Turin's Amazing Christmas Lights!

Turin is one of the most fascinating and beautiful cities in all of the north of Italy. It is absolutely full of immense, grand, classicising buildings, open squares, arcaded walkways, greenery and a wide range of attractions and sights.

Whenever you visit, you are sure to enjoy its beauty and find plenty to see and do, but if you find a vacation rental in Piedmont and decide to visit the city over the holiday season, you are sure to fall immediately in love.

Turin is particularly stunning during Christmastime and this is largely down to the incredible Christmas lights that you will find there. They are no normal Christmas lights but, rather, something altogether more unique and interesting.

Luci d’Artista is an outdoor exhibit of Contemporary art that reinvents the streets and piazzas of Turin by illuminating them with striking light installations. It takes place from late October into January of each year and sees pieces contributed by internationally famous artists.

These light scenes are located in different and meaningful places all over the city and make for a lovely distraction as you wander shops, markets and restaurants or as you merely stroll about, enjoying the surroundings.

They are also something quite different and a step above from the normal snowflakes, Santas, snowmen, stars, wreaths and religious figures that normally make up Christmas light displays.

The initiative was launched in 1997 by the city council, as part of Turin's growing role as a collector and promoter of contemporary art. Each year, one or two new artists are asked to come up with an installation in the medium of electric light and they now number in their twenties.

Some are site specific constants, like Rebecca Horn's eerie blue haloes circling the hilltop Cappuccini church on the east bank of the Po, while others vary and move from year to year. If you want to check them all out, you can head to the tourist office inside the futuristic new Atrium pavilion in Piazza Solferino, where they have complementary Luci d'artista maps and offer guided tours on the weekends. In recent years, they have also created an app that reads QR codes displayed close by the pieces, and allows you to play music written to accompany the piece in question.

Needless to say, this is one of the most interesting and wonderful display of Christmas lights in Italy, and the world, and is a must-see for those visiting Turin over the holiday period.