After exploring a vintage market and several vintage shops and bars, it was time to upgrade to a more complete experience and visit a vintage city. Yes, such thing exists.
I had to go to Turin to run some errands, including a quick investigation on what has happened to a local company that suddenly vanished (fyi I completed the task successfully, it seems that all the books with Hercules Poirot turned out to be very useful for my deduction skills).
Luckily Turin and Milan are very well connected with trains running every hour and it took me only 50 minutes to get from one city’s center to the other’s. Once I was done with my duties I had a few hours to explore the town.
It wasn’t my first time there. Many years ago I visited one of my dearest friends, who used to be a local. At that time our priorities were very different than appreciating the architectonial beauty of Turin, so this appeared like a good opportunity to make up for this previous lack of an urbanscape curiosity.
Turin was Italy’s first capital and also the home of the royal family. The city still preserves the grandeur and the elegance of the glamorous past even though I preceived some signs of urban decay like the mirriade of beggars and homeless people and the, sometimes, filthy streets.
However, it was great to walk under the medieval porticos (which stretch for 18 km accross the city center) and wandering through the numerous belle epoque galleries, grand piazzas and historic cafes. It seemed that the time has stopped and anything, from the cobblestone streets to the old time boutiques had a genuine vintage feeling.
Here are my shots from the not-so-slow-walk around Turin. Do you like the city?
I was in Turin in April! Just overnight though. I visited the Egyptian museum while I was there and walked around the city center just observing. Nice place. Didn’t know it was once the capital of Italy.
It is a nice place, indeed! One day might be enough to see most of it. For sure not enough to try all the local food and chocolates ?
actually… not.
being a resident, I know even a week is still not enough.
in Turin, THE word is “understatement”, but if you look carefully you may discover a huge lot of unique things there.
“Turin is the tourist equivalent of The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe:
the best kept secret ever!”
Alexander Stille (cit.)