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Marked by wide and grand tree-lined boulevards, the architecture of this area was defined by the French vogue of the 19th century spreading from Haussmann’s Paris. This quarter also displays some significant testaments to Turin’s defenses against French invasion of a more military sort. The underground tunnels of the Museo Pietro Micca retell the story of Turin’s safeguard against Franco-Spanish forces thanks to the heroics of a humble miner. Located appropriately at the heart of this more modern corner of Turin is the Galleria d’Arte Moderna (GAM), Turin’s fine modern art collection, tracing the journey of 19th- and 20th-century art. Of all the districts of the city, this is set to be the most transformed by the 2006 Olympic revamp.

Sights

Via Pietro Micca

In a city consisting almost entirely of horizontal and vertical gridded streets, diagonal via Pietro Micca is a bit of an anomaly. Leading southwest off piazza Castello, it is an elegant arcaded street typical of Turin’s Parisian-style 19th-century elegance. Its architect Carlo Ceppi also designed the façade of the otherwise plain 16th-century Franciscan church of San Tommaso, T 011 544667, 0800-1200, 1500-1900. Via Pietro Micca has gone down in the annals as the place where in 1894 the famous Russian ballerina and actress, Irina Lucacevich, was run over by a tram. Heading west, the street leads to the refined piazza Solferino. At the centre of it is Giovanni Riva’s 1930 fountain symbolizing the four seasons. There is also a wonderful and moving equestrian monument to Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa, by Alfonso Balzico in 1877.

Museo Civico Pietro Micca e dell’Assedio di Torino del 1706

via Guicciardini 7a, T 011 546317, http://www.comune.torino.it/musei Tue-Sun 0900-1900, closed Mon. E 2.58.

No words have been spared in the name of this museum to show the Torinesi’s pride in the safeguard of their city by the heroic miner Pietro Micca. During the War of the Spanish Succession between 13 May and 7 September 1706, Turin was under siege to a Franco- Spanish army led by the Duke de la Feuillade. As deep as 14 m below the surface, a network of 15 km of defensive tunnels was built to try and stave off the attack. Miners were sent down into the tunnels to help repel the advances. On 28 August that year, to thwart the Franco-Spanish advances, miner Pietro Micca blew up an under- ground staircase, killing himself and fellow miners, but also many invaders, saving the city from underground attack and bringing an end to the siege. The museum houses a few remains of Turin’s 16th-century fortifications and retells the heroics of Pietro Micca together with documents and reconstructions. Unearthed in 1958, about 300 m of the tunnels can still be visited on torch-lit tours.

Cittadella and Museo Storico dell’Artiglieria

corner via Cernaia and C.so Galileo Ferraris, T 011 5629223. Only open for exhibitions. Free.

Little remains of this great pentagonal 16th-century citadel commissioned by Emanuele Filiberto to celebrate the liberation of Turin in 1563. Designed by Francesco Paciotto, it once covered a much larger area. It was demolished in 1856 and all that remains now is the mastio (the keep), restored at the end of 19th century by Riccardo Brayda. Inside the keep is Turin’s oldest museum founded in 1731, the Museo Storico dell’Artiglieria. The museum traces the history of artillery and firearms and includes many pieces of equipment and models from the Italian army down the centuries including machines for making gunpowder and also suitably patriotic exhibits such as flags, trophies and uniforms.

Teatro Alfieri

piazza Solferino 2, T 011 5623800.

Built between1855-60 on a design by Giovanni Svanascini at the behest of Zaccaria Ottolenghi, this theatre was inaugurated in 1860 to the tune of Rossini’s Moses. Since then it has hosted a long list of divas, prima donnas, lyrical stars and poets. In 1979 it closed for a long refurbishment, finally reopening in 2002. It’s a classic on the Turin theatre landscape, hosting plays by Wilde and Brecht as well as more unusual 20th-century drama from the likes of Boris Vian.

Teatro Juvarra

via Juvarra 15, T 011 540675.

Dedicated to Turin’s most famous architect, this theatre, refurbished in 1989, is home to Turin’s Granserraglio troupe who specialize in comic spectacles, music and dance and experimental theatre. The boards here have been graced by the likes of Lella Costa, Luciana Littiezzetto, Bruno Gambarotta and Moni Ovadia.

Chiesa di Santa Teresa

via Santa Teresa 5.

Dedicated to Santa Teresa di Avila, work began on this church in 1642 from plans by Andrea Costaguta and finished in 1764 by Filippo Juvarra who designed the beautiful façade with its double loggia of Corinthian columns. Juvarra was also responsible for many of the jewels inside, most notably the side chapels of the Sacra Famiglia and San Giuseppe. Of particular beauty is the altar in the San Giuseppe chapel, commissioned in 1733 by Juvarra and with statues by Simone Martinez. In the Cappella di Sant’Erasmo is the mausoleum of the Madama, Maria Cristina di Francia, the queen and wife of Vittorio Amedeo I who died in 1663.

Museo della Marionetta

via Santa Teresa 5, T 011 5320238. Visits by appointment only. E 2.60.

In the rooms next door to the Teatro Gianduja, home to Turin’s Lupi troupe of puppet artists, is the city’s puppet museum. The museum itself, open during shows, has a collection of scenery, puppets, costumes, backdrops and scripts from over 200 years of performances by the Lupi group. Among the collection are items from around the world and a history of puppetry from around the globe.

Galleria d’Arte Moderna

via Magenta 31, T 011 5629911, http://www.gamtorino.it Tue-Sun 0900-1900 (guided tours on Sun and first Fri of month). E 5.50.

Known as GAM, Turin’s outstanding contemporary art museum will quieten anyone who doubts that Turin is a city of culture. At the very avant-garde of modern art and arranged on two levels, the museums takes the visitor on a journey through artistic movements from the end of the 18th century through to the early 1990s. It covers sculpture and painting, Piemontese artists, Italian masters and numerous important works by famous international names including Balla, Modigliani, Chagall and the artists of the Arte Povera movement. A thorough tour of the lesser-known works and artists is highly recommended, but if you are interested in famous highlights and pressed for time you should not miss some of the museum’s most important exhibits. Among them are Compenetrazione iridescente (1912) by Turin’s Futurist master Giacomo Balla, La Ragazza Rosa (1915) by Modigliani and Bozza di Manifesto (1920) by Ernst from the avant-garde section, and the works of Giorgio de Chirico in room 7. Room 15 has works by Klee, Picasso, Marc Chagall and Fernand Léger. Moving into the second half of the 20th century, Italy’s most important recent art movement Arte Povera is well represented in rooms 20 and 21, a post-minimalist anti-commercial take on art, focusing on traditionally neglected materials like sand, earth and concrete. The abstract works of current artists such as Mario Merz, famous for his igloos, and Alighiero Boetti conclude the exhibition.

Piazza Statuto

Linking via Garibaldi with the late 19th-century development of western Turin along Corso Francia, piazza Statuto was opened in 1864 with the aim to complete the symmetry of the four entrances to central Turin (alongside piazza Vittorio in the east, piazza Repubblica to the north and piazza Carlo Felice to the south). The piazza was designed by Carlo Pronis and realized by Giuseppe Bollati. At its centre is considered to be a garden all’inglese designed by Giuseppe Bollati and a haunting monument to the builders of the Frejus tunnel, the first of the great tunnels through the Alps, dating to 1879, as well as the point which marks Turin’s latitude. Piazza Statuto is said to have inspired many of Giorgio de Chirico’s metaphysical paintings.

Stadio Comunale

via Filadelfia 88.

Turin’s beloved Stadio Comunale came into being as the Stadio Mussolini, designed for football and athletic competitions. Only after the war did its name change to Stadio Comunale and it became Turin’s main football stadium, witnessing the growth and success of Turin’s two great teams, Torino and Juventus until the Stadio delle Alpi was built for the World Cup in 1990. The stadium has also hosted concerts including Bob Marley’s in 1970. The stadium is currently Juventus’ training ground and there is a good chance of seeing Del Piero and friends. The stadium will soon be refurbished as it is due to host Winter Olympic events in 2006.

Stazione Porta Susa

Piazza XVIII Dicembre

Built in 1856 and therefore the older of Turin’s two main railway stations, Porta Susa will soon be Turin’s main station. It is set to undergo a massive, spectacular overhaul as part of Turin’s 2006 Winter Olympic development. Work has already begun on architect Agostino Magnaghi’s design for a large tunnel linking rail passengers with the city’s new underground, taking all Turin’s public transport traffic, except the trams and buses, underground.

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