Why go
Compare its diagonal with the straighter Roman-derived streets nearby. The change was deliberate: Turin’s planners wanted to open cramped central blocks and shorten journeys across the grid. The eclectic façades and arcades turn an ordinary crossing into a lesson in how the city was remade.
The full story
The blocks between Piazza Castello and Piazza Solferino retained a dense medieval layout into the nineteenth century. Concerned about circulation, light and sanitation, the city planned a new diagonal street in the 1880s. Work began in 1886, and Via Pietro Micca opened to the public in 1897. Its angled line interrupts the regular pattern inherited from Roman Turin, so the planning decision is visible in the street itself. The planners also considered porticoes and covered passages for shelter in rain and snow, as well as for the shops beneath them. The resulting buildings were aimed at well-to-do residents and display an eclectic architectural mix. Carlo Ceppi directed the work and designed Palazzo Bellia, an example of Turin’s Art Nouveau architecture. The street carries the name of Pietro Micca, the Savoy soldier who died during the French siege of Turin in 1706. Together, its name and shape connect two very different moments in the city’s history.