Madame Palace and Civic Museum of Ancient Art, Turin

At the beginning of the first century BC, the site of the present-day Madama Palace was occupied by two towers flanking a gate in the Roman walls of Taurinorum. The gate straddled the Decumanus Maximus, the traditional cross-town street of a Roman castrum. After the fall of the Empire, the gate was a stronghold in the city's defenses.

In the early 14th century, the building became a possession of the Savoia-Acaja, a junior branch of the House of Savoy. A hundred years later, Ludovico of Acaja, Prince of Acaia, rebuilt the structure in a square shape with an inner court and portico. Four round towers were set at each corner. These changes are still visible at the rear end of the palace.

In 1637, Christine Marie of France made the palace her residence. She covered the courtyard and redid the apartments. Sixty years later, Marie Jeanne Baptiste de Savoie-Nemours lived there, giving the palace nickname "Madama." Architect Filippo Juvarra created one Baroque white stone facade. Work was stopped in 1721.

Formerly the home of the Subalpine Senate since 1934, the Madama Palace has housed the Civic Museum of Ancient Art. The museum is known for its collection of paintings from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque eras. The museum has 35 rooms on four floors. The underground floor holds medieval works. The first floor is given to Gothic and Renaissance paintings. The second and uppermost floors hold Baroque and decorative art.

The museum's collection also includes a variety of artworks, such as sculptures, ceramics, porcelains, majolica, and ivories, as well as gold and silver works, furniture, and textiles.