Sights in Downtown Turin

I should start off this post by saying that the photos here were taken over the course of many different days and nights, so you'll find that the lighting is all different in many of the pictures.

The "downtown" area of Turin is the more historical area, and since cities tend to grow outwards, you get more modern as you go away from the downtown area. Over here, it seems like every intersection of two major streets is marked by some kind of monument, as is the case here, near the Porta Susa train station.

One of the main arteries of the city is Via Roma, which leads from the Porta Nuova train station to this entrance to the historical center. This street nowadays is completely lined with high-end shops. See the man standing on the fountain in this picture? He was getting ready for a photo of himself and gave us surprise after surprise. First, instead of standing in front of the fountain, he climbed into the fountain and waded through the water to get as close to the statue as he could. Then the second surprise was that while we assumed he went through the water because he was probably wearing shorts and sandals, it turned out that he was wearing pants and shoes! He must have really wanted to get close to that statue.

After walking farther along the road, we finally reach the Piazza Castello (Castle Square), where we can see the Palazzo Madama - the Queen's Palace, which is now open like many other palaces in general as a tourist attraction. I didn't go in, but Fernando and Kristen told me that it is very fancy like a palace.

Right by the Palazzo Madama is the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace), which could be where the king might have lived. If you're wondering what's up with all these palaces, I should probably mention that before Italy was united, Turin was the capital of a major kingdom under the Duchy of Savoy. Perhaps more surprising, though, is that once Italy was united, they named Turin its first capital! It wasn't very long afterwards, however, that they moved the capital to Florence, and then finally Rome.

The only part of the Palazzo Reale that is open to the public is the inner courtyard, which has some Roman mythological statues, as well as these "arm" lamps,

which I got a kick out of because it reminded me of the 1946 French film La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast).

While walking around town more, we came across this statue, which we found particularly interesting because most of the statues here are in more of a classical style.

Tomorrow, I will write about the famous Shroud of Turin, which does indeed merit its own post. Right outside the cathedral in which the Shroud is kept is a mysterious brick structure. It turns out that this structure was once a city gate, called the Porte Palatine (Palatine Towers). Extending out of the gate are some remnants of the city wall, back before Turin started to expand more into what it is today. In front of the gate, you can see a statue of Caesar Augustus doing his trademark "point."

Tomorrrow: The Duomo di San Giovanni Battista and the Shroud of Turin