Torino, Italy

I have a bit of a backlog of images from my trip to Turin, so please bear with me. Here I wanted to share my wonder of the façade work of the Palazzo Carignano, site of the first meeting of the Italian parliament and now home to a museum of il Risorgimento — the movement that led Italy to unification. I was startled to realize how young the nation of Italy really is: born in 1861! Turin was its capital before all was transferred to Florence a few years later (and then to Rome).

This building was designed by the prolific baroque architect Guarino Guarini, and dates to the 17th century; it is where Archduchess Maria Theresa gave birth to unified Italy’s first king, Vittorio Emanuele II. One side faces a square and is grand, but really quite staid.

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Now, if you can imagine this in the day time. We entered through the square on this side, behind the… how shall I say… endearingly hubristic statue of Carlo Alberto, King of Sardinia. (I need to mention also that it was on the same piazza that Nietzsche supposedly had his famous breakdown. Is Turin awesome or what?) Moving through the central courtyard, we found ourselves immersed in a sea of masonry unlike I’d ever experienced:

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As you can see, they were doing some restoration work. Below, two versions of a dragonfly/airplane propeller (yes, I’m improvising) motif, one in brick and the other in terracotta.

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Then, we emerged on the opposite side, Via Accademia della Scienze, for the astonishing finale. Perhaps I’m betraying my ignorance of the masonic art, but who could have imagined such fine, undulating movement, from brick?

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