Italy's answer to Versailles, restored after decades of military use and dereliction, and reopened to the public in 2007. The Savoys' hunting palace sits at the head of a long axial garden ten kilometres north-west of central Turin, with a 2-km-long Galleria Grande by Filippo Juvarra running through the heart of the building — one of the great Baroque interiors in Europe.
Allow most of a day. The gardens alone take an hour to walk, the state apartments another two, and there is usually a serious art exhibition in the side galleries. Combine with the hilltop monastery of La Mandria in the adjacent royal park.