Turin is a major industrial city as well as a business and cultural center in northwest Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the west bank of the Po River. Turin is well-known as the home of the Shroud of Turin.
Attractions
The best known building of the city is the Mole Antonelliana, whose construction began in 1863 and which today houses the National Cinema Museum.
The Palatine Towers are among the best preserved Roman remains in northern Italy.
The Cathedral of St John the Baptist houses the Shroud of Turin, an old linen cloth with an imprint of a man, which is believed by many to be the cloth that covered Jesus in his grave.
Nearby is the former royal residence: the seventeenth-century Palazzo Reale, built for Madama Reale Christine Marie of France.
The Museo Egizio has the most important collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world after the Cairo Museum.
Turin has buildings of great historical and architectural interest: the Savoy Residences. In addition to the Royal Palace (the official residence of the Savoys until 1865) there are many palaces, residences and castles in the city centre and in the surrounding towns. Turin is home to Palazzo Chiablese, the Royal Armoury, the Royal Library, Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Carignano,Villa della Reginaand the Valentino Castle.
The complex of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in Turin and in the nearby cities of Rivoli, Moncalieri, Venaria, Agliè, Racconigi, Stupinigi, Pollenzo and Govone was declared in 1997 a World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
In the hills overlooking the city is the basilica church of Superga, providing a view of Turin against a backdrop of the snow-capped Alps. The basilica holds the tombs of many of the dukes of Savoy, as well as many of the kings of Sardinia. Superga can be reached by means of the Superga Rack Railway from the suburb of Sassi.