24 Agosto 2015. Torino. August 24, 2015.

Saluti da Torino –

It’s been a hectic 24 hours here in Torino.

The hotel is great; it’s delightful to have Internet in the room (in Cairanne I had to keep coming downstairs to the little dining area at Vieux Platane to send messages and the daily travelogue — and since I generally write those things late at night I found myself in that courtyard each night well after midnight) and to be so centrally located. After our 6-hour drive yesterday — we just left the car at the hotel last night and said we’d pick it up when we were heading out of town!)

After our very nice colazione (breakfast) at the hotel (since it comes with the room), we headed out to walk around Torino. It was a grey, overcast day with temperatures in the high 60s.. Rain was imminent, but we strolled anyway.. We headed together to Via Roma — one of the main streets of the city which links two major piazzas.. Our hotel is just three blocks from Via Roma.. so when we hit Via Roma — Mike went one way, and I went the other.. eventually we met as we each went in the other direction.. and then we made plans to meet up about an hour later.. The entire length of Via Roma is set with arcaded sidewalks – resplendent with marble columns and arches that go on and on.. At one end is the very expansive Piazza San Carlo which is surrounded with elegant Baroque buildings… Turin, I’m told has 11 miles of arcaded sidewalks!… At the other end is Piazza Castello. The arcade streets are literally lined with shops that have full length and width windows to display both Italian fashion (and some with American chain stores which look a lot more elegant or totally inconsistent with the wonderful expanse of glass and the marble columns.)

We then headed out together to see some neighborhoods — walking in the direction of San Salvario, a historic neighborhood that is known today for being very multi-ethnic. It butts up against the River Po and tomorrow I hope we can walk along the river.. Today it started to rain and we walked back to the hotel in the rain at about 4:00. The area began – naturally – with a church… and the area around the church developed in an urban style before downtown Torino. It’s a pretty urban area with lots of graffiti, cafes, restaurants, grand apartment buildings with hundreds of balconies — close to the University.

The area began also as an industrial zone and you can still find lots of little workshops housed in between residences or in the ground floors of buildings… with furniture being built, crafts, bakeries, etc.. So right around the time we were planning to head to Via Po.. and also to the Mole Antonelliana (a square dome and thin delicate spire that is Turin’s landmark towering above the city) where you can ride a ‘crystal’ elevator to reach a terrace at the top and get a great view of the city, it really started to rain.. so heading back to the hotel made sense. Hopefully, the forecasters are on target and tomorrow will be sunny and in the 70s. Tonight we are apparently in for rain.. lots of it. We’ll see. Keeping fingers crossed.. because it would be nice to see this amazingly beautiful city in the sun (or at least not in rain and total greyness) and because I don’t really have any closed toe shoes with me, nor warm clothes. I managed to bring three different heel height sandals, but no real shoes since the prediction was sun, sun, and more sun…. and temperatures from the low 70s to high 80s… Well, I’ll survive (or might need to go into one of those very fashionable shops on the Via Roma!)

Tonight we are headed to Scannabune for dinner–located in that San Salvario district. Read about it somewhere.. We wanted to go to Consorzio but it is closed for the month of August (as are many shops and restaurants throughout Europe — guess they just don’t want to deal with tourists and they want to get away during the hottest month). And tomorrow hopefully we will be at the Po and the Mole.. and plan to go to Eataly (which now has a branch in NYC, but they say the original is always the best). Eataly is the largest Italian market in the world–sort of Whole Foods on steroids… with lots of eating stalls along the way.. It’s also involved in the slow food movement, which the Italians say began in Torino (hard to believe with all this pasta!) I’m also hoping to go inside the Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento Italiano… the National Museum.. not so much for the exhibit, but for the space inside and to see the building which is quite wonderful from the outside.. It was closed today.. Monday.

All is good.. buona notte

Fern