Turin’s bid to rebrand itself as a tourist destination reached a climax with the opening of the Venaria Reale, an exquisite Baroque palace that has been compared with Versailles.
The former residence of Italy’s Savoy royal family is Europe’s biggest cultural restoration project and officials hope it will add further gloss to the northern city that hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics.
”With the Olympics the town has woken up — it’s been like uncorking a champagne bottle,” said 66-year-old Anna Toso, an art gallery owner.
”Turin was suffocating and I fled the city in 1968 for swinging London. Now you find the same atmosphere here.”
Turin was home to the Savoy dynasty that ruled Italy until 1946 and became the country’s first capital in 1861.
When Rome took over in 1871, Turin was pushed into the shade by the eternal city and culturally rich cities like Florence and Venice. Its main claims to fame abroad were being the home city of car giant Fiat and soccer club Juventus.
The resurrection of Venaria Reale completes a makeover of Turin that has led to its cultural sites being refurbished, its first subway and the creation of large pedestrian areas.
The palace is more ascetic than opulent inside and covers 80 000 square meters, compared with the 67 000 of Versailles, outside Paris. It was built by the Duke of Savoy in the 17th century on hunting grounds and enlarged in the 18th century when the family was given royal status.
However, during the economic boom in the city after World War II, Venaria Reale fell into disrepair.
Vandals stripped the marble and stucco decoration and vagrants camped in its empty rooms, leaving only a husk of the palace’s former glory.
”In the 1960s, there was even talk of razing Venaria Reale and building public housing for factory workers,” said Andrea Scaringella, author of a book about the restoration project.
The palace consists of a 16th-century white building that was enlarged in the following century through the addition of an imposing wing of reddish brick.
Very little remains of the grand inner rooms beyond the delicate stucco-decorations of its Great Gallery, a frescoed reception room dedicated to Diana, the Greek goddess of the hunt and the superb white and grey marble Baroque church of St Hubert.
Venaria Reale is on the World Heritage List along with other royal palaces that crown Turin’s outskirts, and the province hopes to turn them into a short-break tourist destination like France’s Loire River chateaux.
”We aim for one million visitors a year by 2011,” said Alberto Vanelli, who oversaw Venaria’s restoration.
Cultural rebirth
Turin’s choice as the host of the Winter Olympics marked a shift in the self-image of a city that suffered an identity crisis when Fiat, Italy’s number one manufacturer, teetered on the edge of bankruptcy at the turn of the millennium.
Turin, home to the medieval shroud believed by many Christians to have wrapped the body of Christ, began turning its former industrial plants into convention centres and polishing up its little-publicised artistic sites.
The Games helped bring this neglected Italian city at the foot of the Alps into millions of homes around the world.
Tourism has increased by more than 50% in Turin since 2001 and foreigners represent half of the visitors that come to the city, data from the Piedmont region showed.
While 80% of visitors came to Turin for business in 2001, this percentage has now fallen to 60%.
”Turin used to be seen just as an industrial centre, rather gloomy and clumsy,” said Livio Besso Cordero, who heads Turin’s tourism organisation.
The city has also promoted its food — it is Italy’s chocolate capital and has been pushing through a ”Flavour Fair” that seeks to tackle the fast-food culture.
Turin will be the world’s 2008 Design Capital and plans to play a key role in the 150th anniversary of Italy’s independence in 2011. Yet, some Turinese believe the city may be trying to punch a little bit above its weight.
”We can’t compare Turin to Florence and Rome. I would like to see Turin becoming a tourist attraction but I don’t think we have sufficient resources,” said 49-year-old Michele Nieddu, a former factory worker. — Reuters