Discovering Turin, a city with more than two thousand years of history that is always looking to the future, demands more than just a few days. The first capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and considered one of the European capitals of Baroque, today it is a centre for contemporary art. Turin was the birthplace of the Italian industrial revolution, with great personalities and companies involved in projects of major scope in which design and engineering played a fundamental role. It was also a leading pioneer of cinema, before the industry turned to Rome.

A Roman and Baroque city, Torino is home to one of the greatest artistic heritages in the whole of Italy, and was the cradle of Futurism in the early twentieth century. In 2006 it was the venue for the twentieth edition of the Winter Olympic Games.

It stands on a plain bordered by three rivers, the Stura di Lanzo, the Sangone and the Po, which crosses the city from south to north. On particularly clear winter days, the nearby snow-capped Alps form a picturesque ring around the entire north-west of the city.

Among its most noteworthy and internationally best-known monuments are: the 19th-century Mole Antonelliana, the undisputed symbol of the city which houses the National Museum of Cinema (the leading one of its kind in Europe), the Royal Palace (once home to the Dukes and later the Kings who governed the city), the XV-century Renaissance-style Cathedral dedicated to St. John the Baptist (celebrated for the Holy Shroud), the Egyptian Museum (the second most important in the world after Cairo’s), the Sabauda Gallery (a significant collection of paintings), Palazzo Carignano (designed by Guarini, and seat of the first Italian Parliament) and the imposing Palazzo Madama.

The city of Turin and its surrounds are also embellished by the numerous Residences of the Royal House of Savoy which together form a Unesco World Heritage Site: the Hunting Palace in Stupinigi, the Castles of Valentino, Agliè, Racconigi, Rivoli and Moncalieri, the Villa of the Queen and the Royal Palace of Venaria.
Worthy of special mention are the Liberty buildings in the historic Cit Turin district, which place Turin alongside Milan as an Italian capital of this style.

A particular feature of Turin are its porticos, which extend for more than 18 km, twelve of which are interconnected. The portico linking Piazza Castello to Piazza Vittorio Veneto down the left side of Via Po even continues across the side-streets as it was designed to protect the King from the rain on his way to the river.

Despite many preconceptions portraying Turin as a grey, industrial city, it can in fact lay claim to the highest proportion of greenery per inhabitant of any city in Italy, with no fewer than 51 parks within its urban area. The largest and most popular are: Valentino Park, Pellerina Park, the Royal Gardens and Superga Hill, and - on the outskirts of the city - La Mandria Park, the Park of the Royal Palace of Stupinigi, once the hunting preserve of the House of Savoy, and the parks on the hill above the city.

Turin is also well-known as a centre of magic and occultism. Experts in these fields maintain that Turin forms both a white magic triangle with Lyons and Prague, and - with London and San Francisco - a black magic triangle. Masonic symbols are to be found in many buildings and certain tombs in the Municipal Cemetery.

For some years Turin has been discovering a new vocation as a place of entertainment for the young and less young. Several of its districts, including the Murazzi (along the banks of the Po), and the Roman Quadrilateral (the oldest central area of the city), have been saved from decay by becoming popular destinations for evenings and nights out.

Events in Turin:
- Luci d’Artista: large-scale light installations by contemporary artists decorate the most important locations in Turin during the Christmas period and beyond, in the first project of its kind in Italy;
- Altissima: a fair dedicated to contemporary art held at Lingotto around November;
- International Book Festival, the leading publishing Fair in Italy, held each May at Lingotto;
- International Mother Earth Festival: set up in 2004 by Slow Food, Terra Madre brings together representatives of more than 1200 food communities focused on sustainable farming and the safeguarding of biodiversity, quality in taste and respect for the environment;
- Salone del Gusto: held at Lingotto together with Mother Earth, and organized by Slow Food, the Taste Show is designed to educate in matters of taste and to bring producers and consumers together.