Piazza San Carlo
BOTTEGHE STORICHE CHIESE E CAPPELLE PALAZZI ED EDIFICI STORICI ToTo TORINO TOUR FOR ALL ARCHITECTURE PLACES SITI ARCHEOLOGICI MONUMENTI IL QUADRILATEROARCHITETTURA URBANA POINT OF INTEREST 1 PIAZZA CASTELLO Torino Tour for All begins in the very heart of the city, piazza Castello, which spans about 40 thousand square meters. It is bordered to the northeast by piazzetta Reale and it merges four of the main downtown roads: via Garibaldi (a pedestrian street), via Po, via Roma and via Pietro Micca. During the Savoy reign, and then in the post-Unification period, Piazza Castello was the center of the Piedmontese State. It is surrounded on three sides by monumental porches, built in different times. In the mid XIX century, the west arcades were nicknamed Arcades of the Fair, because of the market housed during Carnival. On Piazza Castello there are several historical buildings, starting from via Garibaldi and proceed- ing clockwise: Palace of the Regional Council, Church of San Lorenzo, Royal Palace, Royal Library and Armory, State Archives, Government Palace (now the Prefecture Palace), Royal The- atre and the Galleria dell’Industria Subalpina (Subalpine Gallery of Industry). At the center of the square there is Palazzo Madama. Ascanio Vitozzi, architect of the Duke of Savoy Carlo Emanuele I, designed piazza Castello start- ing from 1587. The square was born to frame in a neat space the existing Senate and to accom- modate the Novo Palazzo Grande, today’s Royal Palace. Despite the architectural interventions of 1612 and 1773, piazza Castello maintains its configuration in three areas: the oldest, whose structure dates back to Roman times, on the side of Via Garibaldi, the area connecting Piazza Castello to the river through Via Po and the area of the Piazzetta Reale which was once divided from the square by a brick wall.
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