Seven Reasons to Add Turin to Your Bucket List
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The life of a travel author is funny. You work to inspire people to travel differently—more slowly, more intentionally, off the beaten track—and then you wind up being inspired yourself.
When I asked Olivia Windsor of Livguine to write a guest post on Turin for me, I never guessed I’d read it and declare, “That’s it! My next Italian destination!”
So when I told my husband that if I passed my Italian B1 language exam (required for citizenship by marriage, see the posts about that exam and my complicated citizenship journey ) we needed to celebrate by going to Turin, I was only half joking.
The thing is, once you say something out loud, you are more likely to make it happen. Love that soap box effect. Try it. Today, tell one person something you’d like to add to your life and stand still while the magic of possibility starts raining around your shoulders.
I passed the exam, but by then, we’d already booked tickets. We didn’t know if the tenor of the trip would be celebratory or condoling, but either way, we needed to be back on Italian soil. Raise your hand if you know what I’m talking about, even if it’s for a different slice of home.
The trip began with 3 days in Spello, which nourished my spirit like a bicerin on a cold day. Once you read below, you’ll know all about bicerin! In any case, it filled me—catching up with old friends, buying just pressed olive oil from our butcher (we didn’t see him because he was picking olives, but we got to chat with his wife), eating Umbrian style while taking notes for upcoming books, AND I got the recipe for brutti ma buoni from Spello’s bakery! I like to include a recipe in my cozy mysteries, and for this one I’d chosen the cookies known as brutti ma buoni, ugly but good. But no recipe I tried measured up. Imagine my delight when Giovanna at the bakery handed over a pen and paper so I could write it down. I came home and made them and it knocked our collective socks off.
As you can imagine, we sailed off from Spello with full hearts (I suspect Il Bel Centro readers will feel the same, especially at the above photo with Angelo, Paola, and Doreen).
I’ll be honest with you. I didn’t want to leave. It was good that we had the promise of a new adventure ahead to encourage me to loosen my tight grip on the Umbrian town that stole my heart.
We stopped in Modena for lunch, a treat of a city, I can’t wait to go back. We wandered into a cathedral during organ practice, admired the grand piazza, and wandered the covered market. Now, if you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I love a market. Like, break out into song, cry it from the mountaintops, I LOVE A MARKET. So how wonderful to wander Modena’s covered market, admiring the filled pastas and the towering gourds and the wheels of cheese. And how especially wonderful to have lunch in the market!
Over lambrusco served alongside a jaw-dropping board of a salumi and bruschetta topped with burrata, anchovies, basil, and tomatoes, we watched vendors pack up, calling across the stands. Then came the highlight of our trip to Modena. Seeing the fellow beside me order an intriguing dessert, I asked for the same—croccante (like nut brittle) dipped into slightly sweet, creamy mascarpone. My eyes rolled back in my head.
With the courage that came from passing the B1 langauge exam, I used the subjunctive mood to tell the waiter that I thought this was the best dessert in Italy. I like whipping out the subjunctive because Keith doesn’t know it, so I get to feel a bit smug. I don’t like to feel too smug, but a little smug? That’s a spice I don’t get everyday. Well, I felt better than smug this time. The waiter’s eyes widened and he praised my Italian (and probably my taste) and brought us cups of chilled nocino, the regional walnut liquor. I sipped it slowly, savoring my triumph. That test paid for itself. And also? I love a market.
A shade under three hours later, we arrived in Turin, the once capital of the new Italian nation. I can’t imagine why this town isn’t more often visited, it’s got a grace and elegance that befits a more traveled destination. Along with all the reasons I spell out below, it’s at the foot of Italy’s most lauded wine country. Which lies at the foot of an astounding alpine region. Treasure on treasure.
So pull up a chair, and let me tell you about a week’s worth of Turin wonders.
Seven reasons to add Turin to your bucket list
ONE…Aperitivo. It’s a word that sends the heart trembling with delicious anticipation. Though pre-dinner treats comes from Roman times (the Latin “aperitivus” means something that opens), what we think of as aperitivo was born in Turin with the creation of vermouth in the late 1700s. The blending of fortified wine with herbs and spices, coupled with Turin’s present cafe culture (possibly due to French influence?), led to the rapid rise of aperitivi into the Torinese lifestyle. Other distillers put their own stamp on spirits ( if you remember my posts about Bilbao, vermouth took off there as well) and bar keepers started mixing bitter spirits to create cocktails like the Negroni. Since Italians strongly believe food should accompany liquor, the aperitivo hour has become synonymous with a time to kick back before dinner, languidly sipping something delightful while nibbling and chatting with friends. If you want to enjoy an aperitivo where it was born, you need to head to Turin.
TWO…Architecture: The first thing you’ll notice when you arrive in Turin, even before settling in for an aperitivo, is the architecture. Thanks to the city’s turns as the capital of the Kingdom of Savoy and later the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia and finally its short-lived term as the capital of the newly unified Italy (from 1861 to 1865), Turin is a compelling blend of styles. In Turin, you’ll find opulent baroque piazzas lined with arcades and decadent palazzos and city buildings. But you’ll also find art nouveau galleries connecting streets (perfect for ducking out of the rain for a cocktail or a thick hot chocolate). Throw in cobblestone streets and the Mole Antonelliana, conceived as a synagogue in an intriguing Moorish revival style but now the National Cinema Museum and the tallest museum in the world (it appears on the back of Italian 2 cent coins if you have any lying around), and you have the makings of a city that changes in mood and vibrancy with every turn of the corner.
THREE…Market: Remember when I said I love a market? Well if that also describes you, you won’t want to miss Turin’s. Called Porta Palazzo, the covered glass and metal section was built in 1836. It’s fabulous, as markets are, with vendors selling more variations on the mozzarella/burrata/stracciatella theme than I knew existed. But the real astonishing part of the market is the open air section, the biggest open air market in Europe, filling a piazza lined with grand Savoy-era buildings. The market entrance is lined with herb sellers, so you smell the market as you approach—mint and oregano and wild fennel. Befitting its location in the multicultural heart of Turin, the vendors and shoppers have a global air, with products I’ve never seen in Italy, like white pomegranates (popular in Iran, pressed into juice), and the customs blur a little to the East of Italy, with vendors shouting about their products, urging shoppers to consider their mandarini, a steal at €1,50 a kilo. You can stock up on provisions and enjoy a long wander to the Po for a river-side picnic.
FOUR…Football/soccer/calcio (depending on what league you follow): Just days ahead of our trip to Turin we decided to see if we could get tickets to a Serie A game. Juventus was sold out, but not the Torino v Inter Milan game! We thought the Chelsea v Aston Villa game we saw in London was intense (read here for that experience, including how to get tickets to a Premier League game), but turns out Premier League has got nothing on Serie A for sheer fan theatrics.
Il Toro lost that night, but we loved the walk to dinner after the game, surrounded by singing folks in maroon, and it was also pretty cool to see Inter, the top ranked Italian team.
FIVE…Bicerin: So good, it deserves it’s own entry, separate from others on food and drink. In fact, I’d rate it as one of Turin’s top charms. Pronounced bee-chuh-reen, this humdinger of a drink is made from a layer of coffee, a layer of hot chocolate (the thick, Italian kind), and a layer of what people debate is cream or foamed milk. I had it three times while in Turin, not shabby for a four day stay, and can tell you that the one served at Caffe Al Bicerin was, hands down, the best. Which makes sense, since it’s where the drink was invented. At my first sip, I thought, “I need to make this at home.” But after having two versions elsewhere, I realized this balance must be harder to achieve than I reckoned. It’s subtle, and layer, and unctuous and…incredible. Get it with the local cookies. You won’t be sorry. And make up an excuse to go to the bathroom next door, which is off the sales room that has a window to the kitchen, so you can get a glimpse of it being made in lovely copper kettles. Again, you won’t be sorry.
towering silhouette of the national museum of cinema in turin
SIX…Museums: Turin, like any city, boasts several notable museums. The Egyptian Museum is the world’s oldest museum devoted entirely to ancient Egyptian culture. I wasn’t enthusiastic about going; after all, I’ve visited so many Egyptian exhibits, it felt a bit been-there-done-that. I didn’t reckon what it would be like to be immersed in ancient Egypt, room after room, floor after floor. This collection has been accumulating since the 1700’s, with Italy being granted a share of excavation rights (really, the history of this collection is as fascinating as the collection itself) and even being gifted exclusive rights to a small temple which yielded a treasure trove of artifacts that fleshed out our understanding of life in ancient Egypt. The other major museum I visited was the National Museum of Cinema. I had never considered the history of movies, from the early days of people taking turns looking through a prism at an illustration. The museum is housed in what was designed to be a synagogue in a Moorish revival style. You can take an elevator that feels like it comes straight out of Wonka to the top, where you get a view of Turin. On a clear day, I’m sure you can see right to the snow-capped mountains. It gives a sense of perspective, echoed by these two museums. Wish I’d had a chance to visit an art museum or the Lavazza museum! Next time…
SEVEN…Food: The food in Turin is out of this world. My faves? The pastries, which thanks to the nudge against the French border, are buttery and flaky and the best I’ve had in Italy. The tajarin, the dialect word for tagliolini, thin ribbons of egg yolk pasta so unctuous they reminded me of ramen (I had them topped variously with porcini, truffle butter, and lamb ragu). The asparagus risotto with a fall of crispy guanciale. The agnolotti (ravioli) in “sugo d’arrosto” which really amounts to just gravy and made me ask, WHY CAN’T WE HAVE GRAVY EVERY DAY??? For dessert, bunet, a kind of baked chocolate pudding loaf with crumbled amaretti and a dash of digestivo. And don’t get me started on the wine! Every day, a feast! And unlike other Italian cities, an affordable feast. One night, Keith and I had antipasti, two primi, he got a secondi, we both got dessert and a liter of red wine… whole bill? €52,00. Restaurants I recommend: Dei mercanti (excellent tajarin with porcini, venison salumi, agnolotti, and a charismatic waiter with an unusual way of dispensing grappa, see photos), Ristorante Quattro Soldi (great post-game dinner, super crowded and fun, incredible pizza and steak served on a hot stone so you can have the cook to your liking), Ristorante Pizzeria da Peppino (possibly best agnolotti of the trip and an unsual and delicious risotto with radicchio, Roquefort, and sausage), Da Cianci Piola Cafe (fabulous tajarin with lamb sauce, in a decadently wonderful piazza, super cheap…very popular, book a day or two ahead!), and La Piola Sabauda (great vibe and great food, so wonderful that when we paid our check one night we made reservations for the next).
Foothills, wine, House of Savoy era porticos, world class museums, a regional coffee wonder, the birthplace of aperitivo, the opportunity to attend a Serie A game… what are you waiting for?
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