Italy Beyond the Obvious

Cycling and Shopping near Novi Ligure, Piedmont

I'm excited that my guest post about a Golden Day near Novi Ligure, Piedmont is up on Susan Van Allen's Golden Days in Italy blog today! This area is quite dear to my heart as one of my closest friends in the world is from Novi. The post features a cycling museum and then a wine country bike ride followed by late afternoon shopping, plus recommendations for food and accommodation. 

A magical abbey outside Turin: Sacra di San Michele

The 11th century Sacra di San Michele (Abbey of St. Michael) sits atop a hill about 30 minutes outside Turin and is the official Symbolic Monument of the Piedmont Region. Adding to the magic of the place are a couple interesting legends: one that it was built by angels (after all, how else could all those heavy building materials have made it to the top of the hill?) and one that a woman, Alda, threw herself off a cliff and was saved by St Michael (she tried it a second time, unfortunately, and was not as lucky).

It pretty much sells itself with the photo above, but here's some basic information about planning a visit. Check opening hours on the website.  Add a hike with spectacular views to your day by walking up to the Abbey on one of several walking trails. Or plan on arriving by car or bus, and save your energy for the long flight of stairs to the entrance - called the Steps of the Dead (which at one time actually did display the dead). Visit the Abbey and church for its energy, architecture, and incredible frescoes, and check the calendar (in Italian only - choose the month on the right column) for the schedule of concerts performed at the abbey.

Photo by Cristiano Oliva, and thanks to Elizabeth and Shonda from the Italy Photo Contest for the great info on the legends.
 

 

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Short Trips from Milan

When I worked in Milan I took advantage of weekends to travel. Below I've made a list of my favorite places to visit from Milan in 1, 2, 3 or 4 days. I've put cities in a list based on the minimum amount of time I recommend spending there. Unless otherwise specified, all travel times are by train.

 

If you have just 1 day...

• Visit the Carthusian Monastery of Pavia, only 20 minutes away.
• The town and beautiful park of Monza are just 10 minutes away.
• The ancient town of Bergamo is under an hour away.
• The Roman town of Como, on the lake with the same name, is just an hour away.
• The Lake Maggiore is also one hour away. Take the train to the beautiful town of Stresa and go from there.
• Go to Switzerland! In 1 hour you are in the pretty lakeside town of Lugano.
• Gawk at the the picturesque alpine scenery of the Aosta Valley.
• In just over an hour, you're in the atmospheric university city of Bologna.
• Visit the gastronomically and architecturally significant Parma, less than 90 minutes away. Arrive hungry.
• At 90 minutes away, Turin is somewhat of a long day trip but one of my favorite people lives there so I've done it many times.
• The port city of Genoa is also about 90 minutes away. It's a long day trip but if that's all you have, then go, and at the end of the day you'll be promising to return as soon as you can.

 

If you have 2 days, consider any of the above, and in addition....

• The spa town of Sirmione, on Lake Garda is a couple hours away. 
• Visit the town or see an outdoor opera in the small city of Verona, under 2 hours away.
• Get a little off the beaten track in the town of Vicenza about 2 hours away - and don't miss Palladio's Villa Rotonda.
• Go to Florence, just under 2 hours away.
• Enjoy art, architecture and food in the gorgeous city of Padua, just over 2 hours away.
• Spend time in Venice, about 2.5 hours away. Two days in Venice is a little rushed but if that's all you have, then go.
• Hike the Cinque Terre, which is about 3 hours away by train.
• Sure why not - go to Pisa and climb the leaning tower.

 

If you have 3 days, consider any of the above, and in addition...

• From Florence, visit the towns of Lucca, Siena, San Gimignano - or if you have a car, Monteriggioni or Volterra.
• Spend a couple days on the island of Elba. Allow about 4 hours for the train plus 1 hour for the ferry. (Though this trip is easier by car when starting from Milan.)
• See the spectacular Byzantine mosaics in the city of Ravenna, and while you're in the area, stop in and visit the town of Brisighella. 
• In 4 hours you're in the gorgeous Umbrian city of Perugia. From there visit Assisi as well.

 

If you have 4 days, consider any of the above, and in addition...

• Venture further into Tuscany, visiting the towns of Pienza and Montepulciano.
• Go to Rome.
• Explore more of Umbria from your base in Perugia. Visit the towns of Gubbio, Spoleto, Todi, and Orvieto.
• Explore more of the Veneto, going up to Bassano del Grappa, Asolo, and the countryside - red and Prosecco wineries! - north of Verona.
• Go skiing at Cortina D'Ampezzo in the Dolomites. Or if it's summertime, go hiking near Ortisei in the Val Gardena.

I don't recommend going south of Rome if you have only 4 days total, nor do I recommend trying to go to Sardinia or Sicily. You just need more time that that (even though, I know, Italy does look misleadingly small on the map!)

Photos from top to bottom: Parma, Sirmione, Lucca, the Dolomites near Ortisei. All photos by Sanjay

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The Best Family Restaurants in Turin

If you're heading to Turin with children and looking for suggestions on where to eat, check out the guest post by Italy Beyond the Obvious at ItaliaKids. Whether you'd like a romantic adult dinner but don't have childcare, or are looking for a play area and children's menus, or just want to have Sunday brunch in the center of town, you'll find what you're looking for in the list of 13 restaurants.

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Best Local Hotspots in Turin

In a recent post I mentioned that I have a good friend from Turin. Not only is she smart, gorgeous, and athletic (a Ph.D in chemistry and a SCUBA instructor), she is out on the town often, and knows the best places to go out. So on my request, she and another Torinese friend sat down to put together a list of the best local hotspots in Turin, right now. See the map at the bottom for locations of all the hotspots.

Best Aperitivo

Turin, Milan, and Parma are famous for their before-dinner-drink-with-unlimited-free-food aka aperitivo tradition. Go to Zonk to sip a cocktail, fill your plate from the free buffet, and people-watch before dinner. Tip: aperitivo bars are perfect when you're jet-lagged and hungry, and not sure you can make it until the restaurants open at 7.30 pm.

Best Reasonably-Priced Restaurant

There are lots of options for eating without breaking the bank (as long as you don't do the currency conversion). Try pizza, sandwiches in a café, buying groceries at the supermarket and having a picnic, or a kebab (see below). Or try the restaurant Quattro Soldi, which also has pizza, in Corso Castelfidardo, 7. Make a reservation. Phone 011.5621290

Best Pub

Have a beer and hang out with friends at Six Nations Pub, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, number 28.

Best Kebab

Don't be fooled by spartan surroundings: great kebabs (kebaps in Italian) are found at Damir, who on his website promises "fresh local meat prepared by a Turk".

Best Chocolate Café

Go to Guido Gobino (web site is only in Italian and Japanese, interestingly) for a hot chocolate, or to sample some of the famous locally-made gianduiotto chocolate. Ask for suggestions on liqueur pairings, if you're there for dessert. Tied for first place in this category, and with a great historic atmosphere, is Baratti & Milano.

Best Unique Dining Experience

If your visit coincides with the monthly tram dinner (link in Italian), book it: you'll enjoy a 2-hour guided tram tour of the city while dining on local specialties and listening to live music.

Best Gelateria

Never leave an Italian city without sampling its gelato, and in Turin the place to go is Fiorio.

Best Pizzeria

Choosing a pizzeria in Italy is a serious task, and you don't want to go wrong. So head to Pizzeria Regina Margherita in Via del Carmine, 2. Phone 011.4310287. Equally great is Pizzeria Cristina on Corso Palermo 101. Phone 011.2481706. Always try to make reservations.

Best places to go for a high-end Italian meal

This is a hard one, only because Turin has so many great restaurants. And really, if you just walk around the Quadrilatero Romano neighborhood, you can't go wrong. I have my personal favorite which is not as high-end as the following suggestions. To wow your guests, or just to experience an unforgettable meal, go to Del Cambio, one of the most famous restaurants in Turin. The building is on the country's official list of Historic Places, and the food is worth it if budget allows. For something with a more rustic atmosphere, the Tre Galline specializes in local food and has had good reviews for three centuries.

If you're into gastronomic eclecticism, it's worth heading to the town of Rivoli, just outside of Turin, to dine at the Michelin-starred Combal.Zero. With incredible food, and views to match, this restaurant scores consistently high in reviews.

Best Foreign Restaurant

If you'd like a break from Italian food, but are looking for something higher-end than a kebab, Wasabi is an excellent Japanese restaurant, particularly known for its sushi and sashimi. Address: Corso Ferrucci 72, Phone 011.4473812

Best Discoteca

That would be Cacao, open every night of the week except Mondays. Tied in first place for hip places to go dancing is also Banus. There's no point arriving before midnight.

View Hotspots in Turin, Italy in a larger map

If Milan is on your itinerary, check out my list of Local Hotspots in Milan.

Photo of dancing by Sabrina Campagna; Photo of hot chocolate by Heliosphan; Photo of pizza by Madeline

Let Italy Beyond the Obvious plan your trip: have a look at the sample itinerary, or learn more

The Shroud, Unveiled, and 9 Other Reasons to Visit Turin

Have you ever visited someone living in a famous city so many times that you lost track of the city's main tourist attractions? One of my closest friends lives in Turin, and my good memories there include getting to know the locals, a great bookstore on the street, the Eataly destination grocery store, and seeing a movie at the Multisala Reposi. 

But while recently planning an itinerary to the city, I had to sort through my memories and decide which of the main sights to prioritize for a short visit. My Top 10 list includes five worthwhile events in the next year, and five things to do anytime.

Best 5 Events in Turin in 2009 / 2010

1) The actual Shroud of Turin will be briefly on display from April 10th to May 23rd, 2010, and then will probably go back into storage for another few years. The last time the Shroud was on display for a few weeks in 2000, it had 2 million visitors. This in a city with 3.8 million visitors in all of 2008. (Personally I want to know whether the shroud looks the same after the news came out that it was accidentally washed with a red shirt).

If you can't (or don't want to) make it to see the actual Shroud, visit the Shroud Museum. Here's some great, detailed information from Jessica at Why Go Italy on visiting the Shroud museum. 

2) Attend the chocolate festival, CioccolaTo, scheduled for February of 2010. The area around Turin is known for chocolate, and it's where the famous Giandiuia originated. Yum.

3) Listen to free live music at the Traffic Music Festival, on from July 14th to 17th, 2010. Lots of contemporary Italian and international bands perform on outdoor stages.  

4) Enjoy the free outdoor Luci D'artista contemporary art exhibit of light sculptures and installations (photo below) spread across the city from mid-November to mid-January every year. I love this exhibit: it makes the city appear magical, especailly if you're lucky enough to see it under the snow.

#5) The International White Truffle Fair is held during the months of October and November in the nearby town of Alba. Even if you don't go to the fair or feel like going on a truffle hunt (which involves running through the woods with dogs for several hours in the middle of the night), make sure to order something with even a tiny amount of white truffles (they're not cheap) from a restaurant menu in Turin. Sublime.

Best Five "Anytime" Things to See & Do

1) Take the panoramic lift to the top of the symbol of Turin, the Mole Antonelliana (photo at the top of this post). The 167m building was originally commissioned as a synagogue, but during construction it was taken over by the city because of a falling out with the Jewish community over costs and construction time. It was finally completed over 100m higher than originally planned, and a year after the architect's death, in 1889. It now houses the famous National Museum of Cinema.

2) Visit the Royal Residences in the city center, the Palazzo Reale and the Palazzo Madama, which were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997.

3) Visit the Egyptian museum, with the best collection of Egyptian art and artifacts in the world after the museum in Cairo. It's also, impressively, one of the few things in the entire country open on the famous Italian holiday of ferragosto. So if you're in Italy on August 15th and not up for the beach crowds, beeline it there.

4) Explore, shop, and have a coffee in Turin's historic center, even if it's raining: you'll keep dry under the 18 km of covered arcades in the city.

5) Do an alternative sightseeing tour, such as the 3-hour tour of underground Turin; or explore the dark and sinister side of the city with the 2-hour Magic Turin tour.

Want more suggestions? Check out this 5-minute YouTube video on Turin:

  

Near Turin: If you're planning to include Turin in your holiday itinerary and wondering what else is nearby, here are a few options, all less than 2 hours away:

• visit the Lake Maggiore
• spend time in the Alps near Aosta  
• visit the city of Genoa  
• visit the city of Milan   

Photo of Mole Antonelliana by Rogilde; Photo of the Luci D'Artista in the streets of Turin by Madeline

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Make Time for the Locals

One of the best ways to get to know Italy is to get to know Italians, so if your waiter or barista or hotelier strikes up a conversation, I highly recommend making time for them. They are most likely not chatting with you in the name of Good Customer Service or because they want something from you (it took me quite a while to believe this but it's usually true). They really do just want to get to know you a little better.

The snap above is of the owner of La Vache Qui Rit restaurant in Torino. A friend and I had a fabulous dinner there and as we were leaving (at about 11 pm), the owner came over to say hello. We stood in the doorway for over an hour talking: about our meal, the recipes, beef in general, how his restaurant got started and how business was going, and (somehow) young people in Torino. Every 15 minutes or so, he would ask whether we wanted a limoncello or digestivo, and we kept declining, saying we really did need to get home. 

I don't really remember what else we did that day, or even what I ate at the restaurant, except that it was excellent. But I'm glad I made time during my visit to have that conversation. And of course whenever someone mentions they are going to Torino (Turin), I always recommend visiting La Vache Qui Rit.

Photo by Madeline

Farinata

Farinata could be described a sort of dense savory pancake; or maybe as a thin chick pea pizza crust; or maybe as a heavy, thick tortilla. 

In any case it's a batter of chick pea flour with water and olive oil, baked in an oven and then sprinkled with salt and maybe some herbs like rosemary.

It's found in Liguria, which is in northern Italy along the Mediterranean coast. This photo was taken at a pizzeria in Turin, but the Cinque Terre is a great place to try it too. 

Farther south along the Tuscan shores, it's also called Cecina (ceci = chick peas in Italian).

Buonissimo!

Eataly, Turin

Eataly, as the name suggests, is about eating in Italy. So I'm dedicating an entire post to it.

Eataly was built during the major overhaul done in Turin to prepare for the 2006 winter Olympic Games, and is basically a gourmet grocery store offering all foods Italian. It's divided into sections with meats (prosciutto, anyone? See photo below), cheeses, produce, etc. Many of the specialty sections also have a restaurant-like area, or "restaurantino", which offers a limited menu by a renowned chef.

 

So ignore the conventional wisdom that says never grocery shop on an empty stomach, and definitely arrive hungry. Not surprisingly (it's Italy after all), you can only eat lunch from noon to 3 pm and dinner from 7 pm onwards.

I wouldn't do much grocery shopping there because gourmet food has gourmet prices, but I definitely recommend browsing the aisles, especially the jams and sauces section, and picking out a few things to buy and taste. I spent about 100 Euros on a relatively small bag of groceries, all of which had to be eaten before I left Turin. But it wasn't a problem: I think I finished off a jar of pickled onions in the taxi (note: I do not normally love pickled onions).

Don't forget to visit the wine and beer section of the store, too. The photo below shows about half of the beer selection - though most of it is not Italian beer.

It's not in the centre of Turin, so take a taxi. But Eataly is a sensory and cultural experience not to be missed.

Photos by Madeline

Milan & Turin: The Aperitivo Hour

Some of the bars in Milan and Turin increase pre-dinner crowds by offering free food starting at about 6 pm. I'm not talking small dishes of olives and potato chips, either. I'm talking all-you-can-eat buffet style, with different types of pasta, pizza, potatoes, fruit salad, and vegetables. I've never seen a cover charge, and all you need to do is order a drink to partake.

It's admittedly not high-end food, but for the tourist looking to save a little money or eat early, it's great. Of course Italy is not an all-you-can-eat culture. Italians buy a drink, take a tiny plate of food, and socialize - which is precisely the idea, and presumably the reason these places can stay in business.

If you do plan to just nibble along with the Milanesi or Torinesi, you'll still have a great local experience, soaking up the buzz of Italians just coming off work who are still dressed to the nines and relaxing with friends. 

When we lived in Milan we often went for aperitivi in Piazza della Vetra, thinking we'd just have a quick drink and some nibbles and then have a proper dinner at Enoteca della Vetra across the square. But it never worked that way; we were always full after aperitivi.

If you want to be organized and not just find them as you wander, here's a good starter list of aperitivo places in Milan.

In Turin, there are quite a few on Via Po just down from Piazza Castello; Roma già Talmone, in Pza Carlo Felice has been recommended; and don't forget to wander the Quadrilatero Romano to find more.

Parma also participates in this wonderful tradition!

Buon Appetito!

Update: The New York Times Frugal Traveler published a piece on this on March 18, 2009

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