Piedmont is a country of the border lands; Italian and yet different. The Alps, rising to the west, are a constant presence. Turin feels unlike any other Italian city; it is laid out in a grid pattern, a legacy from the Roman town, but these elegant streets have wide colonnades, which make for very agreeable strolling, ending dramatically in vistas of snow-covered peaks.

It is a city of great charm, filled with treasures; royal palaces are scattered in profusion in and just outside the city, baroque churches in equal number, a fine art gallery, a world-class Egyptian Museum, which contains the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside Egypt, and, of course, the Turin Shroud, housed in the cathedral. Add to these wonderful gardens designed by Russell Page and Italy’s leading garden designer and the result is an unforgettable tour.