Piazza San Carlo

Piazza San Carlo is a Baroque square with uniform arcades along three sides, twin churches at its southern end and the bronze Caval d'Brons at its centre.

Why it matters

Conceived in the 1630s as Piazza Reale, the "royal square" of the expanding Savoy capital, Piazza San Carlo helped establish the architecturally unified Baroque piazza in Turin's street plan. Carlo and Amedeo di Castellamonte designed it as part of the axis linking the palace quarter to the Po. Twin churches, Santa Cristina and San Carlo, close the southern end; arcades shelter historic cafés and confectioners; and the equestrian monument to Emanuele Filiberto, the Caval d'Brons, marks its centre. The square has served as a civic setting for public gatherings and political life.

What to notice

The arcades run in an unbroken rhythm along nearly three sides of the square. At the southern end, the twin churches flank the opening of Via Po: Santa Cristina, with Juvarra's 1718 facade, and San Carlo Borromeo, begun in 1619 and given an eighteenth-century facade. The central Caval d'Brons depicts Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Savoy, sheathing his sword after the 1557 Battle of San Quintino. Carlo Marocchetti's bronze was inaugurated in 1838; its name means "bronze horse" in Turinese dialect. Historic cafés and confectioners line the square.

Context and history

The square was laid out from 1638 under the direction of Carlo and Amedeo di Castellamonte as the focal point of the new royal district expanding south of the castle, and it was first known as Piazza Reale, later serving as a parade ground under the name Piazza d'Armi. Its brief French interlude renamed it Place Napoléon before the final dedication to Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, canonised in 1610 and honoured with the church begun in 1619. The twin-church composition matured over nearly a century, with Juvarra supplying the facades that fixed the square's definitive image in the early eighteenth century. The monument arrived in the nineteenth century: Marocchetti's equestrian bronze was inaugurated in 1838 and became so identified with the square that Turinese still call it simply Caval d'Brons. During the Risorgimento, surrounding cafés hosted political conversations in the capital; the square has remained a setting for public gatherings.