After a 5 hour (yes, 5 hour) bus journey, we arrived in Turin from Geneva.
Torino (as the Italians call it) was tricky to navigate at the beginning due to the seemingly sporadic nature of buses/trams – and just one subway line. This is where the app Moovit came in handy, it quickly calculated the best routes for us to get from the central bus station to our hotel.
The hotel we stayed in was very affordable, and quite luxurious if I’m honest. I’m happy staying in any old hostel, but Hotel Miramonti was great quality for our buck – it was a little outside of the city centre, but right on the tram line so easily to travel in and out of everywhere. Our itinerary for Turin was quite small – it was pretty much just check out the spire, and go to a modern art museum which had a horse hanging from the ceiling as an exhibit.
After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we ventured out for food (and alcohol). We wandered around the city centre for a little bit (and came across a square – Italian’s love big squares with statues in them). Piazza San Carlo is one of the main squares in Turin, and houses designer shops to the sides (and side streets), though a nice, calm area nonetheless.
We tried a few different bars as we were waiting for a restaurant to open, and came across a nice student bar with an upbeat atmosphere called the Jumping Jester – after passing some time there we eventually ended up in a spot called 1870 Huntsman Pub for food. You probably don’t need me to tell you that Italian food is amazing. And Italian food in Italy is so much better. We had stopped in a side street earlier that day for a single slice of pizza, and it was delicious. Actual meals were so much better. What’s probably the Italian equivalent to pub grub was served up to us, and I scoffed down my carbonara like there was no tomorrow. Italian food is great, regardless where in Italy you buy it (the next night we just ended up in a pizza takeaway and the €5 pizza there beats anything I’ve ever had at home).
A bit of a pub crawl ensued and one of the memorable spots we visited was Murphy’s Six Nations Irish Rugby bar (just call yourselves Murphy’s…) where I had a Sardinian beer called Ichnusa. There was nothing Irish about the bar apart from the colour green – probably why it was so memorable. On our journey back that night I’d noticed lots of things named ‘Gramsci’ and as a sociologist, I was pleasantly surprised to learn one of the people I’d studied through university had studied in Turin himself and became a revered part of the towns folklore.
The next day was tourism time – we had both the modern art museum and the spire of Mole Antonelliana to visit.
The Modern Art museum is in Rivoli. There is a spot on the subway called Rivoli. They aren’t the same place. We eventually got to Rivoli (a town 10 miles-ish from Turin) where the art museum was. They converted an old castle to host the art – and upon paying in, they give you a complementary mug. All the hassle we went through to get there was worth it for the drinking utensil.
(As you can imagine with a modern art museum) there were some very unusual exhibitions. We just wanted to see the horse.
Travelling out to Rivoli was a bit of a nightmare – getting back was even worse (considering I had got on the wrong bus – though we got a nice detour through the Piedmont countryside prior to ending up back in Rivoli and then getting the correct bus back to Turin).
When we eventually got back, we raced to the Mole Antonelliana to get a glimpse of the spire up close.
The Mole Antonelliana was originally built as a museum, but it now hosts the Italian cinematic museum.
The spire was close to the Turin University students union, and we accidentally stumbled across a sculpture which has a sibling made by the same artist not too far from where I currently live in Belfast.
Our time in Torino was short and sweet – it’s a wonderful city to get a glimpse of Italian culture and it won’t break the bank (see Milan). In terms of tourism, there are a multitude of museums to visit – but what I loved about Turin was the laidback nature, (the food), and just getting a glimpse at normal Italian day to day life. It seemed authentic.
Part 3 of this trip took us to Milan, but prior to leaving, I had to see that Spire one last time.
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