Turin

Italy's baroque ex-capital

A city of grandiose, baroque colonnades set on a Roman-style grid, Turin feels as though it should be a capital city. It was in the past – as seat of the Savoyard dukes and kings from 1559, as capital of unified Italy from 1861-1864, and as the Fiat-driven Italian car capital for much of the 20th century. The wheels of industry came off in the 1980s, but since the new millennium and the 2006 winter Olympics, Turin has had a renewed, post-Fiat confidence.