Turin, first capital of unified Italy

When you think about Turin what do you associate with the city? Of course the Turin Shroud or maybe Fiat, Lancia or Alfa Romeo come to mind. In my mind I thought Turin = heavy industries like steel, mechanical engineering, chemical and textiles, but did you know it’s also famous for chocolate and is a major producer of Nutella?

The city centre is awesome such a mixture of architecture from Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical and Art Nouveaux. It’s beautiful and I love the arched walkways along the shop fronts, perfect for keeping you shaded from the sun or rain free.

Last time we came here, a few years ago now, we didn’t do the Church of the Shroud because we were staying in Chambrey, France where we found there was a new town museum above the old church which had a copy of the Shroud and a lot of information about its history. We were towing a small car in the back of the motorhome then so we left the moho on the campsite in Chambery and drive to Turin and stayed in a hotel for a few nights. During our stay we did a bus tour, visited the huge Egyptian Museum (second in size after the Cairo Museum), the Mole Antonelliana (cinema and photographic museum) some galleries and the Automobile Museum, all of which were great, however, this time we wanted to see where the Shroud is housed and we visited the Royal Palace (like we haven’t seen enough royal palaces over the last month or so!!)

So here’s a little taster of Turin (nice short video)

The Shroud is kept in the Cathedral and is only taken out by order of the Pope (so not very often I’m guessing). It was first displayed publicly in 1453 when Duke Ludovico I of Savoy built a special chapel for it in Chambery, (that explains the museum we saw there), by 1506 Pope Julius II officially recognised it. You can’t help wondering where it had been for all those years though, did the previous owners know what it was or is it a fake? If the pope says it’s a true relic then who am I to disagree!? (I apologise to anyone reading this who is religious, no offence ment)

It’s been damaged by fire and water so is now kept in an inert gas environment in an air-tight cask. It’s 4.42m long and 1.13m wide, it was laid under the body from foot up to the head then folded over on top over the face down to the feet, which is why the whole length of it shows different aspects of the body having been crucified with nails through the wrists and ankles, had been beaten and whipped, crowed with thorns and, after death, pierced with a sword.

It was first photographed in 1898 however it was the negative format which showed more detail than the Shroud itself. More modern tests (1988) have said the material dates from between 1260 and 1390 and that the blood stains are human type AB. So if it is a fake, then I take my hat off to those guys in the 13th century they certainly paid attention to detail!

We went into the Royal Church of San Lorenzo and there was a glass cabinet of weird examples of things associated with the death and the Shroud

Here are photos of the Shroud

After all the excitement of the Shroud we went on a tour of the Palazzo Reale

We loved Turin but the closest campsite we could find was a 15 min train ride away. The campsite, Camping Mill Park, was outside a town called Alpignano, the owners offered a shuttle service for €5 to the train station less than 10 mins away, and they’d pick you up at an agreed return time. The site was small but had a new shower block and they sold cold drinks and ice cream at reception. Almost all the people who we spoke to were there because of the shuttle offer. A great location but soooo many flies!

Next we’re off to the west coast of France to near La Rochelle, it’s an 8 hour or more drive so we’re going to split it and do a stop over.

We’re hoping it won’t be so hot on the coast, anything will be cooler than walking around a city in 37° heat 🥵