Artsygirl: Difficult to answer without knowing your interests. Do you want rural or urban? Interested in shopping, architecture and museums? (If so, Turin)

Tell me more. But off hand, I would say Alba.

We'll will have been in Murren and Zermatt prior and headed to Verona and Venice. We're interested in both rural and urban but Switzerland may take care of the rural?? architecture yes not too many museums 16 year old and 14 year old tend to get a bit ansy after too many.

Alba is lovely, and easy to walk around. But the draw in this area, or a large part of it anyway, is the food and wine. Will you have a car? If not, I would head for Turin. Give me some more information on the car issue, and likes and dislikes.

The kids should love the cinema museum and the Mole in Turin. And there is also a car museum that is supposed to be wonderful, even for people who are not enamored of cars!

And maybe even the Egyptian Museum! They will certainly love the cafes with all of those treats on offer! So I am rethinking my original advice to you from 6/09. Turin may be better for you with the kids, but you need to tell me if you will have a car or not.

I plan to begin the home stretch of this report soon..just two more dinners and one full day of exploring Turin.

I appreciate your advice! Our kids are versatile... Im picturing Alba to be like the Napa area in CA. Things are a bit farther apart with smaller towns. Car is necessary! We're still debating on the car...
We live very close to wine country in CA. I'm almost thinking the city would be better too. Kids want to experience the culture, learn about the history and eat food :) My husband and I will get back and can then do the countryside.
Can't wait to hear about your dinners!

eks --

For future reference in case you ever head back that way. Did some more checking on Cascina Cornale. Their web site (in Italian only) indicates that the ristorante is only open on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. But the good part is that the have a web-based form for reserving a table so you can do this well in advance.

Have now re-aranged my itinerary to take this into account! What looks like a menu for May is posted on the web too. Sounds amazing:

Venerdì 1 maggio - Menù

Salumi del Roero
Carpione di vitello piemontese
Insalata di fagioli borlotti e cipolle
Tonno di pollo
Insalata di patate lesse e uovo sodo
Zuppa di ceci e verza
Gnocchetti di ricotta e erbette al forno
Spezzatino di vitello Piemontese
Straccetti di coscia di vitello Piemontese
Spinaci saltati e carote stufate
Insalata di finocchi, carote e topinambur
Pera Madernassa da pianta storica cotta in vino
Bunet
Vino a scelta
Pani cotti su piano in mattone refrattario
€ 25

We spent several hours at the Cinema Museum. First, the elevator whisked us through the interior of the structure to an outdoor viewing platform that offered a spectacular view of the city and surroundings. In better weather, the view would be even more awesome, extending to the mountains which even in late April, wore crowns of snow.

After the elevator ride, we spent about 2 hours in the museum itself,
Lounging in the jaunty red chaises, we watched film clips, then proceeded to the wonderful temporary exhibit recounting the life, filmography, and death of Rudolf Valentino. We then meandered through the playful displays of film posters and film-related artifacts, and participated in a couple of interactive special effects.
It was great fun and I highly recommend a visit.


We remained until closing time and then crossed the street to the restaurant where I had made reservations a couple of days before: Sotto Le Mole, a SlowFood favorite at Via Montebello, 9. (Closed Mondays)


In deference to its location across the street from the museum, film posters and memorabilia, as well as vintage liquor ads, adorn the walls of the handsome dining room, crowned by soaring brick arches. The menu hews closely to Piemontese tradition, with a few modern twists.


http://www.sottolamole.eu/Italiano/menu/menu.htm

One clue to the quality of the meal was the basket of mini-grissini (Torinese bread sticks, a fixture at local tables and one we found to be often, but not always, a reliable indicator of the quality of the meal to come) and the stupendous bread dusted with finely chopped Taggiasca olives from Liguria.

I began (the menu has changed slightly since our visit) with
a terrine of broccoli and “pumpkin” sauced with Raschera, a raw cow’s milk mountain cheese. Excellent!

My partner opted for the soup of peas and favas, reflective of the season, which was equally lovely. (Why do my own soups pale by comparison to those we enjoy in Italy?)

We skipped the secondi in favor of main courses of the quintessential local pasta—agnolotti del Plin, or tiny ravioli (“Plin” is dialect for “pinched”) stuffed here with rabbit and herbs.

For dessert, another quintessential Piemontese dish—the rich and delicious Giandujot, which vaguely resembles a chocolate pudding and is better in the mouth than described on the page!

I should note, for those hankering for fish, that our dining neighbors ordered the steamed merluzzo, or cod, which they proclaimed to be stellar.

We drank a 2006 Barbera from Fontanafredda (I became a Barbera fan on this trip!). With water and service, the total for two of us was 70 Euro. Recommended.

The morning of our last full day in Italy was April 25, Liberation Day, a major national holiday. Last year on this date we had been in Amalfi, where restaurants and tourist-oriented businesses remained open for the hordes of daytrippers who descended on the town.

We found a very different story here in Turin. On this rather chilly and damp Saturday, virtually all of the shops were shut tight. (Eataly, too, was closed, and I was very glad we had visited on the day before.)

The Turin City Tourist Office offers several guided tours, most of which take place at the end of the week.


http://www.turismotorino.org/index.php?id=505

Here are few other options for guided touring:


http://www.somewhere.it/

We opted for the walking tour of the city, given every Saturday at 10am for 8 euro per person and departing form the tourist office on the west side of the Piazza Castello. Online booking is possible and highly recommended. I neglected to book in advance and thus we were forced to wade through the crowd clamoring for last-minute tickets at the tourist office. It was quite a scene and those arriving less than 15 minutes before the 10am departure time were turned way for lack of space, resulting in much anguished hand wringing and loud verbal laments. Perhaps the crowd was a result of the holiday; virtually all of our fellow tourists were Italian.

After purchasing the tickets and receiving our paper badges, we waited. And waited. Finally, after having been divided into two groups of about 20 people each, we set off, following in the footsteps of our accomplished guide,Silvia Pellegrino. (Silvia is available for private tours and I highly recommend her:
[email protected].

Glad you enjoyed the cinema museum. I adore it. (That's my temple!) Did you have anything to drink at the bar?

Thanks, Eks, this has been most useful. We're set for Marcarini agroturismo October 4 to 8. I'm hoping that maybe we can arrange to bump into drbb while we're there and compare notes. I have an acquaintance who is starting to plan a trip there for about a week before we get there. He's likely going to wind up staying in Alba. I've forwarded your report to him as well. It's so nice to have so much information available from such a reliable source. Thanks.

Zeppole: I can understand why you love the cinema museum! No, we did not have a drink but I do recall seeing the bar area which looked inviting.

I just found this interesting article about aperitivi buffets in Torino; it includes a few of the cafes we visited:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200...nk-italy/print

Julie: I truly appreciate your comments; I will finish up with this very soon..

The funny thing about the bar is that the menus are video screens embedded in the glowing tables (which change colors constantly). The video screens show clips from famous movies of people playing with their food depending on what you're ordering (primi shows the baked potato dance from Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, etc).

I went to the cinema museum and liked it so much I begged my husband to go back with me the next day, and we did. I think it is the greatest museum of its kind. It's like being inside a giant movie brain, and it really captures the overwhelming romance of the movies, and the fun of them.

I hope to go back again very soon. I enjoy Torino quite a bit and I saw too little of it. I want to go to the modern art museums and the auto museum, and do some more shopping. It's the only place in Italy I ever had a lot of fun shopping (including buying PACE flags).

Thanks for the fascinating report! I had just been wondering about Turin-- was looking for a northern Italian destination for next year to give me an excuse to make another stop in Milan for the sights I didn't get to this time, and from you report Turin sounds like a good choice.

Looking forward to reading about the walking tour.

Zeppole: I am so sorry I missed that museum bar! The auto museum is not something that sounds as if it would interest me. But had we had more time, I would have put it next on our list, because several seemingly like-minded people have recommended it highly. Turin clearly has an abundance of attractions for visitors.

FiFi; I will try to continue later today..after a rather gruesome-sounding dental treatment!

The walking tour lasted about 2 hours and provided an excellent introduction to Turin. All of our fellow participants spoke Italian, but this was not, thankfully, one of those tours where the guide offers a long, detailed explanation in the primary language, eliciting lots of laughter and comments, and follows with a two-sentence translation in English. As I mentioned above, Silvia was an top-notch guide and I would recommend her for a private tour of the city. We might have booked this ourselves, had I known about her before we arrived.

The tour began at the Palazzo Madama, built on the site of the east gate of the Roman town, Augusta Taurinorum, the ruins of which are visibile within the palace. The façade was rebuilt in the 18th century, according to the design of Filippo Juvarra, the celebrated architect of the Savoy court. The jewel of the Baroque interior is the monumental staircase, also designed by Juvarra. Here are photos:


http://tinyurl.com/bv5tgg


http://torinodailyphoto.blogspot.com...staircase.html

and more information:

http://www.palazzomadamatorino.it/pa...?id_pagina=103


Also contained within is the Museo Civico d’Arte Antica; the tour does not include this museum, however.

After the Palazzo Madama, Silvia offered historical information about the Royal Palace, and the royal chapel of SanLorenzo, a Baroque masterwork by whose elaborate interior by Guarnino Guarini, whose effusive interior hides behind a rather severe façade.

Photos:

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildi...nzo_Turin.html

Leaving the Piazza Castello, we passed Turin’s only surviving Renaissance structure, the Duomo di San Giovanni, home to one of the most controversial relics of Christendom, the Shroud of Turin.
Unfortunately, we did not have time to enter either the Duomo , or Guarini’s Capella della Sacra Sindone, the chapel built for the shroud.

Next, we plunged into the Quadrilatero Romano, the grid of right-angled streets west of the Piazza Castello that formed the core of the original Roman settlement. Today they are packed with restaurants and shops most, but not all, of which were closed on the holiday. The 17th Century Palazza della Citta, Turin’s city hall, overlooks the former Roman Forum and medieval market square. On this day, there was a small craft market that we planned to visit after the tour.

We walked along the Via Garibaldi, one of the main arteries of the Quadrilatero Romano, lined with chain shops and moderately priced clothes shops, as well as some fast-food-type restaurants.

The city tour includes an option to continue on to the Museo Egizio, whose collection of art and artifacts from ancient Egypt is reportedly second only to that of the Cairo museum. We passed on this option (more reason to return to Turin someday) and said goodbye to the group and to Silvia, at the Piazza San Carlo. From there, we wandered past the elegant shops lining the Via Roma, and walked back to our hotel for a short break.

Even with two days/two nights in Turin, we realized how little of the city we had actually sampled. Centimeter by centimeter, this must be one of the richest cities in Italy as far as places of interest for a visitor!

ekscrunchy, how many more days would you add if you had time?

I corresponded by email with a Torinese who suggested a week, but that was probably campanilismo or local patriotism.

If you spent four days in Rome, I would think four days would be ample for Turin.

It depends on the time length of the entire trip, but I would think that 4 days would give a good overview and allow some time in museums as well as perhaps even a day trip to one of the attractions outside the city. And there seem to be very good prices at hotels on weekends, so including a weekend would be a good idea price wise.

Here is a bit more:


Deciding to skip lunch in order to have more time for explorations, we headed, instead, back to the Quadrilatero Romano for a quick, on-the-go snack of Focaccia al Formaggio from a bakery that seemed to specialize in Ligurian breads. Disappointing. We were headed for perhaps the most legendary of Torinese caffes, Al Bicerin. Tucked away on the Piazza della Consolata, facing the “double” church of the same name, Al Bicerin dates from 1763 and has been owned and operated by women ever since.


Make sure to take a look at the recipes, and at the “specialties” page, on their website:


http://www.bicerin.it/eng/index.html


Our Chocopasses entitled us to a slice of chocolate cake and, fortunately, we were able to nab a table within the miniscule jewel of an interior. To go with the cake: A Bicerin, of course! Born on these premises in the 18th Century, bicerin is a sinfully rich concoction of espresso, chocolate, and fresh cream, whose exact proportions as served here are a closely guarded secret. Suffice to say that the combination of the chocolate cake and the Bicerin was a bit rich, even for me. One or the other might be a better strategy.
Nevertheless, there was no crumb remaining on the plate! Heavenly!

After our treats, we headed across the piazza to the Santuario della Consolata, dedicated to the virgin protectress of Turin.


More about the church, and the rest of our last day in Turin, soon.

ekkscrunchy.

It occurred to me to ask, if I haven't already, if you ever go shopping on Arthur Avenue/187th St. in the Bronx. (My favorite stores are on 187th Street.) There are some fabulous treats up there, including a pasta fresca shop with wonderful handmade ravioli with fresh ricotta, a salumeria where the meats are made in shop, a very good bakery (TerraNova) wine store and large alimentari that sells a homemade long-cooked red pasta sauce and no end of imported Italian goods, plus makes incredible sandwiches. Some of the Italian-American offerings can be as good as the Italian offerings.

http://www.arthuravenuebronx.com/

Yes, I love that area! I was there about a week ago and wrote about a few things that I bought in a thread about AA on the US board! We need to go together sometime.

The pasta fresca shop is Borgatti Ravioli and there is no better fresh pasta in the entire city. In fact, the coincidence is that I am having some of their spaghetti (Lidia Bastianich recipe for Trapanese Tomato/Almond pesto) in about an hour! And, oh, that Terranova bread! Oh my goodness!

And heve is some important news on the NYCfood front: Eataly will open next year, at 200 Fifth AVenue (Zeppole, I certainly have you to thank. If not for your comment, I would still be calling it EatItaly!)

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.c...e-in-new-york/