Description
The Royal Palace is the residence the House of Savoy called home for about three centuries, in the heart of Turin, on Piazzetta Reale next to Piazza Castello. Behind the austere facade you will find Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical halls, with the gardens at the back.
It is the right address if you want to understand how a court lived, and why Turin still feels like a capital today. The palace is part of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On the piano nobile, the main floor, everything celebrates the dynasty, from the Throne Room to the King's Winter Apartment. Here you will find the Galleria del Daniel, whose ceiling was frescoed by Daniel Seiter in the late 1600s, with a magnificence that rivaled the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
To reach the second floor you climb the Scala delle Forbici, the "Scissors Staircase", by Filippo Juvarra: a marble staircase with double flights that seems to float and sends its weight onto the outer walls, so as not to burden the wooden floor.
Farther on come the decorated cabinets: the Chinese Cabinet, with its stuccoes and Oriental lacquers, and the Cabinet of the Secret Handling of State Affairs, with two pieces of furniture by Pietro Piffetti over three meters tall, made of fine woods, ivory and mother-of-pearl.
To step into the 19th century, the Scalone d'Onore, or Grand Staircase, is enough. Victor Emmanuel II had it built in 1862 to celebrate the birth of united Italy, with paintings and statues of Savoy history. Outside, Pelagio Palagi's gate is guarded by the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux.
Behind the palace stretch the Royal Gardens, which owe a great deal to André Le Nôtre, the gardener of Versailles.
To get this palace, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy evicted the bishop. In the 1500s he had just moved the capital from Chambéry to Turin, and the old castle of Palazzo Madama did not seem worthy of a court. The bishop moved into the building next door.
Every time an heir married, the palace changed its face. For the weddings of 1722, 1750 and 1775 the second floor was refitted from scratch, often wiping out the ceilings and frescoes of those who had come before.
In 1865 the capital moved to Florence and the Savoys left for Palazzo Pitti, taking furnishings and personal belongings with them. After the fall of the monarchy in 1946, whole apartments were forgotten and had to be thoroughly restored.
Don't miss
• The Galleria del Daniel.
• The Scala delle Forbici.
• The Scalone d'Onore.
• The Royal Gardens.
Did you know?
• During the Napoleonic occupation the exiled court moved to the Royal Palace of Cagliari.
• The second floor was redone at every wedding of the heir to the throne, and the styles piled up room after room.
It is the right address if you want to understand how a court lived, and why Turin still feels like a capital today. The palace is part of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On the piano nobile, the main floor, everything celebrates the dynasty, from the Throne Room to the King's Winter Apartment. Here you will find the Galleria del Daniel, whose ceiling was frescoed by Daniel Seiter in the late 1600s, with a magnificence that rivaled the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
To reach the second floor you climb the Scala delle Forbici, the "Scissors Staircase", by Filippo Juvarra: a marble staircase with double flights that seems to float and sends its weight onto the outer walls, so as not to burden the wooden floor.
Farther on come the decorated cabinets: the Chinese Cabinet, with its stuccoes and Oriental lacquers, and the Cabinet of the Secret Handling of State Affairs, with two pieces of furniture by Pietro Piffetti over three meters tall, made of fine woods, ivory and mother-of-pearl.
To step into the 19th century, the Scalone d'Onore, or Grand Staircase, is enough. Victor Emmanuel II had it built in 1862 to celebrate the birth of united Italy, with paintings and statues of Savoy history. Outside, Pelagio Palagi's gate is guarded by the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux.
Behind the palace stretch the Royal Gardens, which owe a great deal to André Le Nôtre, the gardener of Versailles.
To get this palace, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy evicted the bishop. In the 1500s he had just moved the capital from Chambéry to Turin, and the old castle of Palazzo Madama did not seem worthy of a court. The bishop moved into the building next door.
Every time an heir married, the palace changed its face. For the weddings of 1722, 1750 and 1775 the second floor was refitted from scratch, often wiping out the ceilings and frescoes of those who had come before.
In 1865 the capital moved to Florence and the Savoys left for Palazzo Pitti, taking furnishings and personal belongings with them. After the fall of the monarchy in 1946, whole apartments were forgotten and had to be thoroughly restored.
Don't miss
• The Galleria del Daniel.
• The Scala delle Forbici.
• The Scalone d'Onore.
• The Royal Gardens.
Did you know?
• During the Napoleonic occupation the exiled court moved to the Royal Palace of Cagliari.
• The second floor was redone at every wedding of the heir to the throne, and the styles piled up room after room.