Turin - Royal Palace

Another trip to Northern Italy. Thibault had suggested Turin, with plan that I would meet him there after he had spent a week with his wife in Spain (Thibault having a week more holiday entitlement than Clarissa). I thought I would add on a couple of days on my own before he arrived to do things that maybe he wouldn't be as keen to do. Like look around museums.

So we booked a hotel (Hotel Urbani) right next to Turin's main rail station (Porto Nuovo), and I decided that on my first day I would go around the Royal Palace, it containing several museums and galleries, and basically to be found by walking to the front of the station (below) and walking straight up from it until I got there. Even my legendarily bad sense of direction could not fail me.

The walk takes one through a main square, Piazza San Carlo

The southern end of Piazza is flanked by two elegant churches, Santa Cristina and Santa Carlo Borromeo

And the way up to the palace can be enjoyed through lovely porticos lined with super expensive brand name shops

Palazzo Madama - see later entry!

And then one is confronted by the grand facade of the Royal Palace, at this time of year itself fronted by a display of Christmas trees

I had booked online so was told I could skip the queue and was sent straight to the archaeological section. Which was superb. But I missed a trick here. If I had persevered with the queue, which was not long, I would have started in the palace fine apartments. I duly visited these later, but when they ere rammed with people. But at the time I was happy enough in this very fine collection of ancient works, beautifully displayed and with everything in English. Perfect.

While predominantly a collection of ancient Greek and Roman art, there is also a significant Assyrian collection

This cracked tablet is interesting because it is a house conveyancing document, but over 4000 years old

Julius Caesar

Upstairs from the archaeological museum is the picture gallery, the Galleria Sabauda. I really enjoyed this too, even if not full of the biggest names in Rennaissance art.

A typical Bassano, crowded market scene

A very nice Veronese, although the National Gallery in London has a lot more!

The gallery included a temporary exhibition on Cleopatra

This was an interesting one for me - an early lawyers office. Suitably chaotic desk (so not unlike mine when I was practising), but different fee structure to my time - the lawyer is about to be paid with the piglet!

One room was just devoted to a lot of smallish canvases by the Dutch painter Jan Griffier. Some were imaginary landscapes...

...but many were of specific places and some of England. This is the horseferry on the Thames, the spot where you got your animals transferred by boat. You can see St Pauls in the background

Below is the Chapel of the Shroud, magnificent little chapel built to house the  renowned relic of the Turin Shroud, but this is now in the cathedral, not here. The architecture at least is real - the shroud was found to be a medieval fake when carbon dated (although since been claimed that the tested part was a later patch, but obviously this us grasping at straws😀)

And finally on to the Palace apartments, which are truly grand.

This is the magnificent armoury - easily the most spectacular I have visited (and the most crowded!)

Back to the palace and the Chinese room....

The ballroom was quite something

There is of course a courtyard and gardens, although most of the gardens were shut off for works, or a bit bleak through lack of leaves.