Discover Turin: Olympic city surrounded by the Alps

Turin is not well known only for the mountain hiking in the Alps. Only someone retires to the mountains to enjoy the snow in the winter, to climb on a real rock wall in spring, and to enjoy a hike under the sun in one of our beautiful valley of  the Alps.

“Turin is my home”, wrote Culicchia, and I think the same, because Turin is not a city like any other, not only for the beautiful Alps that surround its skyline.

Someone hates its smog, someone loves Juventus, and purposes to see her win, but you really missed her when living abroad, you get lost in its explosive cultural life, sprouting under various names and forms. For many Italians and foreigners, it keeps on being an industrial city, because Fiat and Lingotto in the past had get employed those workers arrived by train from the south and from the north -east, not yet kissed by the economical Miracle growth.

Speaking about migrants, Turin’s native citizens often complain that “from Porta Nuova railway station, too migrants came in: first, all those Sicilians, then all those Calabrians, the Neapolitans, then those Puglias, the Moroccans , Tunisians , Algerians , Senegalese , Nigerians , Chinese , Albanians ,  al the end the Romanians; the nice thing is that over the time, albeit with difficulty, even newcomers have begun feeling to be a bit ‘ Turin’s citizens’ : the Sicilians in turn complained with the Calabrians, who gave the fault to whom came after and so on. As for the Romanians are anxiously waiting for someone else going to emigrate to Turin because they like lastcomers, and do not know who to blame. ” ( P , 26, Culicchia , Turin is my home)

Recently, the old industrial premises have become cultural sites, thanks to architect Renzo Piano, who favored their transformation into the Olympic village, art galleries and nightclubs, as was the case for  Lingotto, OGR and Docks Dora, but also prisons now are hosting concerts and art exhibitions.

Remarkable is the gem of Turin, Cinema Museum, but we also have the second Egyptian museum in the world and the 5 km of arcades from Corso Re Umberto to Po river, that, when it rains, there are the umbrella up to Po and the Murazzi. Theatre lovers can delight with the operas at Teatro Regio in program, but also with the comedy and experimental theater at Carignano , Gobetti,  Colosseo,  Santa Giulia di Barolo , Alfieri, and Teatro Nuovo.

Under Mole Antonelliana, Turin’s symbol, new social phenomena are raging : very often social events are organized like flashmobs in Piazza Castello; in short, the road  becomes a new stage in which, depending on the month , alternate kermesses as Paratissima highly anticipated event, Torino Film Festival, Cinemambiente the international homosexual Film Festival , Fringe , which compete with those more institutional as the Book Fair , the Taste Salone, Artissima,
Thousands are the views of Turin, that accentuate its intellectual face ; different are the souls you can breathe in this interesting city :

Turin Wealthy people – attending Vittorio Veneto Square, one of the three poles for having a drink in the town centre, but also reveals a soul which dresses alternative cloths like the hypsters , and hangs around Palazzo Nuovo; then there is the multiethnic soul , which is more visible in the neighbourhood of San Salvario, teeming with Arci , arthouse cinemas and libraries open in the evening, where you can applaud any writer or poet raising the elbow and picking at cous cous and tomini, in exchange of a glass of wine in bulk; there is the soul vintage, retro reindossa suspenders and polka dots, who revisits the swing dance of the Thirties, emulating a little the ‘ taste for the revival in Paris; there are Turin Disco dancers called Truzzi in local slang, which still goes to the disco, dances house music on the cube, and at the end there are still the socalled cabinotti , who are camouflaged among office colleagues and maybe crossing in the narrows streets of Roman Quarter always for apericena.

In Turin, when you are stressed you can go to the hammam in via Fiochetto and to the Baths of Corso Vittorio and Via Porta Palatina.or having a walk to Valentino Park, while kayakers play canoe along Po river banks.

On Saturday morning every now and then you go to the Balon near Porta Palazzo , where if you want you can learn both Arabic and Chinese chatting with sellers and retailers; directed to Borgo Dora quarter, many Turiners are used to stop for breakfast at bicerin in Piazza della Consolata;, the madamine, instead, prefer to go out shopping to the most famous markets, such as the spreader and S.Rita –