The City Of Turin And Its Magical Past II

From the previous article, you'll know that Turin is a city long connected to magic and which is said to sit at the centre of black and white magic in the world. Due to this, there are some rather unusual sights dotted around the city which have popped up over the ages. On the surface, Turin is just a beautiful Italian city with elegant streets that are reminiscent of Paris and a rich cultural heritage as evidenced by the proliferation of palaces, museums, churches and other stunning buildings. However, once you scratch this lovely surface, you'll see the evidence of its magical past, often out in the open and hiding in plain sight. Find a holiday rental in Piedmont and you can spend a day wandering the streets of Turin and exploring its hidden past.

The evil heart of Turin is said to be the Piazza Statuto, a beautiful square which gives no hint to the history of death and gloom attached to it. Formerly where executions would take place, the piazza is also said to be the location of the entrance to Underworld.

The piazza is in the west of the centre of the city and, according to the Romans, who left an important mark on Turin, the west, as where the sun set, is where the darkness began and had negative associations. Furthermore, according to another legend in the city, Piazza Statuto is specifically one of the vertices of the Black Magic triangle (together with London and San Francisco).

At the centre of the piazza is the Fontana del Fréjus, which is officially dedicated to the creation and inauguration of the Fréjus tunnel between Italy and France. The white figures around the base are Titans and the winged genius at the apex symbolises reason. The intended message seems apparent: the forces of science and reason can make light work of that which defeats brute force alone.

However, the angelic being is crowned by an inverted pentagram, a sinister symbol which calls the whole thing into question. It is also said that this figure is the angel Lucifer...


Turin, however, is also said to form a point on the White Magic triangle (along with Lyon and Prague), so not all of the traces of magic and the occult left behind are necessarily evil or bad. In Piazza del Palazzo, the sacred and diabolical sections of the city meet. The invisible line between the two sections of the city is guarded by the statues two figures on horseback. These two figures are the mythological twins Castor and Pollux. Yet, even then, there is a trace of ambiguity as there is another inverted pentagram, this time on Pollux. If there is a message in this, it is certainly a mysterious one!

There are yet more tales of magic in Turin (and even then it's only the tip of the iceberg!) so be sure to check out our third article as well which includes information on a tour of magic in Turin.