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Turin City Break

Turin is the capital of the Italian region of Piedmont, in the north east of the country, not far from France. The city was voted by Lonely Planet among most beautiful places to visit. Indeed, it's a fine urban space full of history and sights to visit. It is perfect for a city break.

As Turin is the home of Italian Lavazza coffee, the best way to start the day in th city is with a coffee at one of the cafes around. We tried Orso Laboratorio del Caffè, perfect coffee flavour in a nice neighbourhood.

After we enjoyed the perfect coffee in town, we started our walk around the city with the perfect view. We crossed the Po River that flows through the middle of the town and went to Monte dei Cappucini. We visited the church on top of the hill and enjoyed the wonderful view over the city and the river from there. The building standing tall in that city frame is Mole Antonelliana, one of Turin's symbols, where we headed to next.

After we had enough of that perfect place on top of the hill in Monte dei Cappuccini, we slowly walked to another great place. Mole Antonelliana, that we admired from the top of the hill, was initially built to house a synagogue, but that never happened. It's now home to one of the most spectacular cinema museums I've seen. We found out that Turin is actually the birthplace of Italian cinema, so no wonder there's such an impressive cinema museum in the city. And if that was not enough, inside the building there's a stunning elevator that takes you to the top of the building where you have a 360 degree view over Turin.

Egyptian Museum in Turin has the world’s second largest collection of Egyptian artefacts. The impressive collection covers from mummified remains of humans and animals to incredible statues of the Egyptian kings.

The impressive Royal Palace in Turin served as royal residence for over two hundred years. Now, you can visit the stunning interiors like king's apartments, royal library, royal armoury and the royal gardens outside.

After we visited Royal Palace of Turin, we took time to rest in the square outside, Piazza Castello, which is also the main square of the city.

Also in the main square, we visited Palazzo Madama. It's an extraordinary baroque building that served as the first Senate of the Italian Kingdom, now home to Turin City Museum of Ancient Art.

We ended our first day in Turin with some local Piedmont dishes at Cianci Piola Caffè. It'a a cosy trattoria with vintage posters and a nice terrace in a lovely vibrant square.

We started our second day in Turin with a visit at one of the local markets in Turin. We love markets in the cities, especially in Italy, they are so colourful, they smell divine and there are fresh products that you can buy from locals. Porto Palazzo is one of the biggest local markets in the country and also from Europe.

We then went to visit Porta Palatina, an imposing Roman city gate, with towers, chariot entrances and arched walkways.

We then took a walk on Via Roma, the main high street of Turin, lined with arcades on both sides of the road and some fascist style architecture

We arrived in Piazza San Carlo, one of the nicest squares in the city, with twin churches Santa Cristina and San Carlo and Baroque architecture buildings.

We are in Turin, right?! Time for a coffee again. What cafe could be best to try in the city that Turin Cafe? The nice cafe has an Italian charm and is situated in a fine spot where you can watch the passers by and how life goes by in the city.

We walked through Piazza Vittorio Veneto, which is one of the biggest sqaures in the city.

And took a walk in one of the loveliest parks I've seen, Parco del Valentino, along the riverside. We admired Fountain of the Twelve Months and the Arco del Valentino there. Also in the park, you can visit Borgo Medievale de Torino, the medieval village of Turin, which recreates the atmosphere of a typical 15th century Piedmontese town.

We ended the day with a perfect ice cream at Gelateria La Romana.