Day 266 - Must-see Turin

What a delight when you come to a place and it catches you utterly and completely by surprise and leaves you enchanted. That is Turin. It feels like the architecture of Paris and Vienna, all merged along its Roman-provided grid-organized streets, and yet there is something distinctly different about how it all came together. There are touches of Art Nouveau and Neo Classical mixed in. We've only just arrived, and already we're planning our next trip here and saddened that we only gave ourselves one day to explore the city this time around.

The piazza San Carlo, with its twin churches, one of Turin's many beautiful piazzas.

The city is a mass of covered walkways, wonderful
for walking on hot, sunny days.

Turin sits along the Po River and in the Susa Valley of the Alps. Much of its beauty and wealth come from it being the capital city of the Duchy of Savoy for several centuries. When the modern state of Italy began forming in the mid 1800s, Turin was its capital. Most of the Italian peninsula was unified under the House of Savoy (Piedmont-Sardinia) into the Kingdom of Italy. By 1871, Venetia and the former Papal States (including Rome) were incorporated and Rome became the capital.

Today it is known primarily for three things:

1. The Shroud of Turin: For years, the piece of linen that is the Shroud was reputed to have imprinted on it the negative image of Jesus from its use as a burial shroud. The Shroud has been carbon dated back to the 13th century, and the Catholic Church has neither denied or endorsed it. It is housed in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud next to Turin Cathedral, and there is a museum you can visit to learn more. However, the actual Shroud is rarely exhibited.
2. Cars: Turin is the home of Italy's automotive industry, and yes, there is a museum dedicated to it: Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile. The country's industry remains dominated by Fiat (which I learned is derived from the company's original name: Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin). It was founded in 1899. 
3. Chocolate: Mmmmm. How can you not like chocolate? Turin is famous for it and takes great pride in its production. It is most famous for Gianduiotto which is shaped like an upturned boat and is wrapped in a gold or silver tinfoil. It's name come from gianduja, which is a mixture of sugar, cocoa and hazelnut. The idea for adding hazelnut to the mix came during Napoleon's reigh, when it become difficult to source cocoa from South America. In order to "stretch out" the mixture, two men from Turin came upon the idea of adding ground hazelnuts. This then grew into the basis for Nutella. 

Phil poses for the sculpture dedicated to the
Po River. 

As we only had the day, we decided to follow a recommended walking route through the city based on a map from the hotel, and pop into any museums that caught our eye. We started at the Porta Nuova train station, passing around the Piazza Lagrange (named after the astronomer and mathematician). From here, you come out onto Via Roma, an upscale shopping street before ending at the Baroque style Piazzo San Carlo which dates to the 16th Century. The twin churches of Santa Cristina and San Carlo Borromeo close the southern edge of the square. There is another small piazza at the back of these two churches which is known as Piazza CLN (initialism for Committee of National Liberation ). During the German occupation of WWII, this small square was noted for hosting the Gestapo command who stayed in a nearby hotel.

A side street off of
Via Guiseppe Garibaldi.

We took a sidetrip down Via Guiseppe Garibaldi (named after an Italian General who was part of the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. Another shopping street, our real reason for the detour was to look into picking up a  Juventus football jersey for our son Alex. However, our best of intentions were waylaid by the fact that the day before it had been announced that Ronaldo was to join the team. Excited Juventus fans were queuing up to order their shirts!

From here, we walked down Via Milan only to find ourselves in the area of the Fresh Food Market (Mercato di Porta Palazzo). It is massive! This open-air market is actually the largest in Europe, with hundreds of stalls. Fresh bread, seafood, meats, and fruits and vegetables of every size, colour and description. How they all survive, I have no idea, but it was a mass of colour, scents and sounds as the vendors hawked their wares. 

Meandering through the hundreds of stalls of Turin's fresh food market.

The Mole Antonelliana

The Museum of Italian Cinema intrigued us, so we headed in its direction. The museum is housed in the Mole Antonelliana (Antonelliana was the building's architect, and a mole in Italian is a building of monumental proportions). Originally, it was intended to be a synagogue, but the city of Turin bought the building when the costs escalated and the Jewish community fell out with the architect who kept trying to make it taller. At 167.5 metres, it was the tallest brick building in Europe at the time it was built in the mid- to late- 1800s. It is one of the dominate buildings on the skyline. Unfortunately, the museum was closed in the morning for a private event. Although it reopened in the afternoon, we never made it back. Next time!

We walked along the Po, back to the hotel for a bit, and then resumed our walk to the area of Valentino Park.

The Po River.

Valentino Castle. 

At the entrance to the park is Castello del Valentino, now home to the School of Architecture for Turin University. It was one of the main residences of the House of Savoy, with the name coming from Saint Valentine.

Nice spot for lunch.

The park made a lovely, shady respite on this warm day, and we enjoyed a nice lunch next to the river.

View from our rooftop table at
Les Petites Madeleines.

That evening, we enjoyed a gluttonous dinner at the restaurant on the roof of our hotel, Les Petites Madeleines. We had a prime table with a beautiful view over the rooftops of Turin toward the Mole Antonelliana. We decided to throw caution to the wind and have the Chef's Menu. I think I went into a food coma after the seventh of the 12 courses. I actually stopped eating courses. All the while, I was providing Phil with updates on the England v Croatia World Cup game from my phone on my lap. Even writing about this meal is making me food averse ... it was just so much!