Turin, Italy's First Capital

Turin doesn't get mentioned much outside Italy, which is strange given it was the country's first capital and looks the part: wide boulevards, arcaded sidewalks, a skyline anchored by the Mole Antonelliana, a nineteenth century building shaped like nothing else in Italy, originally meant to be a synagogue before becoming home to the national cinema museum.

The city carries a formal, almost French elegance that comes from decades as the seat of the House of Savoy. Grand cafes still serve bicerin, a layered drink of espresso, chocolate, and cream that predates, and arguably outclasses, whatever the shop down the street is doing to a modern mocha.

Turin also holds the Egyptian Museum, the second largest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside Cairo, a fact that surprises almost everyone who hears it for the first time. Half a day inside changes how people think about the city entirely.