Medieval and Roman Turin

The story begins much earlier. The palace incorporates the remains of a gate of the Roman city, later turned into a medieval fortification. Between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries the complex gradually became a castle, linked first to the marquises of Monferrato and then to the princes of Savoy-Acaia.

In the seventeenth century it was home to the Madame Reali, Marie Christine of France and Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours. The western side bears Juvarra's signature, the eastern one retains its medieval appearance.

Today Palazzo Madama houses the Museo Civico d'Arte Antica.

On the eastern side the towers preserve the most recognisable traces of the palace's origins. Here stood a gate of the Roman city, remains of which are also visible along the museum route.

It is traditionally called Porta Decumana, but the name is not documented for the Roman period. Over the following centuries the structures were transformed and enlarged until they became a medieval castle, with towers, a moat and a drawbridge.

From the outside you mainly recognise the castle; inside you also find what came before it.

The presence of the Dominicans in the city is documented as early as the 13th century; the present church, their main historic building in Turin, was built in the first half of the 14th century, starting in 1334-1335. Inside there are three naves with pointed cross vaults and, in the cappella delle Grazie, 14th-century frescoes. The 17th and 18th centuries transformed the church, but the restorations between the late 19th and early 20th century recovered part of its medieval and 15th-century appearance.

The earliest records date back to the 14th century. Close to the castle and to piazza delle Erbe, the inn also welcomed ambassadors and figures received at the Savoy court; city orders and proclamations were posted here. The business continued until the 19th century. The name Casa Broglia recalls the wealthy family that owned it, originally from Chieri. The upper part of the building, severely damaged by the bombings of 1943, was later rebuilt.

The building preserves parts dating from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century and is one of the few remaining examples of late medieval civil architecture, albeit with later alterations and restorations. The name, however, is no certainty about its function: a hypothesis put forward in the nineteenth century links it to the city's Vicaria, an office with judicial powers. Next to the entrance you can also see stone elements from the Roman period, reused in the construction. Damaged during the Second World War, the house was partially rebuilt after the war. It is a residential building: the visit mainly concerns the exterior.

Built in the early imperial age, the gate was the northern entrance to Augusta Taurinorum; originally it also included a fortified inner courtyard, where those entering the city were checked. A short distance away you find the remains of the Teatro Romano and the Museo di Antichità, part of the Musei Reali. The museum gathers archaeological finds from Turin and Piedmont and Etruscan, Greek and Roman collections, including the silverware of the Tesoro di Marengo, from the 2nd-3rd century AD, and the materials from the Etruscan tomb of the Matausni family.

Built in the Augustan age, near the walls and the northern entrance, the theatre was easily accessible even to those coming from outside the city. During the imperial age it was modified several times; in the 1st century AD the tiers and the stage structures were enlarged. The remains resurfaced in 1899, during the construction of a new wing of Palazzo Reale, and were preserved thanks to the intervention of Alfredo d'Andrade.

In the Middle Ages three churches stood here side by side, dedicated to the Saviour, to Saint John the Baptist and to Saint Mary. The excavations beneath piazza San Giovanni and in the basements of the Duomo have brought to light remains of those ancient basilicas, together with structures from the Roman period, transformed and reused as the Christian city developed. Some of the finds and structures can be seen in the Museo Diocesano, set up in the basements of the cathedral. The archaeological area beneath the square, on the other hand, is not normally open to the public.