The Royal Tombs
Visitors to the Royal Tombs of the House of Savoy are accompanied by
one of the Basilica’s official guides in a thirty-minute tour. The
itinerary includes a visit to the cloister onto which the convent of
the Ordine dei Servi di Maria looks, to the Sala dei Papi which holds
the portraits of the 264 popes officially canonised by the Church, to
the monumental stairway and to the Crypt which hosts the tombs of the
Savoy family.
In
1774, Vittorio Amedeo III ordered the tombs to be built by the
architect Francesco Martinez, nephew of Filippo Juvarra, architect of
the Basilica. From 1778 onwards, at the King’s request, the bodies of
most members of the House of Savoy were laid to rest in the crypt of
the Basilica. These include King Carlo Alberto, Queen Maria Adelaide,
Queen Maria Teresa, the founder of the Basilica Vittorio Amedeo II and
his son Carlo Emanuele III.
Visit to the Dome
From
the top of the dome of the Basilica you can enjoy a magnificent view of
the city of Turin surrounded by mountains. You can climb to the first
external balustrade of the dome via a 131-step spiral staircase. The
entrance is inside the Basilica.
Royal Apartments
Towards
the end of the 18th century, some of the rooms on the first floor of
the building used as a convent were given to the royal family following
the decision not to build a royal palace on the hill. Five of these
rooms are now open to the public: the lobby, the First Hall, the
toilet, the Second Hall and the Pink Hall.
