Things to Do at Palazzo Reale

Palazzo Reale in Turin slams you with 17th-century gold leaf and velvet like a fever dream you can't shake. Cross the main threshold and your pupils battle the half-light pouring through windows the size of small flats, locking onto chandeliers that drop crystal like frozen waterfalls. The air carries a faint trace of beeswax polish cut by the cold marble scent that seems to seep straight from the walls. What knocks most visitors sideways isn't the sheer opulence—you expect that from a royal palace—but the unsettling intimacy of the rooms. You walk into bedrooms where Savoy princes once paced in silk slippers, their footfalls still echoing in the groaning parquet. The Scala delle Forbici staircase corkscrews upward with such ruthless geometry you half expect powdered wigs to float past on the landing.

Metro Line 1 to Porta Nuova, then it's a 15-minute walk north on Via Roma. The 13 and 15 trams stop right at Piazza Castello. From the train station, you're looking at 8€ in a taxi—worth it if you're carrying bags or it's raining. Parking in the piazza costs 2€ per hour, but spaces vanish fast on weekends.