The 2025 Morgan Europe Trip

March 25, 2025 Turin, Italy ("Torino", in Italian)

"Turin's intriguing history began in 218 BC, when Hannibal reached the Piedmont plains with the Carthaginian army. Following the arrival of Julius Caesar in 58 BC, the wooden housing cluster became known as Roman Turin, a strategic colony that expanded and changed its name to Augusta Taurinorum in 28 BC. After the fall of the empire, the town was fortified by the Ostrogoths, then Turin fell into the hands of the Lombards and the Franks, before finally becoming an episcopal principality at the crucial junction between Flanders and Italy." (Source: italia.it)

The reason we went to Turin was to see the Shroud of Turin, the burial cloth of Christ. For more information on the Shroud, see this website: https://www.shroud.com/

We drove to a tram station on the northeast side of Turin and rode downtown to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in the heart of the city where the Shroud has been preserved since 1578. The Shroud is only displayed occasionally, so we knew we wouldn't see it today, but we could be near it inside it's container.

A Turin street with the church up ahead.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist completed in 1498.

Inside the Cathedral.

The Shroud is in the lower level in a very long case.

The case is under the red and cream colored cloth.

The Cathedral also houses some other holy things. There is a relic of St. John the Baptist, hence the name of the Cathedral.

Looked like a bone fragment.

The cathedral is the burial place of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901–1925), Turin native, avid athlete, and benefactor of the poor, called the "saint for youth of the Third Millennium." He was beatified by John Paul II in 1990 and will be canonized this August 3, 2025. His body remained incorrupt for 8 decades.

Blessed Pier Georgio Frassati lies under the altar. His motto is "To the heights".

His mother painted the portrait.

One more item of interest is a copy of the painting of the Last Supper that hangs in the back of the Cathedral. It was commissioned by King Charles Felix in 1835. It was intended to be a faithful reproduction of the original and it was used as a model for the restoration of the Leonardo original.

We were a little surprised they allowed the sunlight hit it.

From the Cathedral, we walked to the Shroud Museum to learn more about it. Not all of Turin is beautiful. There was more graffiti there than we expected.