Turin is great! It’s beautiful, friendly, and clean (for an Italian city). Excellent architecture. Museums abound. This is an excellent city for walking and getting lost.
Lodging
- On our first visit we stayed at ***Hotel Victoria, which was grand, old-fashioned but well maintained, and very central. Stuffy staff. No onsite parking, but nearby garages were reasonably convenient. Good breakfast, indoor pool and spa area.
- The **Turin Palace Hotel was nice in an Italian way – our room was very spacious, with a balcony. A little bit corporate, but with good service, and very clean. Lots of French guests. Spa was decent – small pool, sauna, hammam – but needs to be reserved in advance, for a fee. Parking on site but limited, call ahead. Decent breakfast.
Things to Do
- The ***Fiat Rooftop Track is very cool – worth a detour to walk the roof and see the ramp that inspired the NY Guggenheim. To enter, buy tickets to the *Pinacoteca Agnelli inside the mall (it’s well signed).
- Just next to the old Fiat factory is the original **Eataly location. Worth a stop for some amazing Italian food stuffs. The dining itself has gone downhill, though, wouldn’t recommend for a meal.
- **GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea was better than I expected – multiple floors of various mediums. I enjoyed the paintings and photography from the permanent collection more than the temporary exhibits.
- ***Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile: Impressive collection of very rare cars. Slightly odd theme/design (feels like it was designed by college students, some sections work better than others). Worth it for car people. No parking at the museum itself.
- **Palazzo Madama is impressive – a massive structure, dating from 100 B.C., as a Roman gate, with numerous additions: a fortress during the Middle Ages and subsequently a castle for the Acaja princes. Since 1934 the Palace has hosted the Civic Museum’s ancient art collections, with over 70,000 works including paintings, sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, majolica and porcelain, gold and silver, furnishings and textiles that illustrate European art from the Early Middle Ages to the Baroque period. It’s a lot of stuff, rather interesting if trending towards overwhelming. The building itself is a highlight.
- The best view of the city is from **Superga Basilica, site of the Grande Torino football club plane crash in 1949. Good Alps view. Farther away than it looks (30 minute drive, much longer on public transportation). Interior is under construction as of 2019. It’s an okay experience, building is in disrepair and the air quality is a little hazy, interrupting the view. The view from “the Mole” is almost as good.
- [didn’t make it inside] Museum of Cinema – per Ale, plan to spend a couple of hours there, as it is massive and awesome. Architecturally it’s quite something, called “the Mole” and one of the tallest and most unique structures in the town.
- [didn’t make it inside] There is an amazing Egyptian Museum whose collection of mummies and sarcophagi rivals that of the Cairo Museum
- [didn’t make it] Palace of Venaria: Turin’s Versailles
Food
- **Carlo e Camillo Bistrot was tasty – long menu of options, nice bistro setting. Formal service, French and Italian crowd.
- **Ristorante Consorzio: a popular choice – reserve well in advance. The food was quite good, heavy on interesting organ meats, but with other options. Wouldn’t recommend for vegetarians. A little hipster but not too precious. Organization and some service was spotty. Diverse wine list including natural wines.
- **Cafe Platti: a classic, with the decor to fit. Think desserts, every coffee drink you can think of, and a long list of cocktails. Worth a visit.
- **Da Michele 1922 serves excellent, Turin-style pizza – as the name says, in business since 1922. Not fancy at all, but packed with locals. We loved it.
- **L’Osto del Borgh Vej: this was great – outdoor dining on a busy square, packed with locals. Good food and great people watching.
- **Porto di Savona: One of the city’s oldest restaurants, Porto di Savona opened in 1863. The restaurant is on the city’s beautiful Piazza Vittorio, and the warm interior is laid out like a 19th-century tavern, with period furniture and tiled floors (read: pretty dated, but charmingly so). Piedmontese classics. Food was good, very affordable (relative to Swiss prices) and the staff was very warm and helpful.
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