Turin (or Torino, in Italian) is one of the most beautiful cities I've been in Italy, and in the world!
Gelato - ice cream!- in every corner, open and hospitable people, great shops and restaurants and amazing atmosphere!!!
The home of Torino and Juventus football teams and one of the important cities Po river crosses...
Night view of the Po river
Also, even if you're not a museum person, like I am, I'm sure you would appreciate the very special museums Turin has to offer:
For car lovers, the National Museum of Cars [ http://www.museoauto.it/website/en ] with a collection of 200 cars and representation of 8 countries, is a must see! The Ferraris are waiting...
For those who find Egyptian History fascinating, the Egyptian Museum of Turin is the second in the world (as in size of collection) after the one of...Cairo! Crazy huh?? http://www.museoegizio.it/
And last but not least, the National Museum of Cinema, a journey through movies and the tallest museum in the world! http://www.museocinema.it/index.php?l=en
Hosted in a quite amazing building, the Mole Antonelliana:
Construction started in 1863 and completed in 1889. The building was originally conceived as a synagogue hence the Jewish community of Turin hired Antonelli for that. But they weren't happy with him since he proposed a series of modifications which raised the final height to 167.5 meters, over 46 meters higher than the dome in the original design. Such changes, in addition to greater costs and construction time than were originally anticipated, did not satisfy the Jewish community and construction stopped in 1869, with a provisional roof.
In 1876, the Jewish community, having spent almost 3 times more than expected for a building that was still far from finished, announced that it was withdrawing from the project. In the end the synagogue was constructed somewhere else in the city and Antonelli finished his work which hosted the Museum of Risorgimento (Italian Renaissance).
The Mole Antonelliana is the tallest unenforced brick building in the world (built without a steel girder skeleton) and you can enjoy a spectacular view of Turin by getting to the elevator that passes through the building, up in the air, to the top. Here's a shot I took from up there:
Enjoy more of Turin in the slideshow below, modern, old, river, reflections... If you're going to Northern Italy, you shouldn't miss visiting this incredible city !!!
Tram passing by on the bridge over the Po river...
I hope you liked this post and that you put Turin on your 'must visit' list by now :D
Don't forget to smile !!! :)