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Turin goes for the gold
By Phyllis Macchioni
Special to the Tribune
Published March 20, 2005
TURIN, Italy -- Ever since Turin was named host city for the 2006 Winter Olympics, city residents have had to put up with the incessant rumble of heavy machinery and dusty construction sites. As sport facilities, new transportation systems and parking garages rise from the rubble, locals plug their ears and leap Olympian hurdles trying not to get their shoes dirty.
There are some complaints, but most say it's worth it, because next Feb. 10-26, when approximately one million sports fans will show up for the games and millions more will be glued to their TV sets, their city will be trying to make a bella figura—a good impression.
They needn't worry. You can't help but be impressed with Turin just as it is. The city is beautiful, and has a strong sense of style. Stately baroque buildings house world-class museums, an elaborate royal palace anchors the city's center, and turn-of-the-century cafes rival those of Vienna. The overriding architectural style is baroque, thanks to the genius of three master architects: Amedeo di Castellamonte, Guarino Guarini and Filippo Juvarra. And even though they worked in different periods, the end result was the architecturally homogenous showpiece you see today.
But Turin is not one to rest on its architectural laurels. As home to industrial design houses like Pininfarina and Italdesign Giugiaro, which became world famous designing Fiat, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo sports cars, style is part of the fabric of the city.
Once considered the Detroit of Italy, Turin has managed to stay on its feet in spite of global downturns in the automobile industry. The old Fiat automobile factory was rescued by world famous architect Renzo Piano, who converted it into a major hotel, convention and leisure center. The most recent addition to the complex is the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, an art gallery showcasing pieces from the family's extensive impressionist art collection. Giovanni and Marella were avid collectors, always eager to invest some of the millions made as major stockholders of Fiat (Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino), started by Agnelli's grandfather in 1899.
But Turin is more than just a pretty face. In the mid 1880s it was the fulcrum of the Risorgimento, the political movement that led to Italy's unification. Turin emerged as Italy's first capital city, and the 17th Century Palazzo Carignano was chosen as the seat of the newly formed Italian Parliament.
The hero and architect of the unification, Count Camillo Cavour, often ate lunch at the Del Cambio restaurant in Piazza Carignano. From his table near the restaurant windows, Cavour would keep a watchful eye out for a signal that he was needed in parliament. When that signal came, he would rush out of the restaurant, often in mid bollito misto, and into the parliament building across the way.
Up the street from Palazzo Carignano is the Egyptian museum, hailed as the best collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Cairo. Turin is also the keeper of the Holy Shroud. While the Shroud is rarely on display, there is a museum in the crypt of the S.S. Sudario church that documents its history.
On the other side of town, the origins of Italy's film industry are on display in the Mole Antonelliana. Originally built as a synagogue, Turin's tallest tower now devotes five floors to the Italian National Museum of Cinema. Few realize that Turin was the center of the Italian film industry—that is until Mussolini, who hated anti-fascist Turin, moved it to Rome.
For car lovers, the Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia National Car Museum will take you back to the glory days of Turin's automotive industry.
Through it all runs the Via Roma, the city's main shopping street. There are more shops on the long pedestrian-only Via Garibaldi, and along the arcaded Via Po. The stores in Turin seem more international than in other Italian cities, with French and Spanish shops offering good quality, well-priced shoes, clothes, home decorations and children's toys. Two Italian department stores, Coin and Rinascente, are on Via Lagrange, and on the side streets are many small specialty shops selling the old and new, including jewelry, fabrics and baking equipment.
The food in Turin differs from mainstream Italian cooking. It's true that local larders are filled with Piedmont beef and veal, buttery cheeses, salami, rice, pasta and white truffles, so you can hardly go wrong, but cooks tend to use more butter than olive oil, and sauces are served with meats and vegetables, not just pasta.
Turin-born chef Roberto Donna, of Washington, D.C.'s, award-winning Galileo Restaurant, and author of "Cooking in Piedmont," says the region's three most typical dishes are vitello tonnato, a delicious roast veal in a creamy tuna sauce; brasato al Barolo, Piedmont beef braised in rich Barolo wine; and Cavour's favorite, bollito misto, a mix of boiled meats served with a minimum of three sauces.
You can tell the Turinese take food seriously. On one quaint center city street, Via Lagrange, there are at least 10 shops selling local specialty foods. It is a good place to stock up on Italian specialties.
At the La Bottega del Maiale, you'll find every type of pork product known to modern man, some shrink wrapped for easy packing, but don't decide just yet because right next door is the La Baita del Formaggio, which specializes in regional cheeses.
Maybe it's best to head for a cafe and think it over. You'll find some of the city's best along the Via Roma and in the area around Piazza Castello and Via Po. With delightful 18th Century gilded baroque interiors, they rival the cafes of Vienna, but in Turin the barmen are movie star-handsome, and dressed for a Hollywood opening in stiff white shirts and black bow ties.
If you are visiting in the winter, order a bicerin, a not-to-be-missed cold weather specialty, and watch them mix thick, rich hot chocolate with a shot of espresso and top it with a layer of frothy cream, and do it faster than you can say delizioso.
Now, you'd think great museums, good shopping, fabulous cafes and what some would say is the best cuisine in Italy would be enough for any city, but the best is yet to come. Turin is a chocolate lover's paradise. According to a popular guide to top European chocolate makers, there are more master chocolatiers in Turin than in all of Belgium and France combined. The two most coveted are Peyrano Fabbrica di Cioccolato and Tourinto di Gobino.
If you want to be beguiled by an amazing selection of chocolates in a candy box setting, head for Stratta on Via Roma. Chocolate making is such a serious business here even the traditional cafes make and sell their own brand of chocolates. Just visit ChocolaTo, the just-concluded annual citywide chocolate festival held every spring, and you'll see what I mean. With more than 100 stands and kiosks set up around town, you can eat chocolate from morning until night. City restaurants prepare special chocolate-based menus, and chocolate shops, pastry shops and bars are decorated with an eye-popping assortment of chocolate goodies. There are also chocolate tastings, chocolate seminars, chocolate displays, and chocolate competitions. And this year kids participated in the Chocolate Olympics—and won chocolate medals.
