5 Best Sights in Piedmont and the Valle d'Aosta, Italy

The Baroque castle of Rivoli now houses a fascinating museum of contemporary art. The building was begun in the 17th century and then redesigned, but never finished, by architect Filippo Juvarra in the 18th century; it was finally converted into a museum in the late 20th century by the minimalist Turin architect Andrea Bruno. Its sister museum, Villa Cerutti, houses 300 paintings (including works by Renoir and Kandinsky) and sculptures, plus rare books and furnishings, in a 20th-century villa not far from the castle; visits are only by prior reservation and guided tour on weekends for adults and children ages 10 and up, with individual nonguided visits offered one Saturday each month.

Housed in the restored Manica Nuova (new wing) of the Palazzo Reale, the gallery displays some of the most important paintings from the vast collections of the house of Savoy. The collection is particularly rich in Dutch and Flemish paintings: note the Stigmate di San Francesco (St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata) by Jan van Eyck (1395–1441), in which the saint receives the marks of Christ's wounds while a companion cringes beside him.

This gallery was opened by Gianni Agnelli (1921–2003), the head of Fiat and patriarch of one of Italy's most powerful families, just four months before his death. There are four magnificent scenes of Venice by Canaletto (1697–1768); two splendid views of Dresden by Canaletto's nephew, Bernardo Bellotto (1720–80); and several works by Manet, Renoir, Matisse, and Picasso. You can also visit La Pista 500, the former Fiat test track on the roof of the Lingotto building, to view rotating exhibits from contemporary artists.

In 1863 Turin was the first Italian city to begin a public collection devoted to contemporary art. Housed in a modern building on the edge of downtown, a permanent display of more than 600 paintings, sculptures, and installation pieces (from a collection of more than 45,000 works of art) provides an exceptional glimpse of how Italian contemporary art has evolved since the late 1800s. The Futurist, Pop, neo-Dada, and Arte Povera movements are particularly well represented, and the gallery has a fine video and art film collection.

Housed in the magnificently renovated 17th-century Palazzo Mazzonis, this is a beautifully displayed collection of Southeast Asian, Chinese, Japanese, Himalayan, and Islamic art, including sculptures, paintings, and ceramics. Highlights include a towering 13th-century wooden statue of the Japanese temple guardian Kongo Rikishi and a sumptuous assortment of Islamic manuscripts.