Weekend in Torino

From our home in Nice, we went with great friends to the Piedmont area of Italy, a lovely area somewhat undiscovered by tourists as it is a bit out-of-the-way. We stayed a couple of nights in Torino, a city which may be familiar to you as the home of FIAT (Fabricana Italiana Automobilia Torino – or Fix It Again Tony!) and/or as the home of the Shroud of Turin. The Shroud is housed in the Cattedrale di San Giovanni but only a large photograph may be viewed by the public. We walked for miles around the city, enjoying the many arcaded streets on a drizzly afternoon. The tiny streets of the old town are charming, the huge market filled with tempting foods at low prices, and the many Baroque palazzos and expansive piazzas create a very pleasant tour of this city on the Po River. We also visited the nearby towns of Alba and Asti, each charming and inviting.

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En route to Torino, we stopped in Alba, a lovely small town famous for its white truffles and great wines. As we looked for a restaurant, a couple came out of Lalibera and recommended it to us. How lucky! The food was outstanding. We started with grilled vegetables – the Italians always do wonderful things with vegetables. I had the agnolotti, miniature raviolis with parmesan and salvia while David had the tajarin which was homemade egg noodles with rabbit. For dessert there was a chocolate cake with candied orange. The Dolcetto d’Alba wine was wonderful. We all decided we could live in this town.

On the trip home we stopped in Asti, famous for its sparkling wine. But we were here for lunch at Ristorante Aldo di Castiglione which was like having a meal in someone’s home. Signora welcomed us to the lovely restaurant with its coved brick ceiling with beams, tile floors, large tables set with beautiful china and linens. She talked in Italian about the available antipasti and primi piatti and we caught what we could. The fellows started out with a mixed antipasto plate of various meats and vegetables; the gals had homemade tagliatelle, mine with asparagus, Roxanne’s with carciofi (artichokes). Some of the best pasta I've ever tasted! For piatti secondi we had kid, which was crispy and delicious, accompanied by more roasted artichokes. Then for dessert the fellows were good, having strawberries with moscato while the gals misbehaved, having bonet di nonna, grandma’s chocolate pudding with rum. It was a MOST satisfying and gracious meal.

One of the main reasons for our weekend in Torino was to see the Egyptian Museum, the second largest collection outside Egypt. Even our friends, who have visited Egypt, were impressed with the artifacts. The museum's archaeological staff spent much time in Egyptian excavations in the early 1900's. We spent several hours viewing the mummies, the statues, the Book of the Dead, and so on. The museum houses many important pieces of Ramses II, Amenhotep, and King Thutmose III. Incredible.