Residences of the Royal House of Savoy

Turin became a capital in 1562, when Duke Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy transferred his seat there and began building on a dynastic scale. His successors kept at it for centuries, producing a constellation of palaces and hunting lodges — from the Palazzo Reale at the city's command centre to the flamboyant Palazzina di Caccia of Stupinigi and the vast Reggia di Venaria. UNESCO inscribed the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in 1997 as a supreme display of absolutist ambition in brick and marble.