Follow the Lights from Piazza Castello to the Po
Dusk settles early in late December, and that is the moment Turin switches on. Since 1998 the city has replaced ordinary fairy lights with Luci d'Artista — commissioned light artworks by contemporary artists, scattered across the centre. The 29th edition runs from 22 October 2026 to 10 January 2027, and the whole trail is free and best walked on foot in the late afternoon, when the sky is still blue enough to make the installations read clearly.
Start at the Mole Antonelliana, whose 167-metre dome is lit as part of the route, then work through the other locations: Monte dei Cappuccini, the Vittorio Emanuele I bridge (where Joseph Kosuth's Doppio Passaggio is installed), piazza San Carlo, piazza Carlo Emanuele II, Galleria Umberto I and piazza della Repubblica. Two additions mark 2026. Vittoria Caldera's Decoding Light spells luminous Morse code messages across balconies and street level, and Boschetto di Natale turns pedestrianised via Roma — running from piazza Castello to piazza Carlo Felice, with piazza San Carlo midway — into an illuminated fir grove.
- Returning fixtures include Emanuele Luzzati's nativity scene and the tree at Palazzo Civico.
- The giant Advent calendar on piazza San Giovanni has its windows opened daily at 5.30pm by firefighters — time your walk past it accordingly.
- The previous edition added four new creations, among them works by Tracey Emin and by Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith and Philip Glass, which gives you a sense of the calibre the city commissions.
Eat and Drink Your Way Through the Christmas Village
The Villaggio di Natale occupies Piazza Solferino, set between the Angelica fountain and the equestrian statue of Ferdinand of Savoy — about a ten-minute walk from Porta Nuova station. A real-ice rink sits at the centre, ringed by wooden chalets, with a Casa di Babbo Natale and a Borgo degli Elfi for children. Entry to the village is free; the ice rink is charged, with the 2026 price still to be confirmed.
The stalls are the point for anyone travelling to eat. They sell Piedmontese products — cheeses, cured meats, honey, biscuits and wines — alongside hot chocolate and vin brulé, and some are run by charities. For reference, the 2025 edition ran 5 December to 6 January, opening noon to 9pm on weekdays and 10am to 11pm at weekends and on 8 December, 26 December and 6 January. Piazza Solferino is confirmed as the 2026 site, but exact opening dates had not been fixed at the time of writing, so check before you build a day around it.
Beyond the chalets, two Turin specialities are worth seeking out in the city's pastry shops and historic cafés:
- Gianduiotto — the Piedmont hazelnut-and-cocoa prism, gold-wrapped, which originated in Turin and is sold by weight in the run-up to Christmas.
- Bicerin — layered espresso, hot chocolate and cream, drunk seated in the historic cafés rather than standing at the bar.
- Panettone and pandoro, from Milan and Verona respectively, appear in pastry shop windows alongside the local sweets.
Christmas Day Itself, and the Concerts Around It
Christmas Day in Turin is a walking city at its most usable. The centre is a flat grid, walkable end to end, and trams and the metro connect it from both Porta Nuova and Porta Susa stations. With the market village, the light trail and the Advent calendar all running through the season, 25 December is a day for the Luci d'Artista route at your own pace, a bicerin in a historic café, and the piazza-to-piazza stretch of via Roma under the Boschetto di Natale.
The larger set-piece events fall either side of the day. A concert is planned at the Inalpi Arena on 31 December 2026, and a classical and operatic concert at Teatro Regio on 1 January 2027. Both are the anchors of the city's New Year, and both reward booking ahead.
Build the Trip Around the Journey In
Turin is reachable overland from Paris in about six hours by TGV or Frecciarossa, through the Maurienne valley and the Mont Cenis tunnel — the route restored after the August 2023 landslide closure. Three TGVs and two Frecciarossas run daily, arriving at Porta Susa, with tickets from around €35–39 if booked early. Note that direct services are suspended 11 September to 9 October 2026 for works, which falls before the market season.
By car, the options are the A43 through the Maurienne and the Fréjus tunnel (toll) plus the A32, or the Mont Blanc tunnel (toll) and the A5 via the Aosta Valley. Italian motorways are tolled, and central Turin operates a camera-controlled ZTL — park on the outskirts or near a station rather than driving into the grid. By air, Turin-Caselle is the obvious arrival; Milan Malpensa works too, with a train onward.
If you want to extend the season, three nearby markets sit within reach: Aosta on the Mont Blanc road, Govone in the Roero hills, and Chamonix across the Mont Blanc tunnel.
Give the City More Than One Day
Turin was capital of the States of Savoy from 1563, then of the Kingdom of Sardinia, then the first capital of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1865 — and the residue of that history is the reason to stay longer than Christmas. The Mole Antonelliana houses the cinema museum; the Egyptian Museum is one of the city's principal collections; the Fiat and Lingotto heritage, the motor museum and the Pinacoteca Agnelli cover the industrial and artistic strands. The basilica of Superga, up above the city, gives you the Alps views, and the 2006 Winter Olympics are part of the modern identity. The Fréjus rail tunnel, opened in 1871, is the piece of engineering that tied all of this to France in the first place.
Book the train early, keep an eye on the confirmed dates for the Villaggio di Natale, and plan your evenings around the light trail rather than the other way round — the city is at its best on foot, after dark, between one illuminated piazza and the next.