Turin

Turin is a city that feels grand and a little mysterious all at once. Tucked in the northwest of Italy with the snow-capped Alps as its backdrop, it was once the capital of the whole country — a fact you can still feel in its wide, elegant boulevards and magnificent palaces. The Royal Palace, decorated with gold and gleaming armour, hints at the powerful royal family who once ruled here, while the sweeping Piazza Castello gives the city a sense of real drama and importance.

But Turin has plenty of surprises too. It is home to the oldest Egyptian museum in the entire world, packed with mummies and ancient treasures that will leave you speechless. The city’s most famous landmark, the extraordinarily tall and pointy Mole Antonelliana, now houses a brilliant museum dedicated to the history of cinema. And if you love a good mystery, Turin is exactly the right place — locals have been swapping eerie legends about hidden powers beneath the city’s streets for centuries.