Royal Museums of Turin: how the official ticket office works

Who runs the Royal Museums

The Royal Museums are a state museum of the Italian Ministry of Culture that brings together, in a single route, the Savoy court buildings overlooking Piazza Castello. At its heart is the Royal Palace, the official Savoy residence and part of the UNESCO Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, with its state apartments on the main floor. Next to it are the Royal Armoury, one of the most important collections of arms and armour in Europe, the Galleria Sabauda with the paintings collected by the dynasty, the Museum of Antiquities with the remains of the Roman Theatre and Guarino Guarini’s Chapel of the Holy Shroud, reopened after the long restoration that followed the 1997 fire.

This page is about the official sales channel. For the rooms not to miss and a suggested route, see our guide to the Royal Museums and Royal Palace and the one on the Galleria Sabauda and Armoury.

What the single ticket covers

• Royal Palace: the state apartments on the first floor, with the Chapel of the Holy Shroud.
• Royal Armoury and Coin Cabinet.
• Galleria Sabauda, on the floor the museum lists as open to visitors.
• Museum of Antiquities, with the Roman Theatre.
• Temporary exhibitions on at the time, unless the museum says otherwise.

The Royal Gardens are free, from 8:30am to 7pm, with the same closing day. The Royal Library has its own hours and free visits to the monumental hall. The Shroud itself is not part of the route: it is kept in the Cathedral of San Giovanni and is not normally visible; for its history there is the Shroud Museum on Via San Domenico, with a separate ticket. We cover it on our Shroud page.

How to buy directly

From museireali.beniculturali.it, in the section on planning your visit, you reach the online ticket office: choose the date and ticket type and pay by card. Alternatively, buy at the ticket desk at Piazzetta Reale 1, open 9am to 6pm. The secondary entrance is at Piazza San Giovanni 2, near the Cathedral.

The museum also sells an annual pass for €18, valid until 31 December, which pays off if you come back several times. On the first Sunday of the month entry is free for everyone and cannot be booked: arrive early, as access is managed according to capacity. Torino+Piemonte Card and Abbonamento Musei holders also enter free; check the current terms on the website.

Opening hours and closures

The Royal Museums open Thursday to Tuesday, 9am to 7pm; the ticket desk closes at 6pm and last entry is at 6pm. The weekly closing day is Wednesday, plus 25 December. The day off moved from Monday to Wednesday, so if a printed guide or blog says otherwise, trust the official website.

To see everything at a relaxed pace you need three to four hours. If you have less time, pick two sections: for example the royal apartments and the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, then either the Armoury or the Galleria Sabauda.

Buying from the museum or from a booking site

From the museum you pay the base price, €15, which covers the whole complex; visitors aged 18 to 25 pay €2 and under-18s go free. It is the cheapest channel and the one with the most up-to-date information on closed rooms and exhibitions. It does not include a guide, though, and some visitors find the route large and hard to follow.

On a booking site you mostly find guided visits at set times, often in English or other languages, that pick the main rooms for you. On Tiqets, for example, the Royal Palace guided tour starts at €49 per person. They cost more than the plain ticket and may cover only part of the complex: read the description to see which sections are included and how long the visit lasts. Current offers are summarised in our Royal Museums guide; the comparison of booking sites is on who sells tickets in Turin.

Practical tips

• Getting there: Piazzetta Reale opens onto Piazza Castello, in the very centre. The metro does not reach the square: from Porta Nuova station it is about 15 minutes on foot along Via Roma.
• Accessibility: the main floor is reached by lift; some passages need help from staff.
• Nearby: Palazzo Madama is across the square and the Cathedral two minutes away. The Egyptian Museum is close, but after the Royal Museums it is better kept for another day.
• Always check hours and prices on the official website: the figures on this page are a guide only.