We were looking for a short winter city break. somewhere authentic and without throngs of tourists as we had noticed central London had been hard to navigate at times this winter. We settled on Turin (Torino) in northern Italy, the capital of the Piedmont region, fixed in my memory as the industrial capital,of the country, but the more we read about it, the more it sounded like the perfect destination for a three night stay in mid- December. The fact is coincided with a Champions League match also helped! The flight from London is short, about an hour and a half and its about 20 minutes into the centre of Turin, all in all , very easy travelling.
Arriving early evening we headed to the edge of the Roman Quatrilatero where we stayed. The Torinese are serious about their ‘aperitivi’ and the whole city seems to stop between the hours of 5-8pm and heads to its exquisite bars for their aperitifs. The bars are numerous and the style varied, but most strikingly they are elegant with attentive table service and an enticing menu of vermouths and vermouth based cocktails. Vermouth is really their speciality. The Martini factory is just outside Turin, but we learned that there are so many more sophisticated versions of Vermouth and settled on one ‘1757’ which we loved so much that we went on an adventure to buy a bottle to bring home. This involved visiting the institution which is the bottle store called Da Marco in the market – an Aladdin’s cave of local wines, with shelves lining its 12 foot walls up to the ceilings and knowledgeable staff scurrying up ladders to retrieve hidden bottles.
Our favourite bar was La Santa, which we visited several times – the most perfect mix of buzz and good service, with an excellent drinks menu.
Torino is also famed for its cafe culture, with many elegant cafes with waiters formally dressed and sporting bow tie to serve coffee and their locally invented drink: bicerin, a layer of coffee, hot chocolate and thick milk, which really is very delicious and a perfect pick me up during a morning’s sightseeing.
As for the sightseeing there is plenty to see in the city in 2 or 3 days. We started with the Palazzo Reale’ (Royal Palace). Torino was the capital of the Kingdom of Savoy for many years and the grandeur of the palace reflects the power and wealth of its kings. The magnificent entrance hall with its frescoes was stunning, as was the armoury hall. The palace links through to the cathedral where the Shroud of Turin is housed in a casket. You can view the casket in its small side chapel, but the shroud itself is only revealed on occasion, such as a visit of the Pope. The cathedral has an exhibition on the history and the authenticity of the shroud, which is fascinating. Not far from the cathedral is the Real Chiesa di San Lorenzo where a replica of the shroud is exhibited and is well worth a visit.
Turin is also famed for it Egyptian museum which houses a larger collection of Egyptian treasures than the British museum – it is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. The exhibition is expertly curated and takes you through the ages of the Egyptian kingdoms (bicentennial). The excellent signage and explanations were in English as well as Italian and we spent hours there and learned so much.
In a nod to Turin’s industrial past, we visited the Lingotto factory, the old Fiat factory with its test track on the roof, as seen in the classic film The Italian Job, and the Lavazza coffee factory, which provided an insight into the power of marketing. Both were interesting and well worth a visit. We didn’t have time to visit the well renowned film museum housed in the Mole, another famous Turin landmark.
A main part of the joy of visiting Turin is wandering around its elegant streets and squares, many of them covered by arcades (legend has it that one of the Savoy kings likes to cross Turin without getting rained on, hence the plethora of arcades). The city is completely walkable and we went everywhere on foot. Window shopping is a delight and we were completely taken with the amazingly intricately decorated Christmas cakes on display in the pasticerria windows. The narrow cobbled streets are very atmospheric and the large squares magnificent and on fine days in the winter you have the majestic snowy Alps appearing to rise up at the end of the streets. Being there just before Christmas, the Christmas decorations were up and each street and square had its own original theme – they were magical and wandering the streets at night was entertainment of itself.
We ate incredibly well. A lot of the Piedmontese food is very substantial: Bagna cauda for example a sort of anchovy dip/ fondue in to which you dip vegetables and Vitelli tonnato, a tuna sauce on thinly sliced veal as well as beef tartare. The local pasta is agnolotti, a type of ravioli and tajarin, a form of narrow tagliatelle. We ate these delicious regional specialities in the excellent traditional restaurants. We also had an outstanding modern Piedmontese meal at Razzo, with specialities like tajarin with crab and classic local dishes at; Porto di Savona, La Badessa and Tre Galline.
Piedmontese cheese is also outstanding. We enjoyed it after every meal: tome ,robiola, rancher and Gorgonzola as well as more local specialities. We hit the enormous bustling food market, Mercato Centrale, and shopped with the locals, stocking up with cheeses to bring home for Christmas.
We loved Turin. It was authentic Italy without the crowds. Not as many bucket list sights that some other Italian cities offer, but it offering a chance to enjoy a beautiful Italian city with the locals and to share in a slice of real Italian life.
by TMS