Piedmont Paradise

Live la dolce vita in Turin with the family in tow.

- Barbara Radcliffe Rogers

DON’T EXPECT TURIN TO FIT your image of Italy. It’s Italian, all right — the evening passeggiata and a love of good food and wine are alive and well. But you’ll look in vain for medieval cobbled streets, crumbling castles and works by Michelangelo (who never set foot here). Instead, although you’ll find some Roman ruins, you’ll also find a faux-medieval village, a world-class film museum and a café life that rivals Vienna’s. You and your family will have fun here.

The family will be spoiled for choices. For glimpses of royal glitter, they can tour the palace of the Savoy princes who ruled the region for nine centuries and are responsible for much of the city’s appearance today. Turin’s broad avenues and graceful squares bordered by elegant porticos were designed to make their capital the “Paris of the South.”

Kids will especially like the palace’s Armeria Reale, with one of Europe’s finest collections of armor — including full armor for the prince’s horse (be sure they look for the same armor on the statue of Emanuele Filberto on horseback in Piazza San Carlo). Behind the palace lie the Giardini Reali, royal gardens designed by the same landscape artist as those at Versailles (the Savoys were influenced in their choices by the French court) — a good place for kids to run off steam and for parents to enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

The large Piazza Castello in front of the palace proves a good starting place for exploring the city, with all its main attractions within an easy walk. Step inside the free Palazzo Madama for a quick history lesson; part of it includes a tower of the Roman Porta Pretoria and another part encompasses a 15th-century castle.