Turin is home to the famous Turin Shroud, the Fiat car company, and the Juventus football team. It was also the home to the 2006 Winter Olympics Games. It was also the capital of the newly united Italy between 1861 to 1865.
The city is not that big. So we only spend day there.
Piazza San Carlo
San Carlo e Santa Cristina
A courtyard near Via Roma (the posh street)
Palazzo Madama. It is a medieval castle with a new facade added
Near the main square, Piazza Madama.
Piazza Reale, with the Palazzo Reale in the background. The main staircase in the palace is very grand. And it was surrounded by several giants paintings!
A closer look at the Palazzo Madama
A closer look at Palazzo Reale
The grand staircase in the Palazzo Madama.
The first floor of the Palazzo Madama is now a museum.
The Egyptian museum (Museo Egizio) in Turin is one of the most important one in the world. Much of the collection was gathered by Bernardo Drovetti, who was stationed in Egypt as French Consul General at the time of Napoleonic Wars. The giant granite statue (replicated in the above picture) of Ramses II (13th Century BC) is one of the most impressive sculptures in the collection.
Palazzo Madam from another angle. The towers are of original medieval design.
Upon recommendation of my Turin friend, we visited the Caffe Florio for ice cream. It was opened in 1780 and it was once known as the Caffé dei Codini, a slang reference to the fact that it was once frequented by aristocrats and conservatives.
The gianduiotto (a combination of hazelnut paste and chocolate) gelato is especially famous. But you can't really see it in this picture. It's all covered by cream! :)
SP ordered something with liquor in it. It was all too nice!
The Mole Antonelliana is Turin's equivalent of Paris' Eiffel Tower. It was meant to be a synagogue, but when it was finished, it became the Risorgimento museum. It now houses the Cinema Museum. I read about the famous Italian actress, Sophia Loren, before the trip. So it was great to finally see a picture of her.
Another picture of the Palazzo Madama!
Looking into one of the side street from the Piazza Madama.
We then stopped by the famous Caffè-Pasticceria Baratti e Milano for some afternoon snack.
We ordered a platter to share.
Then we head to Cioccolato Peyrano for chocolate. Turin is the chocolate capital of Italy. Its chocolate-making tradition goes all the way back to the 17th Century. The most famous being the ingot-shaped gianduiotti.
I ordered a PROPER hot chocolate and enjoyed the afternoon tea.
Then I bought 1Kg chocolate to bring back home! Sadly, the chocolate didn't last me that long. I also bought some chocolate from Gobino, which I still have some stock left.
We went back into Turin on our final day to buy chocolates and do some shopping. We also visited the beautiful Pastificio Defilippis on via Lagrange. It has every kind of dried pasta imaginable.
No comments:
Post a Comment