Pizza, choc-ice and Leonardos – the treasures of Turin

To most non-Italians Turin spells Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Fiat). But this subalpine city has a longer history than the internal combustion engine. It may be twinned with Detroit, but its cavalcade of equestrian monuments testifies to an older sort of horsepower — the sort harnessed by the condottieri of the House of Savoy to turn their little Duchy into a major player on the European stage and, for four brief years from 1861 to 1865, into the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.

So while Detroit has the Detroit Institute of Arts, Turin has 55,000 sqm of royal museums, currently undergoing unification into a single complex called the ‘Polo Reale’. When the 3km circuit is completed in December, it will house the vast and rambling collections — artistic, bibliophile, military and archeological — amassed by the Savoys over three centuries of fighting and politica matrimoniale.

The motor behind it is the Consulta, an association founded 27 years ago to protect the city’s cultural heritage through a unique model of corporate sponsorship.