Wanderings - Turin/Torino Italy
Last post from my trip to Italy, Woollie goodness will resume in the next post!
On Sunday we took the train to Turin - I am so glad that we took the train, there was so much fog en route that I am sure it wouldn't have been fun to drive. The area between Milan and Turin is famous for growing rice - when I first saw rice paddies in Italy, I asked my then boyfriend (the Italian) why were they growing rice in Italy, rice is not from Italy - and he just laughed and said "risotto"! But of course all this flat, damp land leads to lots of fog - nebbia in Italian.
Luckily in Turin, the heat of the city was keeping the fog at bay and we were able to wander under the blue skies. We had gone to Turin because there was a chocolate festival going on - CioccolaTO ! Can you imagine a festival specially for chocolate!
We wandered the stalls of the festival, buying a few tasty morsels here and there, eating free samples and just breathing in the ever present smell of chocolate!
We were all impressed with Torino - it really is a beautiful city and if you are ever looking for a real Italian city to visit, without the hoards of tourists, then this is it.
Torino used to be the capital of Italy and it's architecture and grandeur hint at it's rich past. The city remains an economic powerhouse (home to Fiat) but it also has an enormous grace and charm, with amazing architecture and wide open piazzas, palazzos and shopping arcades. The city is also gaining a reputation as the home of contemporary art in Italy and is home to the National Museum of cinema which is based within one of Turin's most famous buildings - the Mole Antonelliana, the Turin equivalent of the Eiffel Tower, was completed in 1897. The tower, was for a while, the tallest building in the world.
Apparently the Piazza San Carlo with it's baroque style architecture used to be called "Turin's Drawing Room". It certainly felt like the centre of life in the City.
Of course, Turin is also home to the famous Turin Shroud - be we forgot about that and so didn't enter the Duomo where the shroud is kept. We wouldn't have been able to see it anyway, it is only on display once every 25 years and the next time is not until 2025!
The Church in the bottom right corner of this montage is the Church of the Grand Mother of God - what a fabulous name for a church!
9 comments:
you should write travel guides. I'd read them just for pleasure. even if I lived in the city you were writing about.
i've always wanted a cinquecento and that bright blue one is adorable! great shots all around!
I want to go to the chocolate festival. A really sweet event in a very nice city...can't get any better!
Wow. I am going to give you full credit for gorgeous photography but the city itself seems like you couldn't take a bad picture!!! How wonderful. I chuckled a little because we live near Hershey, Pa and they have a chocolate festival every year. But that chocolate is nothing compared to European chocolate!
Holiday pics are so lovely to share. How I would love to visit Italy again.
You travelling wandering wool queen! So many beautiful photos. Envylicious!
See, if the Government would just introduce a law which meant we had to have a chocolate festival every year, they'd get LOADS more votes!
I really enjoyed catching up with your Italian odyssey, the pictures - as ever - are stunning, your new camera looks like it's the business.
:)
WOW! Your trip looks amazing! After our trip to Paris, London and Scotland, we're itching to head to another country... again!
Sorry I haven't responded to your lovely comment on my blog - bloglines won't give me your email address. But - we didn't find a ceilidh... what is it??
wow, wow! that's all i can say.
love reading about your adventures.
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