National Cinema Museum

There are many cool things here. One is the symbol/brand of the town, a striking tower that seems to rise (like Florence's Duomo) from the middle of a neighborhood, and was actually the city's first synagogue. The Mole Antonelliana is now a wonderful, interactive, creatively designed museum that uses the building's inside dome and walkway structure to showcase the history of motion pictures ( ! ) and honor Turin's role in Italian cinema. Round and round, like a film reel, there are winding floors to explore. One section takes you through the processes of making a short film, from script to acting to special efffects to final edit.

On the main floor, we relaxed on some of the most comfortable theater recliners ever to watch red carpet and movie clips, then met the glare of paper paparazzi cameras. On one side there's a silent era/1920s environment, with the real stage props and costumes of an early Italian fantasy or biblical epic.

From the camera obscura to early hand machines that moved prints, then photographs, to the era before Edison, real artifacts display how various cultures moved images, by hand or mechanized in some way, centuries before film, and then covers the era of motion pictures. Really a comprehensive and astounding collection.