ART, ARCHITECTURE & MUSEUMS

Today, Torino's architecture is a most impressive sight upon arrival in the city. Torino is a city of Baroque and Art Nouveau style architecture but also of the new infrastructures and works of art that enriched the area during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. These works were undertaken by architects of worldwide fame such as Renzo Piano, Arata Isozaki and Gae Aulenti. Art, both ancient and contemporary, is a central feature in Torino.

The city is home to the Egyptian Museum, the second most important in the world next to that of Cairo. Other important galleries and museums are:

• The National museum of the Italian Risorgimento, located inside Palazzo Carignano
• The National Museum of Cinema, inside the Mole Antonelliana
• The Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art (GAM)
• The Museum of Contemporary Art at Rivoli Castello
• The Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia Automobile Museum, one of the most important in Europe
• Torino is also the birth place of Arte Povera.

SJIU students will also be able to visit the Royal Residences:

• Palazzo Reale di Torino
• Palazzo Madama
• Villa della Regina
• Stupinigi Hunting Lodge
• Racconigi Castello
• Reggia of Venaria Reale

The Churches and Abbeys:

The Sacra di San Michele is an abbey built in the 10th century on a pointed rock cliff overlooking the Val di Susa and is one of the religious sites that the students will have the possibility to visit.

The Basilica di Superga contains the tomb of the Savoia Family. When Jean-Jacques Rousseau came to Superga for the first time and observed the landscape beneath him he exclaimed:

"I have in front of me the most beautiful spectacle that the human eye could ever perceive".

San Lorenzo Church was the first home of the Holy Shroud after its arrival from Chambery. It has an extraordinary cupola (finished in 1680) designed by Guarino Guarini, which is an excellent example of Baroque Architecture.