The Musei Reali di Torino (the Royal Museums of Turin — Piazzetta Reale 1, Turin; a single museum complex comprising the Palazzo Reale, the Galleria Sabauda, the Armeria Reale, the Biblioteca Reale, the Museo di Antichità, and the Cappella della Sindone; combined ticket EUR 20; open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-7pm) is the most consistently underestimated major museum complex in Italy — visitors who spend 3 days in Turin for the Mole Antonelliana and the aperitivo and the Egyptian Museum frequently miss the fact that the Royal Museum complex contains one of the ten finest painting collections in Europe (the Galleria Sabauda), the most complete armoury in existence (the Armeria Reale), and the most important botanical and archaeological collection of the Savoy dynasty. Turin guide
Plan my Italy trip →Combined ticket: EUR 20 (all Musei Reali); individual tickets EUR 10-15 | Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 9am-7pm | Egyptian Museum: Separate EUR 20 ticket; adjacent but not included in Musei Reali combo | Galleria Sabauda: The most important Northern European painting collection in Italy | Armeria Reale: Largest European armoury in existence
The Galleria Sabauda (within the Musei Reali complex, third floor — included in the combined EUR 20 Musei Reali ticket; the most important component of the Turin Royal Museum complex that most visitors skip because they do not realise its specific quality): the Savoy dynasty's painting collection, assembled over 400 years through purchases, diplomatic gifts, and war acquisitions, contains one of the finest concentrations of Flemish, Dutch, and French painting in Italy. The specific Sabauda highlights: the Van Eyck Stigmata of Saint Francis (the 15th-century Flemish panel painting, one of three known Van Eyck autograph works in Italy — the specific Van Eyck in the Sabauda is the most concentrated demonstration of the specific Flemish oil-and-glaze technique in the Italian peninsula); the Rembrandt portrait of the Old Man Sleeping (a late Rembrandt work of approximately 1660 — the specific Rembrandt quality visible in the Sabauda work is the treatment of light on the aged skin, the wrinkles and the stubble, that is the most characteristic Rembrandt late-period subject); the Paolo Veronese collection (the most complete Paolo Veronese collection outside Venice — 8 Veronese works including the specific Feast in the House of Simon, one of the four surviving Veronese feast paintings); and the Memling Portrait of a Man (one of the most important 15th-century Flemish portraits in Italian collections). The Sabauda's Northern European quality reflects the specific Savoy dynastic position — the House of Savoy had direct familial connections to the French, Dutch, and German courts and received Northern European paintings as diplomatic gifts from the 16th century onward. Turin guide
The Museo Egizio (the Egyptian Museum of Turin — Via Accademia delle Scienze 6, Turin; adjacent to the Musei Reali but requiring a separate EUR 20 ticket; open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-6:30pm; the second largest Egyptian collection in the world after the Cairo Egyptian Museum): 26,000 Egyptian artefacts assembled primarily from the Drovetti Collection (purchased by the Savoy King Carlo Felice in 1824 from the Piedmontese consul in Egypt Bernardino Drovetti, who had acquired a complete collection of Egyptian antiquities during the Napoleonic era) and supplemented by the Italian archaeological excavations of the 1900s-1930s (the specific Schiaparelli missions in the Deir el Medina workers' village near Luxor produced the most complete single-context Egyptian collection in existence). The specific Museo Egizio elements: the Tomb of Kha and Merit (the complete royal architect's tomb from Deir el Medina, approximately 1400 BC — the only intact Egyptian Royal Tomb outside Egypt, transported to Turin in 1906 by the Schiaparelli expedition with every object in its original position recorded; the complete domestic equipment of the architect Kha — his sandals, his writing materials, his food offerings, his wife Merit's jewellery — is the most intimately human of all Egyptian antiquity collections); and the Statua del Re Ramesse II (the monumental quartzite statue of Ramesses II, approximately 2.5 metres tall, one of the most important Egyptian royal sculptures in Italy). The Armeria Reale (the Royal Armoury — within the Musei Reali complex, ground floor; included in the combined ticket): the largest and most complete European armoury in existence, with approximately 5,000 items of armour, weapons, and equestrian equipment assembled by the Savoy dynasty from the 15th century to the 19th. The specific Armeria highlights: the Almain Rivet armour (the 16th-century suit of Greenwich armour presented to Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy by Queen Elizabeth I of England); and the battle order of the Savoy troops at Lepanto (1571) reconstructed from the specific equipment in the armoury collection.
The Musei Reali di Torino (Piazzetta Reale 1, Turin — combined ticket EUR 20; open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-7pm) comprise: the Palazzo Reale (the Savoy royal apartments, the most complete Baroque royal interior in Piemonte); the Galleria Sabauda (the Savoy painting collection — one of the most important Northern European painting collections in Italy, with Van Eyck, Rembrandt, and Veronese works); the Armeria Reale (the largest European armoury in existence, approximately 5,000 items); and the Biblioteca Reale and the Museo di Antichità. The adjacent Egyptian Museum (EUR 20 separate ticket) is not included but is the primary reason to visit Turin for museum tourism.
The Museo Egizio (Via Accademia delle Scienze 6, Turin — EUR 20; open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-6:30pm) is the second largest Egyptian collection in the world after the Cairo Museum: 26,000 objects, primarily from the Drovetti Collection (purchased by the Savoy King Carlo Felice in 1824) and the Schiaparelli excavations in Deir el Medina (1900s-1930s). The most specific element: the complete Tomb of Kha and Merit (Deir el Medina architect's tomb, approximately 1400 BC — the only intact Egyptian Royal Tomb outside Egypt, with every object in its original position). The Egyptian Museum reopened in its current form in 2015 after a EUR 50 million renovation.
The Galleria Sabauda (the Savoy dynasty painting collection, within the Musei Reali complex, third floor — included in the EUR 20 combined ticket) contains the most important Northern European painting collection in Italy outside Milan: Van Eyck Stigmata of Saint Francis (one of three Van Eyck autograph works in Italy), late Rembrandt Old Man Sleeping, 8 Paolo Veronese works including the Feast in the House of Simon, and Hans Memling Portrait of a Man. The collection's Northern European quality reflects the Savoy dynasty's connections to French, Dutch, and German courts through 400 years of dynastic marriages and diplomatic gifts.
The Armeria Reale (the Royal Armoury, within the Musei Reali complex — included in the combined EUR 20 ticket) is the largest and most complete European armoury in existence: approximately 5,000 items of armour, weapons, and equestrian equipment assembled by the Savoy dynasty from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The specific highlights: the Almain Rivet 16th-century Greenwich armour presented by Queen Elizabeth I to Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy; the complete Savoy tournament armour collection; and the equestrian armour section (the most complete in Europe).
Turin museum planning: minimum 2 days for the primary circuit. Day 1: the Musei Reali (Palazzo Reale + Galleria Sabauda + Armeria Reale — minimum 3-4 hours for the combined complex) + the Museo del Risorgimento (the Italian unification history museum in the same palace complex, free with Musei Reali ticket). Day 2: the Egyptian Museum (minimum 2-3 hours) + the Museo Nazionale del Cinema at the Mole Antonelliana (the world's largest film museum; EUR 15; open daily; the panoramic elevator to the top of the Mole at 85 metres is included). Optional Day 3: the day trip to the Reggia di Venaria (EUR 15; the most complete restored Baroque royal palace in Italy after Caserta).
Book Musei Reali EUR 20 + Egyptian Museum separate EUR 20 + Galleria Sabauda Van Eyck Rembrandt Veronese + Armeria Reale largest armoury.
Plan my trip →The Museo Nazionale del Cinema (the National Cinema Museum, Mole Antonelliana, Via Montebello 20, Turin — EUR 15; open Tuesday-Friday and Sunday 9am-8pm, Saturday 9am-11pm; the panoramic elevator to the top of the Mole at 85 metres is included): the world's largest film museum, housed in the Mole Antonelliana (the most iconic Turin building — the tapering brick tower with the spire, originally planned as a synagogue in 1863, now the symbol of Turin; 167 metres total height). The museum's 6 floors cover: the pre-cinema optical toys and devices (phenakistoscopes, zoetropes, stereoscopes); the history of cinema from the Lumière brothers' first projections in 1895; the specific Italian cinema tradition (Neorealism, the spaghetti Western, the Italian art cinema of Fellini, Visconti, and Antonioni); and a collection of the original cinema sets, costumes, and props. The Cabiria Room: the specific section covering Giovanni Pastrone's 1914 Cabiria (the most ambitious Italian silent film, the first feature film to use artificial lighting for interior shooting, and the specific film that directly influenced D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation).
The Sindone (the Turin Shroud — the linen burial cloth preserved in the Cappella della Sindone, within the Turin Cathedral adjacent to the Musei Reali; the Holy Shroud is displayed only on rare occasions and is currently in controlled storage): the linen cloth bearing the image of a man who shows wounds consistent with crucifixion, which Catholic tradition identifies as the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. The carbon dating: in 1988, samples from the Turin Shroud were carbon-14 dated independently by laboratories in Oxford, Tucson, and Zurich, which produced dates of 1260-1390 AD (medieval, not 1st-century AD). The Turin Shroud is not publicly displayed regularly; the most recent exposition was in 2015. The chapel (Guarino Guarini's masterpiece of Baroque architecture, 1667-1694) was severely damaged in the 1997 fire and has been closed for restoration; check the Cathedral of Turin's schedule at cattedrale.torino.it for current access information.
The Palazzo Reale di Torino (the main royal palace, Piazza Castello 205, Turin — open Tuesday-Sunday 9am-7pm; included in the EUR 20 Musei Reali combined ticket): the Savoy royal residence from 1645 to 1865 (when the Italian capital moved to Florence), with the most complete Baroque royal apartment sequence in Piemonte: the Sala del Trono (the Throne Room — the gilt and velvet state room with the specific Savoy eagle heraldry); the Sala degli Staffieri (the Footmen's Room with the Carlo Maratta ceiling fresco); and the Chinese Cabinet (the early 18th-century lacquer and chinoiserie room — the specific China trade luxury that Savoy acquired through the Mediterranean trading connections). The specific Palazzo Reale detail that rewards attention: the staircase by Juvarra (the same architect who built Venaria and Stupinigi) — the ceremonial entrance staircase visible from the first courtyard, the most specifically Juvarra urban interior in Turin.
The Biblioteca Reale di Torino (the Royal Library, within the Musei Reali complex — Piazzetta Reale 1; accessible with the combined Musei Reali ticket or separately; open to researchers by appointment, with limited public access for specific visitors): the most important art-historical document archive in Piemonte, containing: the Leonardo da Vinci Autoritratto (Self-Portrait — the specific red-chalk drawing of a bearded elderly man, universally reproduced as the definitive image of Leonardo though no contemporary source identifies the subject as Leonardo himself; the attribution to Leonardo is based on stylistic comparison with his documented drawings; the drawing is rarely exhibited publicly for conservation reasons; check the Musei Reali programme for the specific dates when it is accessible); the Raphael preparatory drawings; and the most complete collection of Savoy dynastic documents in existence. The Leonardo self-portrait is the primary reason specialist art historians travel specifically to Turin.