Palazzo Reale di Torino (UNESCO)

The Palazzo Reale di Torino was the principal residence of the House of Savoy from the mid-16th century, when Duke Emanuele Filiberto moved the capital to Turin, and it stands at the symbolic and geographic heart of the city on Piazza Castello. Rebuilt and decorated over the following centuries by architects including Amedeo di Castellamonte, Filippo Juvarra, and Benedetto Alfieri, the palace presents a relatively sober facade that conceals a sequence of richly gilded and frescoed state apartments, ceremonial staircases, and the dazzling Scala delle Forbici by Juvarra. Within the complex are the Royal Armoury (Armeria Reale), one of the most important historic arms collections in the world, the Royal Library holding Leonardo da Vinci's celebrated self-portrait, the Galleria Sabauda with its Savoy painting collection, and the Cappella della Sacra Sindone, the Guarini-designed Baroque chapel built to house the Holy Shroud. Together with the adjacent Duomo and the archaeological museum these form the Musei Reali, the Royal Museums of Turin, a single ticketed circuit that ranks among the richest cultural complexes in Italy. The palace was the stage of Savoy court life and, after 1861, of the early Kingdom of Italy, before the capital moved on to Florence and then Rome. Inscribed within the UNESCO listing of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in 1997, the Palazzo Reale embodies the wealth, ambition, and refined taste of the dynasty that built Turin into a royal capital and led the unification of Italy.