The Corridors: Northern cities by train, art and history from Turin to Venice

Turin, Italy's first capital, is a regal and refined city combining Savoy elegance, endless arcades and a fervent cultural spirit. The centre unfolds between monumental squares such as Piazza Castello and Piazza San Carlo, royal palaces and historic cafés where the aperitivo was born. The Mole Antonelliana, the city's symbol, houses the National Cinema Museum, while the Egyptian Museum is the most important in the world after Cairo's. The Savoy residences — the Royal Palace, the Palace of Venaria — testify to the dynasty's splendour. The Alps stand on the horizon and the river Po accompanies walks along the parks. Piedmontese cuisine offers bagna cauda, agnolotti, gianduiotti and great wines. Sober and majestic, Turin surprises those who discover its cultured and welcoming soul.

Milan asserts itself as Italy's capital of fashion, design and finance, a dynamic metropolis alternating futuristic skyscrapers with centuries-old treasures. At its centre rises the Duomo, an extraordinary white-marble Gothic cathedral bristling with spires, beside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a covered drawing room of boutiques and historic cafés. A few steps separate La Scala, a world temple of opera, from the Sforza Castle and Sempione Park. The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie guards Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, a fragile masterpiece to book in advance. The districts reveal different souls: Brera with its galleries and Academy, the Navigli with their canals and evening nightlife, Porta Nuova and CityLife with the contemporary architecture of the Vertical Forest and designer towers. Milan is also a city of shopping, from the Fashion Quadrilateral to more popular streets, and of the aperitivo, a social ritual par excellence. Local cuisine offers saffron risotto, cotoletta, ossobuco and panettone. Between design week, fashion shows and a lively cultural scene, Milan thrives on energy and ambition. Modern and industrious, Milan surprises those who seek the elegance behind its discreet façades.

Verona owes its universal fame to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, but it is above all a refined city of art set in a bend of the Adige river. At its heart stands the Arena, a perfectly preserved Roman amphitheatre that still hosts celebrated opera seasons. Piazza delle Erbe, lively with its market, and the adjacent Piazza dei Signori recount the splendour of the Scaliger lords, whose Gothic tombs stand nearby. Juliet's House with its balcony draws visitors from around the world, while Castelvecchio and its fortified bridge offer art and river views. The churches of San Zeno and the cathedral guard masterpieces, and the surrounding hills produce Valpolicella and Amarone wines. Romantic and harmonious, Verona wins visitors over with its balance of history, music and beauty.

Venice spreads across an archipelago of more than a hundred islands in its lagoon, a city of stone and water where streets are canals and squares are reached only on foot or by boat. The Grand Canal, crossed by the Rialto Bridge, winds between Gothic and Byzantine palaces to the basin of San Marco. Here Piazza San Marco gathers the Basilica with its golden domes and mosaics, the Campanile and the Doge's Palace, linked to the prisons by the Bridge of Sighs. Away from the busiest routes, the districts of Cannaregio, Dorsoduro and Castello reveal silent squares, craft workshops and bacari where cicchetti are enjoyed with a glass of wine. The Gallerie dell'Accademia and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection tell five centuries of painting, while La Fenice remains a temple of opera. The lagoon islands complete the picture: Murano with its glassworks, Burano with its coloured houses and lace, Torcello with its ancient cathedral. Venetian cuisine smells of seafood, squid-ink risotto, sarde in saor and Venetian-style liver. Among gondolas, bridges and reflections, Venice is at its best in the early morning or at sunset, when the light turns the lagoon into a painting. Fragile and suspended over the water, Venice remains a wonder without equal in the world.