For those contemplating or planning a visit to Torino, I would highly recommend a visit to La Mole Antonelliana and the Museo Nazionale del Cinema (National Museum of Cinema). I spent 5 days in Torino in July, 2006 and visited the Cinema Museum twice.

La Mole Antonelliana is the tallest building in Torino and at one time it was the tallest building in the world. The Museo Nazionale del Cinema is located inside La Mole Antonelliana.

On my first visit, I used my Torino card to purchase both a ticket for the lift to the top and also for the entrance into the Cinema Museum. After purchasing my tickets, I headed first to the lift, which takes you to the top in 59 seconds for a view of the city. There was a short line and about a five-minute wait. Only seven people are allowed in the elevator along with the elevator operator. The elevator is glass (sides and the top view). It was a wild ride up to the top! At one point it felt like you were going to crash into the top of the ceiling but then you reach this little hole.

The elevator goes through the hole and voila, you are at the top! I spent a little time taking a few pictures and enjoying the view of the city before heading back down.

Once back at the bottom of the building, I spent the next couple of hours in the Cinema Museum. This turned out to be one of my favorite places to visit in Torino. The Cinema Museum’s bottom floor (The Temple Hall) has two movies playing on big screens. There are red lounge chairs with speakers in each chair so that you can only hear the sound of the movie the chair is facing (half face one screen and the other half face the other screen).

Around the edge of the room are various themed rooms.

This room is named, “The Absurd”:

On the second floor (The Cinema Machine), the different stages of making a movie are displayed.

On the third and fourth floors (The Poster Gallery), different movie posters hang on the walls. The upper floors were closed on the day I visited. I loved this museum!

On my last day in Torino before catching my train in the afternoon, I decided to go back to la Mole and the Cinema Museum. I enjoyed myself so much, that I even lost track of time wandering around and watching clips from different movies in the various themed rooms.

Because of the time and the fact that many restaurants were closed since it was the day of the World Cup finals, I ate lunch in the museum café. I had a great pesto pasta for lunch, which surprised me, as I didn’t expect such good food in a museum café.

Fun museum, great views from the top, and good food. You can’t beat that!