Turin city guide

Turin: City Profile

Located on the banks of the Po River in the north of the country, Turin is Italy's fourth largest city and both a cultural and sporting juggernaut.

What to do in Turin

1. Visit the automobile museum: Turin and Juventus are inextricably linked with Italy's automobile industry and specifically FIAT, which is an acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, whose founding Agnelli family maintain strong links with the club. Founded in 1932, the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile boasts Fiat cars through the ages and plenty more besides.

2. Head to ancient Egypt: The city's Museo delle Antichità Egizie is the only dedicated museum of Egyptology outside Cairo, and has been attracting scholars to the city for well over 100 years: Jean-François Champollion, who first deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs, did much of his work in Turin in the early 19th century.

The Mole Antonelliana in central TurinGetty Images

3. Get an aerial view: Construction began on the massive Mole Antonelliana (named after its architect, Alessandro Antonelli) soon after Italian unification, and was completed in 1889. Go up the tower in the glass elevator for a superb view of the city.

4. Explore the Italian New Wave and more: The Mole Antonelliana houses Turin's National Museum of Cinema, which has a vast array of objects tracking the history of the early cinema, plus paintings and printed artworks, more than 80,000 pictures, over 300,000 film posters, 12,000 movie reels and 26,000 books.

5. See Turin's royal heritage: The city boats five spectacular palaces, with the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace) perhaps the most celebrated. Located in the heart of the city centre, it is an impressive monument to the wealth and taste of the Savoy family.