Turin is laid out on a Roman grid, sheltered by kilometres of arcaded pavement and rimmed by the Alps, which means a single day here covers more ground than it would almost anywhere else in Italy. It is also a city of rituals — coffee, chocolate, aperitivo — and skipping them misses the point.
08:30 – Piazza Castello
Begin in the square that anchors the city. Palazzo Madama stands in the middle of it, a medieval castle with a baroque facade grafted on the front, and the Musei Reali complex behind holds the Savoy royal apartments, the armoury and the picture gallery. Around the corner, the Duomo di San Giovanni is a modest Renaissance church with an outsized reputation: it is where the Shroud of Turin is kept, though the cloth itself is displayed only very rarely.
10:00 – A bicerin
Turin's own drink: espresso, drinking chocolate and cream layered in a small glass and never stirred. The historic café near the Consolata sanctuary has served it since the eighteenth century, and the marble-and-mirror rooms around Piazza San Carlo and the Galleria Subalpina do their own versions. Sit down for it; it is not a takeaway.
