Mole Antonelliana

Torino's Unmistakable Skyline

Originally intended as a synagogue and completed in 1889, the Mole Antonelliana is Torino's tallest and most recognisable structure — a strange, soaring dome-and-spire silhouette that appears on the Italian two-cent coin. Today it houses the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, one of the most inventive film museums in Europe, with a central hall of oversized sets and memorabilia rising the full height of the building.

The real reason to come, though, is the panoramic lift — a glass elevator that rises through the open central hall to a viewing terrace 85 metres up, with a 360° view over Torino's grid of Baroque rooftops and, on a clear day, the full Alpine arc behind the city. It is a five-minute experience that is worth planning an afternoon around.