Torino

Capital of the Western Alps and of the Piedmont Region, Torino is located in the North-West of Italy and was founded 2300 years ago by the Taurini Gauls, a Celtic tribe, and was a Roman military camp called "Augusta Taurinorum" in the early Roman period. Taurus is Latin for bull and still today the bull is the symbol of Torino. In the Middle Ages the Savoy, Lords from the homonymous French region, began to extend their ambitions towards the most important territories in Piedmont.

Since the 17th century, it has been the court of the Savoy Dynasty, who turned it into one of the most beautiful capital of Baroque art.

In the 19th century, it was the first capital of the Italian Kingdom after the unification of Italy.

At present, Torino is a modern high-tech and commercial city, the seat of Fiat and many other industries with a strong aerospace vocations.

Torino boasts artistic churches, buildings and over 30

well-known museums (www.comune.torino.it/musei/en/). The most important are: National cinema museum inside the Mole Antonelliana, symbol of Torino and unique in Italy; the Egyptian museum, second in the world after the one in Cairo; the Royal library, preserving Leonardo da Vinci self-portrait; the National automobile museum with one of the rarest and most interesting cars' collection; the MAO-Oriental Art Museum, with a collection of 1500 pieces from the Asian countries.

The large squares, the straight avenues lined with trees, the streets with arcades give the city an appearance of noble and charming elegance.

Besides being famous for their wide selection of typical regional food and wines like Barolo, Barbaresco and Dolcetto, Piedmont and Torino are well-known also for their hors-d'oeuvres and "pasticceria" (small pastries, friandises, chocolate). Some of the old café bars (Baratti & Milano, Al Bicerin, Caffé Torino, Caffé San Carlo, Caffé Mulassano) visited by the aristocracy are open to the public and one can still enjoy some of the old recipes and live the atmosphere of the past centuries.

Torino was the host city to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games that projected the city on the international stage.

MAIN ATTRACTIONS

1. Porta Palatina

2. Cathedral - Chapel of the Holy Shroud

3. Royal residence

4. Royal gardens

5. Royal Armery

6. Palazzo Madama

7. Royal theatre

8. Mole Antonelliana

9. National Museum of Cinema

10. Gran Madre di Dio (Church)

11. Palazzo Carignano

12. Egyptian Museum

13. Savoy gallery

14. Museum of Risorgimento (First Parliament of italy)

15. Academy of Sciences

16. Picture Gallery of Albertina Academy

17. Mount of Cappuccini

18. E. Filiberto Monument

19. Palazzo Bricherasio

20. Museum of Natural Sciences

21. Conservatory

22. Carlo Felice Square

23. Porta Nuova maiin railway station

24. Valentino Park

TYPICAL PIEDMONTESE FOOD

Vitello Tonnato: Piedmontese dish of cold, sliced veal covered with a creamy, mayonnaise-like sauce that has been flavored with tuna. It is served chilled or at room temperature, generally in the summer, as the main course of an Italian meal or as "an exceedingly elegant antipasto for an elaborate dinner.

Antipasti misti: appetizers are present at the beginning of every meal and go far beyond their function of whetting the apetite. Appetizers from Piedmont regional cooking include cured or seasoned meats (in "carpione", with sauces or salamis), stuffed with vegetables, omelettes with vegetables and salads with cold meats and vegetables; all offered in an incredible number of combinations just waiting to be tasted.

Fritto misto: braised meats simmered in top quality wines, a delicious "fried medley" with meats, entrails, vegetables and amarettos that are coated in breadcrumbles and fried.

Bagna caoda: at times an appetizer, at times a main course, this is a difficult to define dish, it is a triumph of semplicity and tastiness. It consists in fresh vegetables immersed in the boiling hot sauce made of oil, garlic and anchovies.

Bolliti misti: the "bollito misto" (mixed stuffed meat) is prepared with the best parts of the veal. Tradition says there should be seven different pieces of meat, accompanied by seven sauces and seven side vegetables.

Bonet: the typical dessert made of chocolate and amarettos. It is said that its name comes from the copper pots where it used to be cooked, whose shape was similar to a cap.

Grissini: breadsticks, also known as grissini, grissino or dipping sticks, are generally pencil-sized sticks of crisp, dry baked bread that originated in Torino. Rubatà ("fallen") is one of the most typical selection among the breadsticks from Torino.

Gelato: is a frozen dessert of Italian origin. It is made with a base of 3.25% butterfat whole milk and sugar. Gelato typically contains 70% less air and more flavouring than other kinds of frozen desserts, giving it a density and richness that distinguishes it from other ice creams. In Torino, you can have access to amazingly creamy gelatos all year round but when the weather gets warmer you can have more than one gelato a day.

Bicerin: (Piedmontese translation: "small glass") is a traditional hot drink native to Torino, made of espresso, drinking chocolate, and milk served layered in a small glass.

Espresso: is a coffee-brewing method of italian origins that's generally thicker than coffee brewed by other methods, with a viscosity of warm honey. In Torino, coffee is tipically enjoyed "al banco", ora at the bar, with friends. When you enter in a bar, you will likely find our Italian friends and collegues standing "al banco", chatting with an espresso in hand.

Caffè storici: When Torino became the center of the struggle against the Austrians, some of Turin’s most famous cafés became the headquarters of risorgimental Italy. Torino’s cafés were not only the meeting-places of reactionaries and insurgents, but also of the aristocracy, artists and bella gente of Torino and abroad. Writers, poets, opera composers and chocolate connoisseurs alike appreciated the cozy atmosphere of the Turinese coffee houses where chocolate delicacies and unique blends of coffee were being served.

TYPICAL PIEDMONTESE WINES

Barolo: a rich, fill-bodied wine with notes of roses, violets, tar, at times strongly recalls licorice.

Barbaresco: Barbaresco wine is gentler, more aromatic and a spices wine with hints of dried peach and other fruits. It has a "soft" taste but leaves a tentalizing "tang" o a delicate "mixture" of cinnamon, black pepper and plums.

Dolcetto: in spite of its name, it's not a sweet wine, but it is the most popular, everyday table wine most suitable to accompany Piedmontese cuisine. It has a rich ruby color and its aromas recall red fruits like marasca cherries.