Turin

Turin is the Italian city that doesn't try to seduce you, which is exactly why the people who love it love it so deeply. There is no Roman chaos here, no Florentine crowds, no Venetian crush. Instead there are wide boulevards, eighteen kilometers of elegant arcades you can walk beneath in the rain, grand cafes where the coffee and the chocolate are taken seriously, and the Alps sitting on the horizon like a painted backdrop. This was Italy's first capital, and it still carries itself like royalty.