From Borgo Dora you can cross Piazza della Republica, go straight on down via Milano, past the Municipio on the right (there is a lovely local produce market in this square on the first Sunday of the month), duck under the portico and step through into via Garibaldi. To your left you will see Palazzo Madama looming out from the fine frame of baroque buildings lining via Garibaldi. To the right you might just be lucky enough to see an Alpine mountain backdrop - snowcapped in the winter months and emitting a pinky glow during the warmer months.
Via Garibaldi is said to be the longest pedestrianized shopping street in Europe and it isn't hard to imagine why. You can easily spend an afternoon taking a slow stroll up from Piazza Castello to Piazza Statuto; the two squares that connect this main artery for dedicated Saturday afternoon shoppers.
And there are plenty of shops to keep you busy: Tezenis, Pimkie and Zizu for affordable clothing aimed at a younger clientele and Luisa Spagnoli for more high end, sophisticated tastes; l'Occitane, Botega Verde and Yves Rocher for sumptuous skin care products, Michi and Geox for shoes, Libreria Dora Grossa (a specialist bookshop for anything on Turin/Piemonte) and Tamborini, one of Turin's most famous pasticcerie, for a well-deserved coffee and pastry stop...or Grom for an ice-cream.
It's also worth venturing down the parallel side-streets into via Mercanti, via San Tommaso and via Barbaroux, on the left if you walk up from Piazza Castello. Here you will come across small art galleries, craft & bead shops, antique shops, jewellery shops, boutiques, confectioners, bakers and many small trattorie, pizzerie and enoteche. To the right, just after crossing via Milano, you will come to via Bellezia and via Sant' Agostino, which lead back into the Quadrilatero area just behind Piazza della Republica.
But onwards and upwards to Piazza Statuto, it isn't all shopping as the history minded among you can admire some truly magnificent baroque architecture and churches including Santissimi Martiri (via Garibaldi, 25) which has to be one of the most lavish in the city...
