Slow Food
Trip Start
Aug 02, 2010
1
13
45
Trip End
Feb 15, 2011
Turin, Piedmont, Italy
Saturday, September 11, 2010
We travelled from Switzerland and back by hire car, giving us the freedom to move around Italy as we needed to. Border control in each direction was decidedly lax. We drove through the wrong gate on the way there, and the correct one on the way back, but both times we didn't even have to stop the car let alone show a passport for inspection! When the Swiss were so particular about almost all other areas of life, this came as a real surprise.
The trip to Turin was a difficult day for us. Without dwelling on the details, let’s just say that the next time, there’ll be a GPS unit J Turin itself is really pretty. For years it was the seat of the House of Savoy and they patronized baroque art, sculpture and architecture throughout the city. There are streets and streets of covered balustrades to keep the sun away from the people inside and wide open piazzas to enjoy.
We based our selves in the pedestrian area and centre of town, close to the main train station. The hotel was basic but fine and as we had booked on a special offered by the Turin tourist board, we got two Turin passes and also a free bottle of Barolo at the hotel. Not bad all in all. We explore the local area, found a local restaurant for pizza with burrata cheese and salsiccia (a type of fresh sausage) and birra al spina, and followed it up with the best hazelnut gelato ever from Grom, a slow food gelateria around the corner from the hotel.
Chocolate is a big deal in Northern Italy, and especially Turin. They claim to be the original chocolatiers in Europe, but the Swiss made it more famous when they added milk to their chocolate. Who knows, but we had read about the Chocopass and visited tourist information office in the Porta Nuova train station for more information. We declined the full tour as being a Sunday many of the 15 or 20 gourmet chocolate shops offering samples and discounts were closed. However, we did go down Corso Vittorio Emanuele II to number 88 where we found a wonderful little chocolate shop named Gerla. Yep, you read that correctly. Dave’s father’s family has no known connection with Italy, but that didn’t stop us taking some pictures and sampling the chocolaty goodness.
There was a major street festival in the Piazza San Carlo square in the old town. The main event was the Vertical City Race (kayak, orienteering, bike, running and climbing in one race!) but the square was full of other events keeping the crowds interested while waiting for the contestants to reach the winning line - bike polo, skate boarding, frisbee, BMX stunts. And there was a gorgeous farmer’s market where the produce from the local areas was available to buy. Business must have been good as some of the stalls were nearly all cleared out by the time we got there around lunch time. Always on the hunt to try some new taste, we lunched on miassa, a type of crisp corn toast into which cottage cheese or salami is folded to make a tasty bite. The highlight for Dave had to be the renaissance stalls with real armory and products on display.
Only a copy of the Turin shroud is available to see, so we decided to pass on that, and instead had a quick look around the Palazzo Reale, home to the house of Savoy from which the monarchy in Monaco stem, and afterwards stopped at Armeria Reale where a massive collection of armoury is kept, with pieces from around 1500 onwards. This was amazing and is one of the largest collections of its’ kind in the world. Dave was so happy.
Mole Antonelliana, is the main symbol of Turin. The building itself is intriguing - it kind of looks like the dome and spire of a church, but with the church cut off at the bottom. The main event however was the observation deck on the top. I’m glad I didn’t know exactly the route of the elevator and only realized afterwards (when I opened my eyes) that we had travelled on a cable suspended elevator that goes straight up the open center of the building. Ignorance is bliss! The other underrated attraction at the Mole is the cinematography museum. It was superb, really well done, showing the history of cinema from shadow puppets on. We highly recommend this.
The other highlight of our Turin visit was a trip to Eataly, a few stops on the bus route out to the suburbs. It’s a permanent market where local producers of everything food and drink related can bring their produce to sell. There’s also a massive store, beautifully presented, where foods and restaurant stalls are grouped by type and anything organic, or locally produced is available to buy. The best products – rooms of aging prosciutto and parmesan cheese, fridges of the freshest meets and such a wide variety of beverages, pastas and breads, sweets and gelatos. This place is a gourmand’s paradise. We shared a selection of cheese and salami from the cold food counter, parmesan and aubergine bake from the vegetable stand and prawns and couscous from the fish outlet, washed down with some Gavi wine. We’ve never left a supermarket feeling so full!
Comments
Hello, What beautiful pictures, sounds like you've seen and experience some great times. Can't believe the Gerla shop! So happy that you are getting to experience it all in the prime of your lives. Love, Mom