Musical Turin

The Regio shows you two faces: from piazza Castello, the historic façade and the arcades preserved in the reconstruction; from piazzetta Mollino, the curved walls in brick and glass. The eighteenth-century theatre, inaugurated in 1740 for the Savoy court to a design by Benedetto Alfieri, was devastated by a fire in 1936. Rebuilt to a design by Carlo Mollino, with the collaboration of the engineer Marcello Zavelani Rossi, the new theatre was inaugurated in 1973 with Giuseppe Verdi's I vespri siciliani. The main entrance, in the Galleria Francesco Tamagno, has a bronze gate by Umberto Mastroianni dedicated to music. The great foyer, the staircases and the auditorium designed by Mollino can be visited during performances or guided tours. The Regio hosts opera, ballet, symphonic and choral concerts.

Here Rai is still at work: the Museo della Radio e della Televisione is housed in its Turin Production Centre, a few steps from the Mole Antonelliana. The route goes from the first telegraph equipment to radio and television, by way of sound recording. The collection brings together historic equipment, microphones, cameras, stage materials and objects linked to Italian radio and television programmes. The reconstructions of production environments and the interactive stations help you understand what happens behind the scenes. After the renovation of the spaces, the museum reopened to the public in August 2026.

From the street you see only the exterior of the Auditorium Rai Arturo Toscanini; the hall, with stalls and galleries, is best known by attending a concert. It is the home of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, born from the merger of the earlier radio orchestras and based here since 1994. Before the radio, however, there were horses: the building was constructed in 1856 as the Regio Ippodromo Vittorio Emanuele II for equestrian shows. From 1872 it was used mainly for concerts. Bought by Rai after the Second World War, it was converted into an auditorium and opened in 1952; Carlo Mollino also took part in the arrangement of the hall. In 2007 the auditorium was named after Arturo Toscanini.

From piazza Bodoni you will see the eclectic façade of the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, built in 1928 to a design by Giovanni Ricci and officially opened in 1936. Inside there remain decorations from the first decades of the twentieth century and, at the centre, the Salone dei Concerti with the great organ inaugurated in 1933. From 1945 to 1952 the hall also hosted the public concerts of the Turin Rai Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. The school, the city's main institution for higher musical education, is older than the building: in 1866 the Istituto Musicale della Città di Torino was founded, later the Liceo Musicale and finally the state Conservatorio. To get to know the Salone, it is worth taking advantage of the musical events open to the public.