Piazza Carlo Felice is located near Turin‘s Porta Nuova station. Nowadays, together with Piazza Paleocapa and Piazza Lagrange, it is the main access road from the south. The palaces surrounding the square are marked by the typical arcades that characterizing 19th century Turin.
Piazza Carlo Felice Turin
Useful information
Piazza Carlo Felice is located across the road from the Porta Nova central station. There is a tourist information kiosk (open every day from 10.00 till 16.00) at the beginning of the square.
History and description
Piazza Carlo Felice is the result of extensive work that took place in the middle of the 19th century under the title of “Project of Enlargement of the Capital” (Piano d’ingrandimento della Capitale).
The architect in charge of the part outside the Porta Nuova station was Carlo Promis. He made Piazza Carlo Felice the center of the district and ensured that the buildings around the square formed an architectural unity, with the arcades that are emblematic of Turin. The palazzi have bluestone facades and the upper part of the three stories is decorated with half columns.
On the north side, the buildings in the square merge seamlessly into what used to be the Contrada di Porta Nuova (and is now the Via Roma) while on the south side one enters the former Strada del Re (now Corso Vittorio Emanuele II).
What to see
The Fontana della Società per la Condotta dell’Acqua Potabile dates from 1859, while the central garden (designed by Jean Pierre Barillet Deschamps and executed by Marc Louis Quignon) is a year younger.