One city, desires, five possibilities: Turin

THE MORNING LIST

Finding the spirit of the city in a hotel, traveling through architectural diversity, discovering places converted into cultural gems, indulging in gluttony at any time then burning calories in the many parks… Turin, proof by five.

Sleep in a period setting

The Hotel Roma e Rocca Cavour, near Porta Nuova station, is already a journey: far from cold standardization or upstart luxury, this three-star hotel – in the same family since 1854 and which housed the last days of the writer Cesare Pavese, in 1950 – retains its period salons and bedrooms, its suite with a painted ceiling. But the comfort, the quality of the service, the homemade breakfast pastries meet the best of today.

A bit like the city where, under the arcades and covered galleries of the center, cafes and shops love varnished wood and moldings, where even the luxury and globalized brands of Via Roma or Via Lagrange must be discreet at the foot of 19th century buildings^and century. But where never does this outdated decor seem faded. We understand why the writer Claudio Magris was able to oppose Turin to Trieste, the nostalgic.

Take an arch bath

The capital of Piedmont, which was briefly that of reunified Italy (1861), has never been afraid of spectacular architecture, with the Baroque profusions of the royal palace, the Palazzo Carignano behind its undulating facade or the Saint-Laurent church with its polychrome marbles and its dome, whose intertwined arches give the impression of being observed by masked superheroes.

But the pleasure also comes when the styles jostle on the same building like the Palazzo Madama, half medieval castle, half neoclassical palace, or when the Torre Littoria, futuristic style skyscraper dear to fascism, raises its finger above the spread palates. Elsewhere, in the Cit district, Renzo Piano’s tower launches its bioclimatic modernity (adjustable glass panels, greenhouse and terrace at the top from which you can discover the city) not far from the imposing residences that cultivate their Art Nouveau fantasy.

Clearing museums and cafes

The largest collection of Egyptian antiquities after Cairo in a palace dusted with Dante Ferretti’s scenography; a spectacular cinema museum under the enormous 19th century dome^and century of the Mole Antonelliana, which should have been a synagogue (ultimately built elsewhere): Turin knows how to take advantage of places to be converted.

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