Turin - an insiders guide to an enchanting city

Torino is a beautiful city with a very unique character. A great place to start your visit to Piedmont. Weekend city break (check Expedia for some great deals), summer or winter, are a great idea and with cheap flights to Torino from both Dublin and London with Ryan Air now available there really is no excuse not to visit.

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Introduction

Let me start by telling you a bit about Turin...

The city's setting alone is breathtaking, numerous rivers flow through the city including the mighty Po river. Torino is surrounded by an alpine backdrop with world famous ski resorts and overlooked by a hill that is as beautiful as anything in Tuscany.

Torino was the first capital of the new united Italy and was the home of the House of Savoy and the Savoy kings. The city remains the Piedmont capital though its reign as the Italian capital was short lived.

Retained however is a regal character with wide squares, arcaded avenues (so royalty could walk without getting wet!) and of course the palaces, Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Madama, Reggia di Venaria ( the best of them all ) and Stupinigi.

The palaces are an equal to anything that Versailles and Paris can offer and are now UNESCO World Heritage sites. Visit all of them, after eight years I still visit regularly and I am still making new discoveries. The famous Turin Shroud housed in the Duomo next door to Palazzo Reale is a must on any Turin tour but only if you are lucky enough to visit during one of the periods when the shroud is open to the public.

Where to Stay in Torino

If you really want to get the most out of your time in Turin you need a hotel in the right area. There are two hotels in Torino that I always recommend to friends and family. They both offer good quality accommodation in the right part of the city.

My preferred choice is the Grand Hotel Sitea. The hotel is elegant, the atmosphere is very warm and welcoming and the prices are very reasonable when you consider the hotel standard and location.

The next best Turin hotel is the Principi di Piemonte - a great location right in the heart of the city and large well furnished rooms make this a good second choice if you can't get into the Grand Hotel Sitea.

Turin Museums

Turin has one of the richest selections of museums and art galleries to be found in any Italian city. The range is huge and for a more complete guide visit my Turin Museums section .

Some of the most famous are the Egyptian Museum of Piedmont, the Biblioteca Reale with one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous works, the Modern Art Galleria d'arte Moderna, the Automotive Museum and the Cinema Museum in the Mole Antonelliana (Turin's Eiffel Tower). Pretty obscure but worth a visit are the puppet and fruit museums.

Turin Tours

Get yourself the Torino card. For only EUR14 it is the perfect way to tour the city and It gives you 48 hours free travel on all city public transport. It also gives free entrance to over 82 museums and discounts on the train up to Superga, the lift to the top of the Mole and boat trips down the Po.

Recommended is the Torino Tram Restaurant. This is a beautifully restored tram that is now a restaurant. It takes you on an evening tour of the city while you get to enjoy a five course meal, great wines and listen to live jazz - definitely the refined way to see the city.

The best way to really get to know the city though is to tour Turin on foot. Two of my favourite walking tours are the "gallows walk" and the café/antique/museum stroll.

Don’t miss the Basilica of Superga. This is great and I ALWAYS take visitors here. Just the view is magnificent – one of the best in Europe. You really can see for ever – the whole of Torino stretches out below you and you see the snow covered peaks of the Alps rising up in the distance

The Basilica of Superga was built in 1706 to celebrate the victory of Duke Amedeo of Savoy over the French. Apart from its being an amazing architectural masterpiece, it is also the site of the Savoy family tombs and contains the mausoleum and some great Piemonte and Tuscan eighteenth century sculptures.

A further claim to fame is that it is the site of the plane crash in 1949 that wiped out the Turin football team. The little train up from Turin, built in 1884, up to the Basilica is also fantastic. The 3km trip winds through the dense vegetation of the hill and offers panoramic views of the city falling away below.

Another great thing to do, if you don’t mind rustic accommodation, is to spend a night with the Friars, these Friars look after St Mary of Superga and it is a moving experience to spend the night with them. They are very happy to offer hospitality to pilgrims. For more luxurious options check out our Hotel Guide .

In my younger days a trip up to Superga at the end of a romantic evening was great. More popular for romantic couples is the Colle della Maddalena. This is the other main peak above Torino offering equally as great views but also a night club/bar and restaurant – popular for sundowners and also for that late night last drink while looking out over the lights of Torino.

Food and Shopping

Turin is a fantastic place to shop and many of the best places to shop including

Via Roma and the Balon Market are mentioned under the walking guide above. Do you enjoy shopping? I don’t much but my wife lives, sorry loves, to shop and apart from Rome or Milan nowhere in Italy beats Turin. From designer boutiques to quaint shops that have been around for centuries, Turin offers the dedicated shopper a paradise.

Now the best part of all – the food. This is undoubtedly the city with the best food in the entire world, the best coffee, the best chocolates and some of the best wine. This is an unbiased opinion from someone who is not originally from Torino and from someone who has been to all the great cities of Europe. Forget about anywhere else Torino is the place to come to eat. It is impossible to eat better – have a look at some of the recipes in my Piedmont cooking section .

From Wine to Piedmont Truffles or from Chocolate to Bicerin ( three decadent layers of melted chocolate, coffee and steamed milk) a week is not enough. Torino is the birthplace of Lavazza coffee, Vermouth, grissini bread sticks and the slowfood movement. Torino chocolate is so good that it deserves a separate section and my guide to Torino's chocolate heaven is a must read.

Don’t miss enjoying an aperitivo - a Torino tradition. This is an art that the Torinese have perfected and seeing they invented Vermouth it is not surprising. The best places, most a little on the expensive side though, are to be found at these cafes.

Turin Restaurants

Platti corso Vittorio Emanuele, 72 tel 011 5069056

One of the founders of this restaurant was Luigi Lavazza, the founder of the famous coffee brand. Big time expensive and overrated in my opinion.

Ristorante Del Cambio piazza Carignano, 2

One of the best in town. It has been around for over 250 years so has definitely stood the test of time – a favourite of Cavour but it is expensive and you need to book.

San Giorgio (behind the Borgo Medioevale) This is definitely worth a visit – set in a medieval castle built in 1884. The castle was built for an exhibition and was kept afterwards. It is a faithful reproduction of an actual castle – with strolling minstrels and little artisan shops within its walls. The restaurant creates a great medieval atmosphere and serves good traditional Piemont cooking.

Taverna dell’Oca via dei Mille, 24 tel 011 837547

Reasonably priced and a great place to try ancient recipes from all of Piedmont

Imbarco del Re “da Perosino” viale Virgilio, 53 tel 011 657362

Great views of the Po and great traditional cooking.

Some must try dishes are the Bagna Caoda - made from olive oil, garlic, and anchovies. A great first course and typically of Piedmont are Agnolotti, similar to ravioli and filled with meat, cheese and spinach –served with a roast meat sauce this is absolutely fantastic.

Another classic dish to try is the Bollito Misto – it needs to be eaten and can’t really be described - beyond saying that it is legendary in Piedmont. Wash it all down with a bottle of Piedmont Barolo, a great red wine and perhaps Italy’s best wine. End off with Panna Cotta or Zabajone. A great sample menu of Piedmont is this menu and more traditional Piedmont recipes can be found under my Piedmont recipes section .

The restaurants I mentioned above are all pretty well known and in some guidebooks. Now I am going to let you into a secret – please don’t tell the locals I told you!!

These are my absolute best, entirely authentic great restaurants - just click on this link. None are expensive but I can guarantee you that you will eat well.

I might well see you there, until now I have been about the only foreigner eating in these restaurants and it would be great to meet another. I am the tall skinny guy and my wife is the black-haired beauty!! See you soon in Turin...

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