The Reggia di Venaria palace complex is hosting a fascinating exhibition on knights, featuring art, mysterious artefacts and gripping explanations. The opening of the exhibition on November 28 is timed to coincide with the inauguration of a new route through the castle, including the top floors, the staircase and the nuptial apartment of the Duke of Aosta Vittorio Emanuele. Curated by historians Alessandro Barbero and Andrea Merlotti, the exhibition maps out almost a millennium of history, from medieval Europe to the Enlightenment, from the Templars to Napoleon Bonaparte, and from castles in the Middle East to courts in Europe. The show is narrated through a variety of exhibits including art, with works by Titian, Goya, Annibale Carracci and Rubens, as well as through jewels, manuscripts, armour and mysterious artefacts, such as the Head of Templecombe. This is a panel painting discovered in a convent in Somerset of a bearded head resembling the image on the Turin Shroud, and was possibly an image worshipped by the Templars in the 12th century. The exhibition is also a great opportunity to visit the Arts Room on the higher levels of the palace for the first time. Once the nuptial apartments of the Duke of Aosta, these were among the rooms that fell into the worst disrepair when the palace was abandoned. They are the latest area to be fully restored, including the courtly staircase linking the apartments to the ground floor. An additional staircase has also been built, running between upper floors, the ground floor and gardens, ''Knights. Stories of Crusades, Soldiers and Courtesans'' is on show at the Venaria until April 11, 2010. Bookings for the exhibit, which includes access to the gardens, can be made online at www.lavenaria.it.