Torino, 11/1-11/4

Torino is a larger city than I expected (over 900K in the city itself and about 2M including its environs). It is also prettier, classier, more French, more historical and overall lovelier than I expected. Considering its past as the home of FIAT, I had expected (and heard when I used to live in Rome) that it was industrial and like the Detroit of Italy. I’d only heard that it had the “shroud of” and that it wasn’t very interesting. Sooo wrong.

Random Galleria shopping mall but love the plants

I shared this with my tour guide, who was VERY pro-Torino (as a guide should be), and she said, of course the other Italians hate us!? Torino (or Turin) was the first capital of a unified italy (1861?!), but prior to this, was part of the Savoy (Savoia in Italian) empire, which stretched over the Alps and down to the sea — from Geneva in the northwest to Nice on the south and even east of Turin. It was essentially a royal seat of power from early 1400s to mid-1850s, right before Italy’s unification.

It’s built in squares / rectangles and has Alps on one side

What all this means is that there’s a ton of palazzi plus several royal palaces and a history of very elegant buildings (all external designs were rigidly enforced to keep a consistent architecture) and attitudes (which includes the idea of appearing low-key even if you have all the money in the world). As she said, people might own several Ferraris — it’s a sub brand of FIAT — but would never drive one in town because that would just be stupidly showing off. The time to drive the Ferrari is when you’re heading into the Alps, which border the town. She also claimed that the idea of asking for a plain white bag when shopping at Hermes originated there —like my discreet packaging from Chanel!

The buildings in the centro had to conform to a similar external architecture

But on the insides they could go for “baroque!” (Tee hee). This is actually in the royal palace (palazzo reale). What is it about some leaders and gold rooms!?

This was the courtyard of another (non royal) palazzo which is also very baroque inside

Let me back up — the TGV (French fast train) ride from Paris was my most expensive one, but not the one that’s more scenic (takes you through Switzerland). I mostly saw French countryside and tunnels when we crossed through the Alps. My assigned seat was sadly backwards so it was harder to see but the ride was comfortable and totally on time.

My very kind Airbnb host picked me up from the station at 615pm ish and drove me to his little attic apartment in the historic center, including parking on the pedestrian-only street where it was! (He’s allowed for short periods since he owns a place there.) He could not have been kinder and explained how everything worked (mostly in Italian — he claimed his English wasn’t that good and I’d say it was on par with my Italian though we conducted a lot of the convos in Italian). Of course the minute he left I had a problem with the water and running the washing machine (the water was accidentally turned off), but he actually returned with his wife (after we’d both had dinner), though they live 20 minutes away, to fix it all. Other than that, everything worked fine except it had been very damp and rainy (though got sunny and 60s my days there) so it took about 3 days for my jeans to dry!! Thankfully I planned for it and had other clothes to wear.

The pedestrian only (with sone exceptions) street where I stayed — the lights are part of a special weekend expo but more on that later

I felt at home and safe there immediately because the Italians were taking their “passagiata” constantly past my entrance (though it was quiet in my place as my windows faced the courtyard). I scooted out to Alessandro’s recommended nearby pizzeria, over-ordered and took home half my food, then met with Alessandro and his wife to fix the machine and run my laundry. A productive first night!

I had booked a “free tour” for the next morning but ran to the info center first to get a map and info. Turns out I lucked out that the royal palace (which was on my list of things to see) is free the first Sunday of every month and I just happened to be there on Sunday 11/2!

Royal Palace from the garden area (which is now free to the public — only the inside requires tickets)

I was fascinated by the fact that they had a special table built to put so many vases on!?

The royal palace was actually lived in by the royal family — there were bedrooms, receiving rooms, dining rooms, etc., but I think this was a ballroom (sigh)

They also had their own chapel though it’s connected to the major church but more on that later — btw the Shroud of Turin was (is?) stored in that structure (thingy?)

I learned a lot on the tour — apparently they invented chocolate (for westerners — they made it sweet and also wrapped it into candies; previously it had only been drunk) Their most famous chocolate is called gianduia or gianduiotto which is very rich and creamy and includes hazelnut flavoring — I tried one of the most famous (and expensive) brands and it was actually too rich for me.

I got a three vermouth sampler. It was good! And with aperitivi they always give you some food

They also invented vermouth (think Martini and Rossi) and the famous Lavazza coffee comes from there. Oddly, they’re one of the few Italian towns that’s built on a grid (quadri) — like Chicago! But ours is due to the Great Fire and theirs, if I understood right, was due to their NOT being an important city in Roman days so the center was built for barracks!? Anyway it made it easy to get around, unlike the circular rotonda, all-roads-lead-to-Rome style.

A grid! And Torino has two rivers (the Po is the big one and I already can’t remember the other though I crossed it) on two sides plus the alps to the north

I basically hit two museums and drank a bunch of Bicerin, then walked around in the sunny weather. The insides of the older places were truly beautiful and clearly part of the style of the town.

The most famous Bicerin — with a bottom layer of espresso, then crazy rich hot chocolate, then cold creamy milk (panna) — from Caffè Al Bicerin. There’s a line to get in at almost any time of day. I went early. It was delicious

This one, from Baratti & Milano, had instead steamed milk as the final layer and the chocolate flavor was way stronger. But they’re known for their chocolates (I keep seeing them in fancy chocolate stores outside Torino)

This was the inside of Baratti & Milano, where I believe the proprietor was overseeing things and thanked me for being there (there was a lot of use of the formal You — Lei — in Torino which was throwing me off as typically Romans are more casual)

This was an outside window of Baratti & Milano. I mean it’s just a cafe!? The old buildings were all so elegant

I kept forgetting that Paolo now owns an apartment there (he was in NYC while I was visiting) – but Luca has visited several times so had ideas on places to go. Of course I got most info too late except for going to the cinema museum (museo nazionale del cinema) and booking the elevator to the top. Torino is also famous for having the largest Egyptian museum after Cairo but I didn’t go as I’ve been to Cairo and Egypt.

Museo nazionale del cinema — a cool museum although I knew a lot about the films and the physics (history of camera oscura and stuff like that)

Looking up into the dome. And can you see that glass elevator!? It was scary for me — it’s just suspended in the middle of the museum

The Mole Antonelliana is that tall striking building where the cinema museum is housed. It was originally designed as a synagogue though I’m not sure it was ever used as one

A key thing is to get the ticket for the elevator to the panorama deck beforehand (I booked this all from Chicago and skipped a lot of lines)

The views were great but you can see I’m gritting my teeth and clenching my hands though it’s obviously very safe up there. I was a bit traumatized by the elevator ride

And the actual adorable Vespa from Caro Diario

Sadly a recurring theme on this trip, but I did not eat as well there as I’d have liked. I had breakfasts with my Bicerin (a croissant — which THEY called croissants!!! I actually asked if it were the same thing as a cornetto, which she assured me it was but it’s definitely more butter than the typical Italian cornetto). I always seemed to be running to various things and only had 3 days so I missed prime lunch times.

I made a point one night of going to a full dinner and found a local place that was open on Sunday (I was there bad days — typically Sunday and Monday are the days when Italy might close up) … a three course meal where I was able to try their famous dishes — vitello a tonnato (I never eat veal but I made an exception to try their thinly sliced cold meat with a tuna-caper sauce), agnolotti (egg based stuffed pasta) with butter and sage, and the star, beef stewed in a Barolo sauce. It was good! Not terribly expensive and being alone it was a pity I couldn’t avail myself of the famous piemontese wines. They had one I could order by the glass, so of course I did.

Hm. I took a picture of the wine but not the food

Honestly I don’t think it was THE BEST representation of those foods though the place filled up … and it had high ratings online but they were probably influenced by the fact that it was a very good deal for all the food. But I’m glad I tried the dishes.

A word on the tourists and folks who were there. The guide said that Torino has always been very open to anyone who could help it. (Can’t remember who but one of the rulers was excommunicated by the Pope because he was too liberal to non Catholics!) They have the largest Protestant population in Italy (historically and now), were open to Jews back in the day, and definitely today are very LGBTQ friendly. My waiter at the big meal was clearly Q and I saw a lot of gay (male) couples, often French. At my first night at the pizzeria, it took me awhile to realize the couple next to me were French — we chatted in English and they were from Lyon and charming. (I of course ran into them later when we were all doing our passeggiata.)

My guide said that the weekend I was there — a festa (holiday) since Nov 1 is All Saint’s Day — is as busy as it gets! That weekend, they kicked off a special modern arts festival which focuses on light installations. (Just looked it up and it’s on its 28th year and called Luci d’Artista — artist’s lights).

I started taking photos of the random light installations

Ok this one is apparently a short story by Guido Quarzo though I missed the opening line

She (Laura) was funny as she encouraged us to tell others about Torino since she needed a job for a few more years! That said, my English-speaking group was mostly made up of folks who couldn’t speak Italian or Spanish (the other, just as large) groups. They were Brazilian, Swedish, Hungarian, French, Australian and one American group. (San Fran who did not like the tour!? Not sure what they were expecting.) In fact, as I toured I really mostly heard Italian tourists, then some Spanish and French. And a (very) few Brits. And even fewer Americans. Actually the young American couple I met were originally Californians but currently live in Montpellier (southern France) so do they even count?

I walked up there — monte dei cappuccini — a monastery from which there are also good views

The church — chiesa di Santa Maria — up close

The walk over and back was pretty as it crossed the Po

Wow the weather changed on my way up and back — this was actually on the way up and the sunnier ones were as I returned

Net is I think people are discovering Torino and that they’d like to be discovered. But they don’t speak a lot of English (almost all my menus were in Italian only though the pizzeria had a QR code that brought you to a page where you could choose your language). The signs in the prime tourist museums were in Italian and English and then also French and German if fancy.

The museum dedicated to the unification of Italy (they call it Risorgimento tho that means resurgence… I think it’s about the uprisings that led to the country’s first unification)

Generally I spoke in my poor Italian so perhaps people did speak some English but in my experience, if you speak better than them, they’ll stick to their language. I’ve had people speak to me in English if they’re relatively fluent (one waiter in Florence had a gf from Greenwich CT and spent a month over the summer in the US and he spoke to me in English). But so far on this trip it hasn’t been that often. A slightly horrifying thought since my Italian is NOT good but I can arguably get by.

I was definitely impressed with Torino. I can see why a guy I met on my last trip back from Milan said he lives in Torino, near a train station, and prefers to commute from there to Milan than actually live in Milan. Costs less but feels like it’s a better, calmer, and even “fancier” life. And the fast trains get him into Milan as fast as some folks who commute from the outer ‘burbs.

The inside of the cafe where I had my vermouth

I just realized I never took a photo of the arcades which Torino is also famous for — my fancy coffee and vermouth places were in arcades but I only took store photos and this one which I thought was funny across from my vermouth tasting (maybe it was the vermouth!). They’re like fancy versions of the arcades in Bologna

I almost forgot!! The Shroud!! So it was or still is stored in the royal chapel part of Turin’s Duomo, which is officially a St John the Baptist cathedral (cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista). While most think the Shroud is a big deal, most Turin people will never see the real thing or at most, once in a lifetime. Instead, the local Turin people much prefer the Santuario della Consolata or La Consolata as they call it. It’s a baroque/rococo orgy.

It’s an odd thing but for some reason I loved the connection between the royal chapel and the duomo — I’ll try to explain in pictures below.

Royal chapel— cannot get to from duomo (well regular people couldn’t. Perhaps there’s a way for clergy or royalty to walk between them). But in that sort of gold box in the black edifice the shroud was kept

See the gold arches window behind the Shroud holder? You’ll see it again from the duomo side

Now we’re in the duomo and that’s the window from the pedestrian side looking up into the royal chapel

Though what I found more interesting was a video they played showing the whole shroud and talking about its history and the matches of blood spots to Christ’s wounds. I’ve already forgotten much but we can always look it up

You can sort of see the taller royal chapel (Sindone chapel) in back on the left and the dome of the cathedral just in front of it. The entrance to the duomo is around the corner (some ways) from the Royal Palace

Now instead, here’s La Consolata.

La Consolata on the outside — not very exciting

Another view. I’m not a huge fan of baroque/rococo styles but it’s definitely a golden feast for the eyes

It’s taken me three hours to add these photos and caption them!! I wrote the text ages ago… but I need to pack up now since I’m leaving Florence tomorrow for Rome. But I’ll add a few more random Torino photos.