Turin, Italy

Text written by About Art Travel Program collaborator Alard von Rohr-Demmin.

This week is focused on the first About Art Travel Program. Our first stop is Turin—Italy’s uncontested modern and contemporary art capital due in part to the enlightened patronage that comes with industrial power, in Turin’s case that of the car and aerospace industries. Those expecting urban mundanity will, however, be pleasantly surprised by a civilised nucleus of palaces and civic buildings built to inaugurate Turin as Italy’s 19th century political capital, extended in the 20th and 21st centuries with some iconic architectural masterpieces.

Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo is located in a gargantuan, yet sleek, building by Claudio Silvestrin. Promoting young artists since 1992, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo saw in the creation of a foundation an opportunity to collaborate with international art institutions on trend-setting exhibitions of contemporary art. Past exhibitions include solo shows by Michael Armitage, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Maurizio Cattelan, Douglas Gordon, Josh Kline, Sarah Lucas, Cady Noland, Daniela Ortiz, Philippe Parreno, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Adrian Villa-Rojas and Ambera Wellmann.

Pinacoteca Agnelli is situated in Renzo Piano’s 1989 conversion of FIAT’s former factory and test track of 1922. The collection includes masterpieces by Tiepolo, Canaletto, Bellotto, Canova, Manet, Renoir, Matisse, Modigliani and Picasso.

The Museum of Egyptian Art’s holdings—especially its mummies and sarcophagi—count as the third most significant in the world after those in Cairo and London.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Turin, capital of the Kingdom of Savoy, was known as the ‘Crown of Delights’ for its unrivalled urban ensemble of castles and palaces connected by avenues, arcades, squares and parks.

Our upcoming trips include Saudi Arabia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and Ghana and Nigeria. Please email to be added to the About Art Travel Program list.

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