Torino e Arrivaderci Torino

Greetings:

Mauro came a little after 9 AM and drove us to the center. At Piazza Vittorio Veneto, scene of our rubbing ids with Nietzsche, he brought us to a very nice café/sweetshop for cappuccino and croissants. The piazza is one of many in Torino but it borders the river Po.

We then walked along Via Po under arcades.

Here are some examples of the arcades:



Our goal was the National Cinema Museum. It is housed in the signature building of Torino, Il Mole Antonelliana:

This building is about 550 feet tall. When you enter you realize that the interior of the building is all open with a spiral stairway along the walls skipping through screens with movies playing, pictures of cinema stars and huge movie posters. In a column vertically piercing the center of the open space from the floor to as far as you can see is a glass elevator. Mauro had us first take this elevator and bring us to the observatory at the base of the spire of Il Mole. From their we were able to enjoy spectacular views of the city of Torino:

As you can see, the Alps almost surround Torino.

The cinema museum was wonderful. Being life-long movie fans definitely did not detract from the experience. There are rooms tucked away on the bottom floor that depict the early beginnings of shadow boxes, optical illusions with lenses, early 3D imaging, the broadening of viewing film to large audiences by the Lumiere brothers and the magic lanterns before Edison. You were then brought through the refinements of Edison’s using holes on the side of the film to sound and Technicolor.

Each month a different artist is showcased along the spiral stairs. As we climbed we enjoyed the work of Francesco Rosi. The one film I had seen was Carmen with Sophia Loren though during his career he worked with Americans such as Rod Steiger, John Turtorro and James Belushi. You end your travels among body molded reclining couches with speakers in the headrests to enjoy clips from various movies. The one we saw involved famous dance sequences: Last Tango In Paris, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Salo, again Sophia Loren. It was great!

Mauro was then called to work and then we were on our own. Gini immediately headed for the arcades and the shopping. Miles and miles of shopping – and so little time!

We found a good little pizzeria and had gelato at the famous Fiorio. Re-energized we took on the Egyptian museum. Torino has the second largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world; second only to Cairo. This was also a very rewarding experience and highly recommended.

We decided to walk the remaining mile and a half back to the hotel and wait for Giovanni’s and Vincenzo’s call. On the way we liked the Consolata Santuary:

When they arrived in the evening Giovanni was concerned about the storm that had hit New Hampshire and that his wife and daughter were not able to leave the house. We were concerned also and hope to talk to Kevin about the state of Alexandria.

Giovanni and Vincenzo had had an incredible day. Vincenzo had written about Giovanni and his world wide cooking exploits. This had drawn the attention of the biggest wine person in Italy. The two of them spent the afternoon with him as his guests. They were both given bottles of Barbaresco wine (we are talking big bucks here) as a parting gesture. They were both very excited about the experience.

However all four of us were pretty tired so we headed for a good local pizzeria and had dinner and turned in for the evening.

On our last morning in Torino (Thursday, January 29, 2009) Giovanni and Vincenzo took us to one of the largest open markets in the world here in Torino. It is open every day and is really big on Saturdays. There were four central sections: meat, fish, fruits and vegetables and clothing. A few shots:





However there is something about this picture that captures our experience:

That is Giovanni Leopardi with us.

Sadly we bid farewell to our truly wonderful hosts. Vincenzo is preparing for the release of his new book on wine and Giovanni is heading to Delhi, India for a three month assignment as Melba will oversee Carpaccio in Hanover, NH.

Thanks to our friends we were well stocked with sandwiches, pears and of course wine for our trip to Aosta where Mary T. awaits us:





Domani!