The weather in Turin has finally turned. We all got to bundle up and actually feel a chill in the air. Our first real “fall” is finally here. Sylvie and Noah, being native Angelenos, have never actually lived in a city where the temperature fluctuates more than 20 degrees in any direction. It was our first weekend in Torino for a while, so we finally got to have the tea party that Sylvie has been planning. We have been enjoying finding chestnuts on the ground, something that Josh remembers from childhood. I had never seen them grow on trees!
We spent our Saturday going up to the highest panoramic viewpoint of the city, the beautiful Superga basilica. It falls into my irreverent category of “ABC”, Another Big Church. It has survived centuries obviously in various states of (dis)repair. Graffiti marks the wall, the scrawling of various teens and tourists wanting to make the church a living guest book. Quick facts:
- The term“Superga” derives from“Serrapergia”, name of Germanic- Latin origin which means “mountain between the hills”.
- The church was inaugurated in 1731.
The saddest fact is that the 1949 tragedy of the plane crash of the entire Grande Torino soccer team occurred into the hillside of the Superga. There is a permanent shrine of sorts, and on the May 4th anniversary of the crash, Italians make a pilgrimage to the site to pay their respects to the legacy of one of the world’s greatest soccer teams.
We rounded out our weekend with a 5K run at the kids’ school. It was a lot of fun to see the kids jogging through the Italian countryside, avoiding the apples that were on the race trail. Fall also brings with it something we are all really looking forward to, our first visitors.
My parents will be arriving from Los Angeles in a few weeks. It is exciting to figure out where to take them and what to show them. They’ve both visited Italy many times. But, neither have ever been to Torino. We are planning to do a Best of the City Tour, then head to Milan and Venice for a few days.
It’s the best of Torino planning that has been fun to plot. We know that we have to get them sfogliatelle from bakery in the neighborhood (which means either reserving them the night before OR showing up at shop opening time to ensure there are any remaining!) We have gelato to show off, pizza to eat and even the special drink of Torino (bicerin) to share. And that is just the beginning of the food/beverage list!
We are deciding between a tour of the Juventus stadium, a winery near the kids school, or a palace in the nearby countryside. The fantastically long list of things we want to share gives us satisfaction that this is a place worth visiting–a really special city.
I am most looking forward to sitting in a nice cafe with my parents (the kids can stay with one of the babysitters we have found), having an aperitivo, and having Josh impress them with his Italian skills. So, mom and dad–we are excited to have you come. Just please don’t forget the two enormous 40 lb duffel bags that have all of our ski stuff. And we love you.