Monte Pirchiriano (962m) since the 10th century. It housed a…
Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile

Turin

As the historic birthplace of one of the world's leading car manufacturers – the ‘T’ in Fiat stands for Torino – Turin is the obvious place for a car…
Palazzo Reale

Turin

Statues of the mythical twins Castor and Pollux guard the entrance to this eye-catching palace and, according to local hearsay, also watch over the…
Cappella del Barolo

Langhe, Roero & Monferrato

Alba's winemaking-restaurateuring Ceretti family has commissioned a number of site-specific artworks in the region and this never-consecrated chapel is…
Museo Casa Mollino

Turin

Architect-designer-artist Carlo Mollino is perhaps Turin's most intriguing son and a quintessentially 20th-century Torinese. The little-known Museo Casa…