Il Viaggio di Marco a Italia
Turin, Torino
29 Luglio 2005I guess I'm figuring out Trenitalia. At least, I made it from the airport in Venice (on a city bus) to the train station into the right train (always nice). I had a connection in Milano (everyone travelling in Italy eventually does) which was only 12 minutes. In that time, I went to the bathroom (0.70 euros), stopped in the small grocery store and bought dinner (bread, cheese, and salami toscana) and got on the next train (also the right one).
So, by 5:30pm Thursday evening, I was having coffee with Kerri and her friend Molly in downtown Torino.
Kerri is a contra dancer from Atlanta that I had the great fortune to meet at Spring Dance Romance (a dance weekend in North Carolina). during a dance, we discovered that we were both going to be in Italy, so we're trading visits and discoveries.
She lives in Torino with Neil who is working on the communications network for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. They've been in Italy for about 6 months now so they are full of great knowledge about Italy.
Torino is in the NW corner of Italy just south of the Alps and France and Switzerland. It's a city of over 900,000 people. They are hosting the Winter Olympics in 2006 so the whole place seems to be under construction. It's also the home to FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino, or Fix It Again Tony). It older claim to fame (carbon dated at 1200-1300 AD) is the "Shroud of Turin" - the supposed clothe that Jesus's body was wrapped in for burial. Experts do agree that it was woven in the Middle East and likely contained a crucified man due to the pattern of blood stains. Things get a bit more controversial after that. We went to the church where the shroud is stored - in a vacuum sealed box inside a coffin. So, you can't actually see it... Hmmm, best to wait for the movie.
One of the most spectacular things in Torino is Il Mole
Antonelliana. 
It's a 167m tower that was started as a synagogue and ended as an
architectural wonder. It was built mostly out of stone. It rises
right out of the city center. This picture doesn't do it justice.
Another interesting building is the
Chiesa di Gran Madre Dio.
Built in 1818-1831, it
commemorates the return of Vittorio Emanuele from exile. They build
churches in Torino for lots of interesting reasons.
Yet another interesting building that sits above Torino is the
Basilica Di Superga.
It was built in the early 1700s when Vittorio Amedeo II promised to
build a shrine to the Virgin Mary if God saved Torino from the invading
French and Spanish.
Torino is also home to the longest Tibetan Bridge in the world.
It spans the Po river at a 45 degree angle.
The last major attraction in Torino was Kerri's cooking!
This was the first course.
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