Musei Reali and Palazzo Reale

The Musei Reali occupy the former royal complex on Piazza Castello in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, entered from Piazzetta Reale 1. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Residences of the Royal House of Savoy and brings together several institutions under one ticket. The Palazzo Reale, the main Savoy residence from the seventeenth century, is visited through a sequence of richly decorated state rooms, including the Scala delle Forbici staircase, the Throne Room, the Gallery of Daniel Seiter and an eighteenth-century Chinese Cabinet with lacquer panels. The Armeria Reale holds one of Europe's major collections of arms and armour, displayed in a long gallery designed by Filippo Juvarra. The Galleria Sabauda presents the Savoy painting collection, with Italian, Flemish and Dutch masters, and the Museo di Antichita displays archaeological finds from Piedmont and the wider Mediterranean, including Roman remains from the area around Turin. Outside, the Royal Gardens, laid out in the seventeenth century and later reworked by Andre Le Notre's school, offer a quiet green route behind the palace. Visitors typically need three to four hours to see the main sections, and a full visit with the gardens can fill most of a day. The state rooms and the Armeria are the most photographed areas, with the staircase and the Throne Room particularly popular. The complex is busiest on weekends, on the first Sunday of the month when free entry applies, and around midday; weekday mornings are calmer. The gardens are most pleasant in late spring and early autumn. The Chapel of the Holy Shroud, adjoining the cathedral, is reached via the museum route when open. The complex sits in the heart of the city, about ten minutes on foot from Porta Nuova station, and combines well with the cathedral and the nearby Museo Egizio.