Turin in 4 days

The route starts on the top floor and works down through the centuries; the tomb of Kha and Merit fills a whole room, intact.

One ticket covers state apartments, the Scissors Staircase, Galleria Sabauda, archaeology and gardens; slow down in the Armoury, with its armoured horses mid-charge.

Come early to the farmers' section, where valley growers sell cardoons, hazelnuts and alpine cheeses, and eat fried fish standing up by the fish hall.

Turin's layered drink of cream, thick chocolate and espresso, sipped without stirring; filling enough to plan for mid-afternoon rather than before dinner.

A glass lift rises through the open core of the dome; below, a spiral museum where you sit, lie down and walk into film sets.

A riverside park opened in 1856 by the Po, with a Savoy castle and a mock medieval village built for the 1884 Exhibition.

Behind the basilica, a plaque marks the 1949 air crash of the Grande Torino team; guided visits reach the dome gallery, facing the Alps.

The Savoy hunting palace, a barracks for two centuries, reopened in 2007 after a huge restoration; Juvarra's white stucco Great Gallery stands out.