Piazza Carlo Felice

Situated in front of the historic Porta Nuova Station, Piazza Carlo Felice combines busy urban life with historical memory. Surrounded by elegant buildings and embellished by the Sambuy Garden, it is a place where the city's soul is revealed in all its sophistication. Porta Nuova Station was built between 1865 and 1868 to a design by engineer Alessandro Mazzucchetti, with the collaboration of Carlo Ceppi, who designed its unmistakable façade. Despite subsequent alterations, the station retains its splendid historic façade and First Class Waiting Room – or Royal Room – decorated with frescoes by the painter Francesco Gonin. The square is named after Carlo Felice of Savoy and still retains an atmosphere of days gone by. It is lined with buildings rich in charm, including the hotel where, writer Cesare Pavese committed suicide in 1950, leaving a deep mark on Italian culture. Under the arcades, you will find historic shops that tell the story of the Turin of the past, with Art Nouveau packaging, sweet scents and beautifully wrapped bonbons, in an atmosphere suspended between past and present. In the centre of the square is the Sambuy Garden, designed in the French style in 1861: well-tended paths, flower beds, a little lake with a fountain, a gazebo for concerts and two tributes to Turin's civic and literary heritage – the statue of Edmondo De Amicis and the bust of Ernesto Balbo Bertone di Sambuy, mayor from 1883 to 1886, after whom the garden has been named since 1926.