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Italy : Turin - November 2007

Country Code: Dial for Italy

Home to fast cars and Slow Food, Turin tends to come alive during the winter months. November is an excellent time to visit, particularly for the foodie-minded, with truffle festivals and steaming plates of seasonal game served up in many of the city’s restaurants. Matt Barker tries to leave some room for pudding

Getting around

Caselle airport

Bus: A bus service from the airport to the city centre runs every 30 minutes, from 5.15am to 11pm (see www.sadem.it). The journey takes 40 minutes and costs €5.
Train: Trains run directly into Dora station from the airport. The service departs every 30 minutes (see www.gtt.to.it) and takes 40 minutes. Tickets cost €3.
Taxi: A taxi to the city centre takes about 30 minutes and costs €35. Tourist information: The city’s main tourist office is at the Atrium, Piazza Solferino (tel. , www.turismotorino.org).

Giardino Reale

The gardens and small squares surrounding the Royal Palace lend the city centre a suitably grandiose air

Culture vultures – The Museo di Antichita (88/c Via XX Settembre) is housed in the Palazzo’s former conservatory and contains artefacts dating from prehistoric times right up to the Roman era. The Museo Egizio (6 Via Accademia delle Scienze) has the largest collection of Egyptian artefacts outside of northern Africa.

Must eat – Tre Galline (37 Via Bellezia, ) is one of Turin’s best restaurants. If you go there, make sure to try the restaurant’s signature dish: ravioli of black truffles. Pepino (8 Piazza Carignano, tel. ) is the birthplace of the ice lolly and still sells a mean hazelnut gelato.

Crocetta

Running down into the centre, Corso Vittorio Emanuale II is one of Turin’s major thoroughfares, and is a useful starting point

Sleep soundly – The Golden Palace (18 Via dell’Arcivescovado, , thi.it, rooms from €205) is a five-star glamour puss, complete with a spa and a swanky restaurant. The pretty Conte Biancamano (73 Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, tel. , www.hotelcontebiancamano.it, rooms from €105) is set in a 19th-century town house.

Must drink – Caffe Platti (72 Corso Vittorio Emanuele II) has been serving Torinese bicerin (coffee, chocolate and a big dollop of cream) since 1875, whereas Caffe Bodoni (2 Via Bodoni) is the place for a marocchino – espresso with hot milk and cocoa. Bear in mind that it’s closed on Sundays, though.

Shop til you drop – Gerla (88 Corso Vittorio Emanuele II) is a chocolate treasure trove, while nearby Baudracco (62 Corso Vittorio Emanuele II) is the place to stock up on home-made pasta.

Lingotto and Valentino

To the south of the city centre, the Lingotto area is dominated by the former Fiat factory of the same name.

Sleep soundly – Le Méridien Lingotto (262 Via Nizza, , lemeridien-lingotto. it, rooms from €230) is a Renzo Piano-designed bolthole housed in the original Fiat factory. Less pricey, and a little more homely, the Hotel Valentino du Parc (16 Via Giotto, , hotelvalentino.it, rooms from €105) has large studios overlooking a park.

Culture vultures – The city’s botanical garden (25 Viale Mattioli) sits in the Valentino Park. The Pinacoteca gallery (230 Via Nizza) is perched atop the Lingotto and houses Giovanni and Marella Agnelli’s extensive art collection.

Must eat – Eataly (224 Via Nizza, 1 ) is a multi-functional gastro-temple where you can buy, eat and study food, and it contains no less than 10 restaurants. It’s closed on Mondays, though. Pizzeria Dessi (92 Via Madama Cristina, ) serves up excellent farinate, a Ligurian take on the dough disc.

Out of Town

The cluster of small towns surrounding Turin each have a character all of their own, but are united by their love of good food and wine.

Culture vultures – After decades of neglect and disrepair, the Royal Palace at Venaria Reale has been given a facelift and has just re-opened to the public. Regular train and bus services run daily from central Turin. Set in the town’s castle, the new Advertising Museum (Piazza Mafalda di Savoia) in Rivoli is full of fascinating posters and campaigns from times past, and it’s well worth a detour. A regular 40 minute bus service runs here from the city centre.

Must eat – If you’re quick, you can still catch the final days of this year’s Alba Truffle Festival, which finishes on 11 November. Regular trains run there from Porta Nuova station or it’s a one-anda-half hour bus journey from the city centre.

Compiled by Matt Barker