If you find history, culture and art boring, in other small words being a intellectually limited individual, stop reading now. You won't grasp nor appreciate this anyway.
I have found Torino to be one of the most beautiful cities in Italy and is a must when visiting the country. It has immense art treasures, palaces and roman remains, that even Rome couldn't match, let alone the Egyptian museum which is second in importance after Cairo.
To my surprise I found these treasures in a sad state to say the least. The museums are badly publicized, if at all. Guards almost to the point of crying from both the embarrassment of the state of the museums and of the managers acting as if it was their own property,( they said that some managers was on the brink of a nervous breakdown each morning when forced to open the doors to the public).Palazzo Reale was covered in dust and the guide rushed to the next room embarrassed when I asked why.
There also seem to be some puerile competition between managers over which items belongs to whom, all this told by the guards, same story different Palazzo/Museum. I decided after having been rudely treated at the Palazzo Reale to investigate the reasons why, on a Sunday an'all, which is the day most people visit those places didn't do so, or even worse, why they kept closed on this day.
Museo Egizio: Via Accademia delle Scienze 6.
OMG!! I hardly believed my eyes, nothing written to explain the items displayed, NO I am not joking! This museum is 2nd in the world in importance after Cairo. I wrote an angry note to the manager. We came here on the first day which was a Sunday after having been snobbed off by the hag at the Palazzo Reale, my "crime": I politely asked how to get to the Armeria Reale, I will return to that incident later...Worth a visit. In the same building:
Galleria Sabauda:
I was stunned to be among 0 visitors, this afternoon. Me and my fiancee' met extremely polite and desperate guards asking us to help the galleria being publicized, how could I refuse after seeing one of the finest collections of renaissance art I have ever had the pleasure to see!? Founded in 1832 by King Carlo Alberto and consisting of works from the galleries belonging to the Dukes and Kings of Savoia, Prince Eugene, Savoia -Carignano and from Palazzo Durazzo in Genova. Schools from Italy, Piemonte, Flammingian and. Works of Boticelli, Guido Reni and other important masters are represented here. Huge collection...
Armeria Reale: Piazza Castelli 191
The most important collection of armouries in the world. Beautiful intarsiated wooden floors, frescoes painted by Beaumont in the ceiling. Sadly kept collection, is said to hold the most important medieval Japanese armouries undisplayed in the basement(!), manager refused the Japanese Gov. to have them in return. We were told interesting things about the history both of the Palace itself,( which is the very same as Palazzo Reale, only a door is dividing the museums, puerile idea from the directions), and of Torino. Once this was an important roman city called Augusta Taurinorum and once it held a large bell with a swinging bull in bronze underneath,( from which the city had it's name called after. Toro=bull in Italian.) During the Napoleon wars this bell was stolen and is probably lost. We were also told about how the river Po was altered and before that there was a long gallery leading to the water so Queen Caterina could walk down to it, yes Torino was capital for 1 year! In the collection pieces are missing and half armours are displayed. The guard we spoke to, ( a 20 year old art student doing his military services there) agreed, they have told the direction of this, the waterdamaged ceiling, windows that cannot open etc, but in fear of losing their jobs they were ordered to keep quiet. Nice huh? Another angry letter to the manager. Please visit this museums, it is worth it, especially if you plan to go to Palazzo Reale.
Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento Italiano: Via Accademia delle Scienze 5
If you are interested in Italian history this is where you should go! Since it is a private museum it is well kept and both interior and the items displayed are well explained, (in Italian). Chronology is a good theme here and we are led from the unification of Italy to the WW2. Highly recommended!
Pinacoteca della Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti: Via Accademia Albertina 8
We had trouble even finding this jewel in the heart of the city, but it was well worth it! A small sign above the portal marked the gallery, which was easy to miss...We had to ring on a doorbell to enter, and inside was a small but exquisite display of important masters like; Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio), Raffaello Sanzio to name a few, and even an unique collection of renaissance drawings! Although being well kept this museum was another sad example of the Italian Gov. ignorance and negligence of cultural and artistic treasure, by it being almost completely unpublicized. A must!
Palazzo Reale: Piazzettta Reale/Piazza Castello
We decided although having been rudely treated to come back and at least give the place a go, I started with asking to see the manager...He was away, but the chief custodial talked to me instead. I explained the importance of public service to him and told him about the incident the previous Sunday, he apologized on behalf of the staff and gave us freetickets...(when explaining my plans to review the museums some offered us free entrance) Like I said before the old palace was in a terrible state, obviously not having been restored for ages it seemed. I can't find any plausible and acceptable excuse from the ministero dei beni culturali, to leave one of the royal palaces crumbling in the heart of Torino. I am yet to address the manager. Visit to get my drift..
Museo di Antichita': Via XX Settembre 88/c
This was a recently constructed museum that had some interesting architectural solutions to it's benefits. It mainly consisted of archeological findings from the area dating from preroman history, but also had some very important etrulian and greek pottery displayed. We discovered, as it was a rainy day, that the museum had additional attractions, like the dripping of water in several rooms. The leakage was considerable and I can say that it is long overdue to revise the construction of the roof.. Guess what? Yes, I did address the manager. Interesting.
GAM Galleria Civica d' Arte Moderna e Contemporanea: Via Magenta 31
Guess what? I hate modern art and I have all the reason to after visiting this shit museum. You guessed it right, this abominable modern construction is well kept with security guards those other museums would have earned better. I had to leave my bag in a locker, which sent me off into orbit even before entering, but since my fiancee' is a impressionist painter and a good one we decided to go in anyway. Yeah right, precious art at it's best, with all the topping of so called intellectuals roaming about doing ooohs and ahhhs in front of crusts I would give 2 cents for. A bad painting is a bad painting is a bad painting. I might not understand art but I do understand the beauty of things no matter the say it is in the eye of the beholder. I think this is shit even though Ministero dei beni culturali seem to think otherwise, they had the audacity to charge us 12000 lire/p to see this. I am astounded.
Summing up this visit leaves me just to explain the reason/s why Torino has been so badly publicized and left to crumble at the slopes of the Alps. Torino is an industrial city which has FIAT to owe for much of the occupation. The company is owned by the Agnelli family which has decided it shall remain an industrial city and just that. Although the efforts to change this concept and launch Torino as a capital of arts and history, little has been achieved. I have spoken to citizens from all levels in society and they all agree; it is the fault of Agnelli and the Italian government. All they care about is having cultural and artistic treasures, but not interested in investing money to keep them leaving them to greedy managers who doesn't understand the benefit of public service and the value of publication. I am yet to see some good things being dealt out to this city, it is long overdue and Rome and Florence will not cease to exist because of that. They might also do something about the immigration problem , it is tarnishing the value and reputation of Torino and we don't need it.