Palazzo Madama today is the seat of the Civic Museum of Ancient Art but this wonderful building built on the ruins of an ancient Roman gate was a fortress, a castle (as evidenced by the rear facade with medieval towers) and residence of two “Madame Reali”, Maria Cristina of France and Jeanne of Savoy-Nemours, under whose regency the building was enlarged and embellished.
In particular, in 1718 Filippo Juvarra, architect of the House of Savoy, designed and built the great western façade and the imposing staircase of honor, undisputed Baroque masterpiece.
To see the thousands of pieces, preserved in the splendid setting of the Palace that testify the ten centuries of history of Italian and European artistic production (from the Middle Ages to the Baroque).
Museum’s consists of four floors: in the moat floor there is the Medieval Lapidarium with stone sculptures and goldsmiths (XII-XIII century); the ground floor houses Gothic sculptures, paintings and precious objects (13th-16th centuries); the first floor is dedicated to the arts of the Sixth and Eighteenth centuries with the picture gallery, the furnishings and the sumptuous decorations of the rooms; the second floor, dedicated to the decorative arts of all ages, houses ceramics, ivories, fabrics and glass.
Among the Museum’s masterpieces not to be missed is the “Portrait of a Man” by Antonello da Messina, kept in the Torre dei Tesori and the Heures de Turin-Milan, the only codex in the world illuminated by the Flemish artist Jan van Eyck.
USEFULL INFO
Opening hours: Mon – Sun (10.00 AM – 06.00 PM); Tue closed
Admission: €10 adults, €8 reduced
How to reach: Tram 4, 7, 13, 15, Bus 11, 13N, 19, 27, 50, 51, 55, 56, 57, 92, 3904, 3991, N04, N10, S04, W01, W15, W60
Address: Piazza Castello
 and residence of two "Madame Reali", Maria Cristina of France and Jeanne of Savoy-Nemours, under whose regency the building was enlarged and embellished.){kind=link}