Turin and the Piedmont

(September 14-29, 2009)   Instead of the dreary day the forecast had led us to expect, we awoke in Nice to brilliant sun and 21°C/69°F  which made our drive north very pleasant, at least in France.  

   Wanting to avoid the autoroutes we left Nice along the D2204 to Sospel where we stopped for coffee and a freshly baked croissant before heading up the Roya River to the tunnel joining France and Italy at Tende.

   Our Garmin GPS says the time  for this route is about the same as it would be via the A8 but the topography is  spectacular and worth the extra attention one has to pay to avoid missing one of the many sharp turns along the way. We arrived at tunnel at Tende, thinking about putting the top down.

   The other side of the 3 1/2 kilometer tunnel was a totally different story, and we emerged to rain and 14°.  If the forecasts are to be believed that may be the last time we will see the sun before we return to Nice in this weekend.

Turin

(September 14, 15, 16)  After a brief lunch stop just outside the city (brief because the only restaurant we could find for miles had stopped serving hot food and only offered salad and cold meat), we checked into the Victoria, a 106-room hotel in the historic section of the city, a few blocks from the Piazza San Carlo (www.hotelvictoria-torino.com).

   Each of the rooms is different, and ours (€180) was immaculate but compact, with a nice marble bathroom and very large terrace.  Other than the fantastic location, the major selling point of the hotel is the number and comfort of the public rooms for reading, eating breakfast or just sitting in the garden on nicer days than we had.  It is also totally quiet as the via Nino Costa is a pedestrian cul-de-sac off a quiet, narrow street. 

    For a restaurant for our first night on the town, the concierge recommended Porto Savona and we strolled along under the arcades of Via Po to Piazza Vittorio Veneto 2.  It was too chilly for us to eat outside facing the Po, but there were three or four small and inviting dining rooms inside. We started with a mixed, cold antipasto (€9.30) which consisted of raw tuna wrapped in sardines, an herb-topped chevre, spicy, raw ground veal, pasta and vitello tonnato. 

   Both Gary's grilled veal (€14.50) with porcini and shaved Parmesan and Varian's rabbit (€12) were basic presentations, no sauce and no vegetables but tasty nonetheless.  Of the three cheeses offered, Varian got a large plate of Castelmagno DOP (€7) and Gary a Gorgonzola Dolcificato Costa di Novara (€6).  A tray of honey, candied citrus and bitter jam were put on the table, much to Gary's delight.

   We started with a half bottle of a local sparkling wine, Ferghettino Franciacorta (€15), because they didn't offer it by the glass and then enjoyed a one-liter carafe of a Barbera d' Asti (€10).  As you can tell from the prices, this was not a fancy place.  It was simple with honest and good food, and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

    First thing the next morning, or not quite first thing as we had a leisurely breakfast buffet and then read the IHT, we set out for the day's sightseeing.  First, we went to the tourist office in the Piazza San Carlo and bought a Torino Card.  We chose one for three days (€22 apiece).  This provides not only free admission to all the museums, villas, etc but also free transportation on the city's many buses. This is a real deal.

    Our next stop, the Porta Palazzo market, didn't require an admission fee but it should.  What an attraction!  It is reportedly the largest outdoor market in Europe.  Outside in the giant Piazza della Repubblica is a seemingly endless array of fruit and vegetable stands, inside one of the buildings flanking the piazza are the meat vendors and inside another, the fish mongers.  Scattered around the outskirts are stalls selling cheap, basic clothing and household goods.

   Of course, we had to stop at one of the many cafes for which Turin is proud and try their famous cocolate drink, il bicerin, made with melted chocolate, milk, sugar poured into a glass and topped with boiling coffee. I think one will b enough for us this trip and maybe forever because it is so rich. It is delicious, though.

   At the Palazzo Reale, our card got us in and a reduced rate on the audio guide, totally necessary as the obligatory tours are only in Italian.  This was the House of Savoy's official Royal Palace until 1865, and afterwards one of their many homes. The tour travels through the private apartments of the kings and queens, now furnished much as it was, or might have been, in various generations of the family.  Of all the palaces we have visited in Europe, this has the largest number of completely furnished and decorated rooms, one more opulent than the last.

    Lunch on the Piazza Carignano, was had, not at the famous and venerable Del Cambio (where we decided to go for dinner the next night) but at the unique, century-old Pepino next door.  After several minutes sitting dumbly at our table, we figured out the drill and went up to the counter and pointed to the food we wanted--ravioli stuffed with cheese and vegetables for Gary and a thin frittata and a salmon and avocado salad for Varian.  With a bottle of water and two glasses of wine, the total came to €24. 

    Having recently spent a month in Egypt, we debated whether or not to bother with Turin's Egyptian museum, Museo Egizio, but since it was free with our card, we figured we had nothing to lose. It was founded in 1824 by Carlo Felice of Savoy and is now reputed to be the most complete Egyptian museum in the world, after Cairo, dedicated exclusively to Egypt. 

  Museo Egizio may be second to Cairo in terms of the shear number of objects, but it beats Cairo hands down with its brilliant displays labeled in both Italian and English.  Maybe the new museum being built in Giza will correct this embarrassment for Egypt.  The visual display also competes very well with that of  the Metropolitan Museum in New York.  The collection began with the purchase of 8,000 pieces but was enriched dramatically in the 19th century due to the work of archaeologist Ernesto Schiaparelli with a wealth of complete temples, tombs. paintings and statuary.

   And then on to Turin's unique gem of a museum.  Begun at the end of the 19th century as a synagogue, the Mole Antonelliana, Museo Nazionale del Cinema, is one of the most fascinating experiences to be had anywhere.

    Start with a ride in the glass elevator up to the top of the dome, 550 feet high and walk our along the balcony for a stunning 360° view of the city.

    Then, on to the collection, and what a collection. There is one vast room with reclining seats facing two giant movie screens.  Ten anterooms surround this room, each with smaller movie screens  dedicated to major themes  some nostalgic and some futuristic or amusingly imaginative (picture two lines of 10 white porcelain toilet bowls or a circular couch to lie on while looking at the movie projected on the ceiling). 

   The cafe is as unusual as the museum.  Sit at one of the seats at the long glass table and operate the computer embedded in the table to see the menu and museum events and offerings, or sit at one of the glass cubes to sample the snacks, lunch or beverages at this smart cafe.

   Dinner at C'era una volta (with a Michelin one-fork) our second night was a disappointment.  When we climbed the stairs to the second floor, following the directions on the discreet sign outside, we thought we might be on to something.  Not so.  The dining rooms were brightly lit, the food mediocre, and the clientele mainly tourists.  Even the €26 price for the five-course tasting menu didn't make the experience more palatable. Maybe a low level Michelin mention leads to easy money for the restaurant and laziness.

   Rain was coming down much harder on our third day in Turin, so we were delighted that we had planned to visit the old Fiat factory, Lingotto, and the slow food capital, EATALY.  Our card got us on the packed bus and let us out right in front of the former factory.

   Most of the space at Lingotto is given over to stores, making it a glorified mall, but the famous car ramps on either end which go up to the car test-track on the building's top, have been preserved; and Renzo Piano created a beautiful new museum to house Giovanni and Marella Agnelli's art collection.  The exhibition is small but lovely with several large paintings by Canaletto, Matisse, and a Tiepolo, Renoir and two Picassos thrown in.

   Across the street from the Musuem is EATALY, an elegant store for food and wine with several counters for eating and a proper restaurant in the basement.  Whole Foods should watch their backs: EATALY has opened a branch in Tokyo.  Can New York be far behind?

   We were too early for lunch but did manage to buy an absolutely indispensable citrus zester before we caught a bus back to the center of the city.

   Lunch at La Campana, Via XX Settembre 79, had us reminiscing about our visit a few years ago to Puglia, the culinary home of this restaurant.  The fava bean purée, served with greens was particularly Puglianese.  Not only were the dishes specialities of Puglia but so were the wines. So, too, even the photographs on the walls. The total bill of €43 (including a bottle of Chardonnay from Puglia) added to the pleasure.

   For our last meal in town, we decided to splurge on Del Cambio, recommended by Gerard and Crista as well as having four red forks in the Michelin.  The rooms look much the same as they 250 years ago when Cavour was a regular and could stay in touch with his office in the finance ministry via hand signals (the predecessor to the cell phone, said the maitre d').  

   Wisely as it turns out we didn't choose the €75, six-course menu and ordered à la carte.  After the amuse bouche of vitello tonnato, we enjoyed another typical Piemontese summer offering--a fried egg on a bed of vinegared zucchini and onion slices with a side dish of a poached egg on lettuce. 

   For his main course, Gary had a beautifully cooked steak with a hollowed out potato in which spears of asparagus, carrots and green beans were arranged (€29).  Varian's rabbit was boned and rolled around herbs (€24).  Both of us found our food delicious but so plentiful that we couldn't even eat half our serving.  A shared plate of cheese (€18) also went unfinished.  Our 2003 Fumin from the Vallee d'Aosta (€40), however, was finished.

   All in all we found Turin a city well worth the few days we spent there.  It is a city, at least in the large historic center, on a very human scale with few buildings higher than six floors, very few cars, and miles of arcaded walk-ways sheltering pedestrians from the weather.  Pedestrian areas abound and there are more piazzas, and they are larger, than in any city we know.

(September 17, 2009) Finally the day dawned with the sun shining so our drive out to the Castello Rivoli, just west of town was quite pleasant.  This is one of the Savoy villas making up the collection designated World Heritage Sites, but this one can be skipped.  It was never finished and now houses a collection of fairly bad contemporary art.

   Next stop was to be another Savoy villa, Castello Racconigi, but lunch first at the Ristorante Castello, a short walk from our destination.  This was a real local place so we ate among the workmen and the businessmen, all of whom were men.  Two courses and coffee came to €37 with a nice bottle of Arneis.

   We were just in time for the 2:00 tour of the Castello, obligatory but only in Italian.  Room after room, each more sumptuously furnished than the last took us over two floors.  At the end we even got to the enormous kitchen. The family lived here until the mid-20th century so there are some modern touches as well as virtually all the original furniture and decoration.  This is an absolute must see.

   Even with our GPS it took a bit of luck and pluck to find our hotel, the Villa Tiboldi (www.villatiboldi.it) set among its vast vineyards.

    At every turn, the exquisite Italian aesthetic is apparent.  From the modern sconces in the restaurant and the vase/candle holders on the tables to the bathroom fixtures, every detail has been thought out perfectly. 

    Our room (€100) was in the annex, along with three other rooms.  We were a 10-minute walk from the main building so we chose to drive to their restaurant.  We were welcomed with a complimentary sparkling wine which got us into a mood to enjoy their tasting menu with wine pairings (€60) from their own wines, bottled under the "Malvira" label which we have at home and which we now appreciate even more.

   Marinated meat, thinly sliced led off, followed by chunks of tomato molded into a small mound and garnished with basil, and then deep-fried zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella.  Because it was the season, they snuck in a course of sautéed porcini served with  their Tre Uve 2006, a blend of Chardonnay, Arneis and Sauvignon Blanc which we really liked.  

   The pasta was sauced with strings of zucchini and ham and had a smokey and crunchy texture which came off well.  The main course, duck breast with fruit and mashed potatoes, was served with a Roero 2003, Superiore Mombeltramo which was our favorite of the night.  Gary's dessert, coffee in three forms, he termed beyond wonderful.

(September 18, 2009).   The weather cooperated long enough for us to take our breakfast on the lovely terrace overlooking the valley and the vineyards.

    Full of uncharacteristic optimism, we drove off with the top down but very soon put it up as the rains started, not hard, but enough to put a bit of a damper on our visits to Alba and the towns of the Langhe - Roddi, then Verduno where we had a glass of Favorita at the wine cooperative on the piazza after viewing the impressive panoramic viewpoint just above.

    La Morra, and the Ristorante Belvedere, offer another spectacular panorama as well as lovely lunch, the best of which was the mushrooms done three ways--raw on baby lettuce, moussed and soufléed.

    We were intrigued by a sort of Parmesan crepe that the chef served first as an amuse bouche rolled around a piece of ham, garnishing warm vegetable creation, somewhere between custard and soup.

    This same Parmesan crepe preparation also formed the bed for the sautéed mushrooms that came with Gary's rabbit.  We think the chef melts thin shavings of the cheese in a Teflon skillet, just long enough to have them merge into one pliable piece but not long enough to brown or melt away.  Anyway, we will experiment at home.

   Because of the famous cheese festival in Bra, we had trouble finding a room for this our last night and would up in Carru' at the B&B, Il Becco, which was definitely not worth the one-half hour it took to find it

.

(September 19, 2009) Up and out by 7:15, we headed directly home and arrived 2 1/2 hours later in time for coffee and croissant in the Cours Saleya.  Our trip was one day shorter than planned but was a great introduction to a region of Italy that is well worth another visit.