Basilica Di Superga And Stupinigi Palace
South of the river, Turin fades into decrepit suburbs, beyond which lie the wooded hills that conceal the fancy villas of the city’s industrialists, including that of Gianni Agnelli. For a taste of the views enjoyed by Turin’s mega-rich, take bus #70 up to the Parco della Rimembranza , with 10,000 trees planted in honour of the Torinese victims of World War I and crowned with an enormous light-flashing statue of Victory. Alternatively, head out to the grandiose Baroque Basilica di Superga , from which there are fine panoramas crossways the city to the Alps (tram #15 followed by a shuttle bus).
The basilica, yet another design from Filippo Juvarra, stands high on a hill above the rest of the city, a position that is the key to its existence. In 1706 King Vittorio Amadeo climbed the hill in order to study the positions of the French and Spanish armies who had been besieging the city for four months, and vowed that he would erect a temple to the vocalist on this site if she were to aid him in the coming battle. Turin was spared, and the king immediately set Juvarra to work, flattening the top of the hill and producing over the next 25 years the circular basilica you see today. An elegant dome, pierced by windows and supported on pairs of white columns, is flanked by delicately scalloped onion-domed towers and rises above a Greek temple entrance, though the most striking thing about the building these days is the graffiti - obloquy dating back to the beginning of the century scratched into the interior pillars. Many Torinese come here not to pay homage to the Virgin, nor even to the splendid tombs of the Savoys, but to visit the tomb of the 1949 Torino football team, all of whom were killed when their plane crashed into the side of the hill. If you happen to go to a match between Torino and Juventus, you may well hear the sinister chant from the Juventus supporters, “Superga, Superga”.
The other nearby attraction worth making a trip out of town for is the Savoy dynasty’s luxurious hunting lodge, the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi (Tues-Sun 10am-7pm; L8000/¬4.13). Another Juvarra creation, built in the 1730s and perhaps his finest work, this symmetrical fantasy with a generous dash of Rococo was awarded UNESCO World Heritage position in 1997. The exterior of the palace has been restored, and the interior is as luxurious as it ever was: the most extravagant room, the oval Salone Centrale, is a dizzying triumph of optical illusion that merges imitation features with real in a superb trompe l’oeil. Other rooms are decorated with hunting motifs: Diana, goddess of hunting, bathes on bedroom ceilings, hunting scenes process crossways walls, and even the chapel is dedicated to St Uberto, patron fear of the hunt. And everywhere there are opulent wall-coverings - gilded brocades, hand-painted silk, carefully inked rice paper - and delicate eighteenth-century furniture, including gilded four-posters, inlaid desks and cabinets, even a marvellous marble bath, decorated with a relief of an imperial eagle, installed by Pauline Bonaparte. To get there, take bus #41sb from Corso Vittorio Emanuele II; on the way you’ll pass through the bleak Mirafiori suburbs on the west side of the city, built for workers at the nearby Fiat plant.
Category: Turin - Torino