A Walk Through Shops on the Main Streets of the City Center, Without Neglecting Turin’s Beauties
Turin is a city that offers a wide range of shopping options, with a selection spanning from high-end fashion brands, to independent boutiques, to second-hand stores. The city is famous for its tradition in producing high-quality fabrics and high fashion, an heritage that is reflected in the numerous fashion stores in the city center.
This itinerary through the heart of Turin will guide you through the most renowned shopping streets, such as Via Garibaldi, one of the longest pedestrian streets in Europe, where you can find casual clothing stores, the Galleria Subalpina, with its historic storefronts, Via Lagrange, where you’ll find major brands, or Via Roma with its megastores.
Let’s Start the Tour Through Turin’s Shopping Streets
Via Garibaldi
Our walk begins here, the old main decumanus of Roman Turin, later becoming “Dora Grossa” street, for the central channel that once flowed through it. It is one of the longest pedestrian streets in Europe and connects Palazzo Madama to Statuto Square. Always very crowded for shopping, especially on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. You can find many stores of all types, with a prevalence of casual clothing and accessories, and at number 4, the Juventus Store for football enthusiasts.
Along the walk, the Chapel of the Merchants and Bankers Congregation is worth a stop, a small baroque jewel little known, hidden behind a door at Via Garibaldi 25.
Contrada dei Guardinfanti
Between Via Barbaroux, Via dei Mercanti, and Via San Tommaso, the most ancient heart of Turin beats: here the design of the streets remains faithful to the Roman layout of the ancient Augusta Taurinorum, and walking through these narrow and suggestive streets, you can discover small shops and antique stores among the most charming and atmospheric corners.
At Via dei Mercanti 8, you’ll find one of Turin’s strangest shops: Nautilus, a small store with skulls, ancient handcuffs, globes, scientific and surgical instruments, stuffed animals, and many other treasures. A wunderkammer of macabre and curious objects.
In Piazzetta Andrea Viglongo, you can come across a particular building: the Palazzo delle Ombre, a work created by American artist Nancy Dwyer. The shadows of the wavy structures reveal the word “more” in five languages (English, Italian, Spanish, French, and German) on the building.
Along the narrow Via Barbaroux, we find many characteristic places, spots to stop for tea or to eat something. For those looking for streetwear, Freshstore, an independent men’s clothing store, or Le Coquettes, a small unmissable boutique with a carefully selected collection of high-quality bijoux with a chic French flavor.
Take a detour to Via Stampatori to admire one of the few examples of Renaissance architecture in Turin: Palazzo Scaglia di Verrua with its frescoed facade and loggia courtyard of great charm and elegance.
Galleria Subalpina
An extremely elegant covered passage in iron and glass connecting Castello Square with Carlo Alberto Square. Created by Pietro Carrera (1873) with furnishings and decorations typical of early 20th-century liberty architecture. It takes inspiration from Parisian commercial passages and hosts several historic storefronts: the Arcadia restaurant, a sophisticated sushi restaurant, Gilibert specialized in art prints and collector’s posters, the Sfashion Cafè, a venue designed by Piero Chiambretti, the new location of the historic Luxembourg bookstore and one of Turin’s most elegant historic cafés: the Baratti & Milano confectionery, established in 1875. For tea lovers, the Via del The shop with 230 varieties of tea and infusions.
Piazza Carignano, Via Cesare Battisti and Piazza Carlo Alberto
Exiting the Galleria Subalpina, you find yourself in Piazza Carlo Alberto, at the center of which stands the monument to King Carlo Alberto.
Here, on the second Saturday of the month, Extravaganza takes place, a sophisticated vintage clothing market.
Proceeding along Via Cesare Battisti, we arrive at the fascinating Piazza Carignano, characterized by the sinuous facade of Palazzo Carignano, a Baroque masterpiece by Guarino Guarini and seat of the Subalpine Parliament (the first in Italy). Today it houses the Museum of the Italian Risorgimento.
On the other side of the square, we find the Carignano Theater and the Del Cambio Restaurant (where horses were once changed for carriages), always the most renowned and luxurious in Turin, and the Del Cambio Pharmacy known for its cubic brioches and aperitifs.
Via Roma
It is the most famous shopping street in the city, although in recent years many major brands have moved to Via Lagrange.
750 meters of arcades from Castello Square to Porta Nuova station allow you to reach some of Turin’s most important boutiques while sheltered from the rain, such as Gucci, Hermès, Vuitton, Calvin Klein, along with major flagship stores like Apple, H&M, Cos, Ovs, Nike, The North Face, Bershka, Kway and many others.
The street was entirely rebuilt in the 1930s. Entirely clad in marble, it was so luxurious that it was said that Turin residents would put on their best clothes to walk along it.
Take a step into the luxurious Galleria San Federico, a covered pedestrian area, popular for high-end shopping, with fashion boutiques, jewelry stores, and design shops: even Coop has opened a chic point of sale here!
How about a souvenir photo under the Fellini-style sign of the Lux cinema?
Piazza San Carlo
We are in the “living room of Turin“, the perfect spot to discover some of the city’s most famous historic venues, ideal for a coffee, lunch, or a gourmet and refined purchase. Formerly the Royal and Market Square, it preserves the “twin churches” of San Carlo and Santa Cristina (the latter with a facade by Filippo Juvarra) to the south. Elegant Baroque buildings line the sides, with wide arcades dating back to the mid-17th century.
Worth mentioning are the luxurious historic cafés with elegant outdoor seating like Caffè Torino, Caffè San Carlo and Caval ‘d brôns, the Stratta confectionery, Armani and Stone Island stores, and the temple of luxury San Carlo dal 1973, a historic six-thousand-square-meter store dedicated to the best clothing collections, accessories, and perfumes.
A pedestrian passage connects the square with Via Lagrange, passing through the elegant courtyard of San Carlo dal 1973: here you’ll find the much-photographed upside-down head of Michelangelo’s David, a work by Andrea Salvatori.
Via Lagrange
In recent years, the most prestigious brands have settled in this extremely elegant pedestrian street, such as Chanel, Prada, Diesel, Lacoste, along with several luxury multi-brand stores.
Not only boutiques but also megastores like Rinascente and Eataly. For food lovers, the shop of the renowned chocolatier Guido Gobino is worth a visit. Those looking for home decor can stop by Zara Home.
On Via Lagrange, with access from Via Cavour, stands Palazzo Cavour, one of the city’s most significant historic residences and one of the best examples of 18th-century Piedmontese Baroque architecture. Here, the statesman Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, was born, lived, and died.
Via Carlo Alberto
Via Carlo Alberto has also recently been pedestrianized and immediately became one of the locals’ favorite streets for strolling. More romantic compared to Via Lagrange, the point almost midway that overlooks the gardens of Palazzo Cisterna is one of Turin’s most fascinating places.
Along the street, you’ll find various shops, some truly unique like the Piloni luthier shop, the Caffarel store with chocolates of all types, but particularly known for gianduiotti.
Along the pedestrian street, you’ll find many restaurants, both traditional and ethnic, like the Kirkuk Kaffè, a historic Kurdish restaurant in Turin.
In the section closest to Corso Vittorio, you’ll find the Bodoni Bookstore Space B, with a beautiful selection of books and magazines. At 55/E, you’ll find Inferno, a historic gothic/dark clothing store. Creativity, a shop-gallery that offers items between high craftsmanship and art.
Piazza Bodoni and Via Mazzini
Walking from Piazza Lagrange through the block leading to Via Mazzini, you arrive at the square that hosts the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, a work by architect Giovanni Ricci. If you have time, sit on the benches: if you’re lucky, you might hear the notes of the Conservatory students.
At the center of the square – opened in 1835 – stands the equestrian monument to Alfonso Lamarmora, a general and minister of the Savoy State. Two curious shops are worth mentioning: the Olfattorio, where you can try all kinds of perfumes with an olfactory sommelier, and Provasoli, a historic fabric store that often sets up its windows with skulls and curious macabre objects.
On Via Mazzini, you’ll find peculiar and unusual shops like the Freddi Antiquarian Bookstore, which displays fantastic antique pop-up books in its window.
Antonio Minchillo’s shop is full of vintage chandeliers. Creative Cables with its customizable lampshades, Bagni Paloma, one of Italy’s most beautiful stores according to Vanity Fair, converted from an old garage, offers a selection of stylists and designers, artisanal and highly sought-after productions.
Via Po
Ideal for a shopping walk in the city center when it’s raining, thanks to the arcades built so that the king could move on horseback without getting wet. Here you’ll find several used book stalls, bookstores like La Bussola, specialized in remainder (warehouse stocks of books no longer in circulation or books that have been reprinted in new editions), the Mercurio Bookstore and the Bourlot antiquarian bookstore since 1848. Clothing stores, like the historic Frav, an urban brand born in Turin in 1996. Historic cafés, like Florio or Ghigo.