Start on Piazza Castello, Where the City Keeps Its New Year
On the morning of 1 January, Piazza Castello is where Turin gathers itself. The Christmas market that has occupied the square since early December is still standing — it runs until 6 January — and the stalls mix Piedmontese specialities, Gianduiotto above all, with crafts and gifts. Above and around them, the Luci d'Artista light installations are still switched on, so the baroque centre is lit for you twice over: once by the low winter sun on the arcades, once by the artists' projections after dark. The square is the pivot of the city's New Year, the place where the previous night's concerts and aperitivo crowds stood, and where the first walk of the year naturally begins.
- Piazza Castello — market open through 6 January 2027, with Piedmontese food specialities and crafts
- Luci d'Artista — light art installations across the centre, best seen after sunset
- The Mole Antonelliana and the surrounding baroque streets — the backdrop to the whole celebration
Walk the Centre the Way the City Does
New Year's Day in Turin is a walking day. The historic centre is compact and baroque, and the reliable pleasure is to move through it slowly: from Piazza Castello under the arcades, past the Mole Antonelliana, stopping where the Luci d'Artista pieces pull you off course. Public New Year events in Turin are typically free to attend, while dinners and club nights are ticketed — so the daytime belongs to anyone with a coat and comfortable shoes. Treat the centre as an open-air programme rather than a checklist; the installations and the market are the fixed points, and everything between them is the city at its own pace.
Eat Piedmontese, Starting With Gianduiotto
The market at Piazza Castello is your most direct route into the region's food. Gianduiotto — the hazelnut chocolate Turin is known for — is the thing to buy and eat on the spot, and the stalls pair it with other Piedmontese specialities. This is also the season for the city's aperitivo habit: the same ritual that anchors New Year's Eve in Turin carries into the days around it, and the centre's bars and cafés are where you take it. Eat late, eat slowly, and let the market do the introductions.
- Gianduiotto and Piedmontese specialities from the Piazza Castello market stalls
- Aperitivo in the centre — the city's standard way of opening an evening
Time Your Trip Around the Season
The market and the light installations frame the whole period: the Turin Christmas Market runs from 5 December 2026 to 6 January 2027, and the Luci d'Artista installations accompany it. New Year's Eve itself centres on Piazza Castello, with aperitivo, concerts and the light art as the typical elements — though the official city programme for 31 December 2026 had not been confirmed as of late August 2026, so check the city's announcements closer to the date rather than planning around a fixed line-up. What you can count on is the shape of it: a free, public, square-centred celebration, with paid dinners and club nights as the alternative. If your visit extends beyond the winter, Turin's festival calendar picks up again in summer — Kappa FuturFestival returns to Parco Dora from 2 to 4 July 2027, running noon to midnight in that industrial setting, and Todays Festival brings indie and alternative programming to the northern districts, former industrial sites and parks, with dates to be announced.
Know Where You Are: The Centre, Parco Dora, and the Northern Districts
Most of your New Year's Day will happen in the historic centre — Piazza Castello, the Mole Antonelliana, the baroque streets between them — and that is enough for a short trip. But it helps to know the city's other coordinates. Parco Dora, the industrial venue west of the centre, is where Kappa FuturFestival takes place in July. The northern districts, with their former industrial sites and parks, are the territory of Todays Festival and its focus on urban culture and sustainability. Neither is a New Year's destination, but both tell you what Turin does with its industrial inheritance the rest of the year — worth knowing if you are deciding how long to stay.
Plan around the fixed points: the market through 6 January, the lights after dark, Piazza Castello as the centre of gravity. Book your travel and your table, then leave the first day of 2027 loose enough to follow the crowds and the installations where they lead. Check Turin's official city programme for 31 December as the date approaches, and let the rest of the visit take care of itself.