Image: Galleria Sabauda, Turin
The Royal Museums of Turin have outlined a full August programme combining extraordinary openings, guided visits, cultural activities, music and performances across the museum complex. The month-long schedule, announced on the institution’s website, includes daytime and evening access to collections and spaces from antiquity to the twentieth century, alongside a series of dossier exhibitions already on view.
Among the recurring initiatives is 'I Racconti del patrimonio', a programme of special visits led by museum front-of-house and mediation staff. Included in the admission ticket, the guided tours run on Mondays and Fridays at set times, with monthly calendars available on the museum website and at the ticket office. From 3 August, visitors can also access the 'Archeologia a Torino' section of the Museum of Antiquities every Monday, while from 7 August Friday tours focus on the apartment of Queen Margherita at the first floor of Palazzo Reale.
A special Ferragosto opening will take place on Wednesday 12 August, when the Royal Museums will stay open from 10am to 6pm with the last entry at 5pm and no additional midweek closure. On that day, guided visits to the apartment of Queen Elena and the Royal Kitchens will also run in both morning and afternoon slots. The museum is pairing those opening hours with its broader summer offer of special routes through spaces that are not always open to the public.
The evening programme centres on 'ESTATE REALE 2026. Una sera al museo', a series marking the tenth anniversary of the Royal Museums’ constitution. The season includes special evening openings of selected routes and cultural events for audiences of all ages. One of the key dates is Saturday 8 August, when 'The Night of San Lorenzo' will unfold in the Royal Gardens in collaboration with Fondazione Club Silencio. From 7pm to midnight, the public will be able to watch the sky for the Perseid meteors while listening to music, performance events in the gardens and candlelit concerts in the Roman Theatre.
Music continues through the month with 'Torino crocevia di sonorità', developed with the Turin Conservatory 'Giuseppe Verdi' and in 2026 dedicated to 'Note ritrovate – Un manoscritto, una regina: i mille volti della musica'. On 7 August, 'L’aria che suona' will bring accordionist Ivan Homolskyi to the Roman Theatre for a programme that moves from Domenico Scarlatti and Antonio Vivaldi to works by Willard A. Palmer, Bill Hughes, Pablo de Sarasate, Ettore Pozzoli and Luciano Fancelli. On 21 August, 'Due di jazz' will feature Tancredi Sferrazza on tenor saxophone and Giulio Nobile on piano with a set dedicated to Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. The series closes on 28 August with 'Risate al femminile', an electronic sound project for silent film curated by the Laboratory Communicare il cinema.
The August programme also keeps three dossier exhibitions open to the public. In the Galleria Sabauda, 'La luce del vero prima di Caravaggio: Lotto e Savoldo' remains on view in the Spazio Scoperte on the second floor until 15 September 2026. At the Royal Library, 'Margherita, prima Regina d’Italia. Storia, cultura e stile tra Palazzo e Biblioteca Reale' runs until 6 January 2027, while 'Il Volto delle Donne. L’altra faccia della Storia' continues at the Medagliere Reale until 6 January 2027. The visits to all three exhibitions are included with the ordinary Royal Museums ticket, with concessions and free admission according to current regulations.
