My favourite spots of TURIN

I’m wondering why so few people plan to visit Turin and prefer to choose Milan, Rome, Napoli or Venice, it’s a pity.

This is one of the cities where I lived and I would like to promote it and sugggest people to visit it, even if it’s almost never named.

TURIN IS WORTH A VISIT

Turin, due to the influence of the French empire till the 19th century, is more similar to an European city than an Italian city. It’s a clean and orderly city, thanks to its reticular system of streets. It’s a beautiful and elegant town, furthermore, it was the first capital of Italy.

It is easy to walk in Turin and relax enjoying the city without getting lost.

Turin’s historical architecture is predominantly Baroque but it has also a lot of modern buildings and the ability to combine modern art museums with contemporary art museums.

Thanks to the blog Rock’n’fiocc I knew this awesome app, “MAPSTR“, which is very similiar to Google maps and it lets you tag your favourite places all around the world. You can follow me (my nickname is ginevra.angiuli) and I pinned all these favourites spots that I’ll list below.

MY FAVOURITE MUSEUMS

• OGR: ex industrial building, nowadays host exibitions, musical events and there is a very nice bar suitable for aperitif and also some good restaurants
• ETTORE FICO MUSEUM
• MUSEO DELLA CAMERA (photography museum)
• CIRCOLO DEI LETTORI, they host interesting events and moreover the location is in a beautiful ancient building
• FONDAZIONE SANDRETTO RE REUBADENGO 
• FONDAZIONE MERTZ
• MAO (oriental art museum)
• OVAL/ PINACOTECA AGNELLI
• GAM (Modern art gallery)
• TEATRO REGIO it was restored by the architect Carlo Mollino after the fire which destroyed part of his original building. It’s very particular and it deserves a visit if you are interested in architecture and theatre lover.

Other museums to visit in Turin:

• MUSEO DEL CINEMA
• MUSEO DELL’AUTOMOBILE
• EGYPTIAN MUSEUM
• MUSEI REALI TORINO
• MADAMA PALACE

the first three are also suitable for kids.

If yoy have a car, hereby a list of Piedmont locations you shouldn’t miss:

MY FAVOURITE MUSEUMS AND PALACES OUTSIDE OF TURIN:

• CASTELLO DI RIVOLI it’s amazing because of the location. It combines an ancient castle with a modern restoration. If you go in the afternoon, you can enjoy the sunset view after visiting the contemporary art exhibitions.
• REGGIA DI VENARIA it’s a stunning palace and sometime has interesting temporary exhibitions. When you walk in the “Galleria Grande” (erroneously known as “Diana Gallery”), you can go back to the past, during the 18th century, and dream to be a princess.

• HUNTING PALACE STUPINIGI it’s a beautiful palace for leisure and hunting, with a plan shaped like the Saint Andrea’s cross. The Savoy family used to go there for spectacular parties and solemn marriages. It was also the residence of Napoleon, in the early 19th century.  It was designed by the famous architect Filippo Juvara.

MY FAVOURITE LANGHE BEAUTIFUL TOWNS with superlative food and wines such as Barolo, Nebbiolo, Valperga that you shouldn’t miss to taste:

• BAROLO
• LA MORRA
• GRINZANE CAVOUR
• VERDUNO 
• BELBO
• ALBA
• ASTI 

During the Lavander flowering there is a small town, SALE SAN GIOVANNI, which I love to go and walk among lavander fields, it’s awesome. 

Instead here there are  MY FAVOURITE THINGS TO DO IN TURIN and try if you decide to discover Turin:

• During the second sunday of the month there’s GRAN BALON, which is one of biggest flea markets in Europa, it’s amazing. You can find almost anything, if you look hard enough. I used to go around and stepping by Tartifla Bistrot for a lunch pause. This bistrot makes awesome dishes moreover their cakes are definetly worth a try while drinking a good coffee. You can also try GELATERIA POPOLARE which makes supreme ice cream. Each saturday, instead, there is BALON which is a smaller flea market, but it deserves a visit if there is a sunny day. Every working day there’s also Porta Palazzo market (food, dress, house… ) which is the biggest market in Europe, full of colored goods from the world and also local products from farms in Piemonte.
• The end of October and November is my favourite month to stay in Turin because there are a lot of events such as MOVEMENT, CLUB TO CLUB, ARTISSIMA, PARATISSIMA, THE OTHERS, THE WHITE NIGHT OF CONTEMPORARY ART, TORINO FILM FESTIVAL and so on. So, if you are an electronic music, contemporary art or cinema lover, I suggest to book a visit during this period.
• Go to the CENTRAL cinema (via carlo alberto 27), which is the smallest cinema in Turin and it shows film in original language with subtitle or go at LUX cinema (galleria san federico 33), another one of the historical cinemas in Turin in a beautiful gallery.

• San salvario emporium is a small flea and artisanal market, it’s in the principal square of San salvario neighborhood. It is a characteristic district where there are a lot of place suitable for brunch on Sunday morning or for aperitif/dinner. There are also a lot of pub/bar where you can spend the evening drinking cocktails.
• Other typical districts, like San Salvario, are Quadrilatero Romano and Vanchiglia/Santa Giulia district where young people use to hang out with friends eating and then drinking cocktails, during the evening, in the middle of Santa Giulia Square.

MY FAVOURITE PLACES IN SAN SALVARIO:

• Teapot (for brunch)
• G*** Torino Kitchen bar
• Healthy lab
• The egg
• Enò
• La società dei carbonari
• Napples (neapolitan pizza)
• El beso (mexican food)
• Ddr (good cocktail)
• Astoria (bar&basement)

MY FAVOURITE PLACES IN VANCHIGLIA/SANTA GIULIA:

• Stramonio
• Oh!Mio Bio
• Zenzero
• Barbiturici (good also for cocktails)
• Buyabes Bistrot
• Cantine meccaniche
• In vino veritas hostaria

MY FAV SPOTS FOR BREAKFAST OR AFTERNOON PAUSE:

• INFUSION CAFFE (quadrilatero romano) a nice spot where to relax drinking one of their infusions after hours spent to visit monuments such as Royal Palace, Madama Palace and so on. They make tasty cakes and muffins, also for vegan or gutenfree.
• Nora book&coffee  (quadrilatero romano) it’s a small bookshop where you can have breakfast leafing a book, in addition it supports feminist and gender causes
• Torteria olsen (quadrilatero romano) when you are tired and need to reinforce your body with tasty cakes
• Sweet lab they make delicious pancake
• Convitto caffè also this place, nearby Vittorio square, is perfect for a pause, after a visit at Cinema museum or Egipytian museum
• Bazaaar (quadrilatero romano) it’s in a nice small square and during the spring/summer it has tables outside so it’s perfect for a pleasant lunch pause or coffee in the morning.
• Pai bikery it’s out of the centre of Turin but if you are bike lover, it’s the right place for your brunch or lunch.

These three are MY FAVOURITE of many HISTORICAL COFFEES in Turin. I suggest to try the hot chocolate with a piece of their cakes. Turin is very famous as I said for his small pastry and chocolate.

• Baratti it has one of most delicious hot chocolate and the Baratti cake is worth a taste
• Caffe al bicerin dal 1763 (quadrilatero romano) this historical coffee serves the famous and original “Bicerin” coffee. Nearby there is Consolata church which is my fav church of Turin, it’s so baroque and beautiful with a great collection of ex-voto
  

  Cieling of Consolata Church

  

  Caffè al bicerin from 1763

• Platti is another historical coffee with a beautiful tea room and supreme small pastries

PLACES WHERE TO EAT:

• Cianci (quadrilatero romano) This is a very nice and typical “piola” (there are trattorias known as piole in Piedmont vernacular) where Turin’s people use to eat and enjoy a good glass of local wine. Moreover it’s in a nice small square, IV March square. I suggest to go early because they don’t accept reservations so maybe there could be a little queue
• Host bistrot (quadrilatero romano) Also this bistrot is in IV March square, like “Cianci”, and it’s very good also for aperifs. It accepts reservation so it could be a valid option if Cianci is full or if you don’t want to wait.
• Poormanger (quadrilatero romano). Three guys of Turin invented this characteristic place where they served Jacket potatoes. At the start it was a very small restaurant then, thanks to the success, they enlarged opening two places with beautiful interior decors.
• Kirkuk (turkish cuisine)
• La Deutsche Vita (german cuisine)
• E’ cucina (quadrilatero romano) It’s good and not expensive, it’s suitable and convenient also for lunch pause.
• Ballatoio bistrot I suggest to book in advance because this fantastic place is small and very often full.
• Vinolento (quadrilatero romano) a good restaurant where you can taste typical Piedmont dishes in a innovative way
• Taberna libraria (piedmont cuisine)
• Le fanfaron bistrot (piedmont cuisine)
• Le scodelle (emilian/romagnol cuisine) (quadrilatero romano)
• Il bacaro (venetian cuisine) (quadrilatero romano)
• Tre galline (piedmont cuisine)
• Tre galli 

MY FAVOURITE PLACES WHERE I USED SHOPPING:

• Parrot and palm via maria vittoria 28/G
• Bagni paloma via dei mille 30/D
• Uno via monte di pietà 1/D
• Au petit bonheur  via principe amedeo 35
• Born in berlin via san dalmazzo 9/a

In addition if you don’t know WHERE TO SLEEP, there is my flat, which is in quadrilatero romano neighborhood, in the full centre of Turin and nearby the majority of museums and my favourite spots, hereby my link on airbnb.

Central&cozy flat in full centre

So what are you waiting for?? Trust me, you will fall in love with this city and his spots.