Turin
From World travel guide
Turin (Italian: Torino), a large city of about one million inhabitants, is set in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, a one-hour drive from the French border and slightly more than that from the Mediterranean sea.
Contents |
Understand
Turin was the first capital of modern Italy, and is the host of the upcoming 2006 Winter Olympic Games. While it's not a famous cultural city like Florence or Rome, the setting is pleasant, with the Po River flowing through the city, and the Italian Alps off in the distance.
Turin is an important city of technology and industry, and the FIAT automobile company is based here. (The 'T' in the name stands for Torino).
Turin inhabitants are well known accross Italy for thier understatement and confidentiality and the city reflects this attitude. Don't expect a funny or relaxed atmosphere such as the one in southern Italy.
Get in
By plane
The airport of Turin is placed north of the city and is named Caselle. The main carrier is Alitalia, Italy's flagship airline, which operates flight from every major european and italian city.
Caselle is also a destination for some low fares airline.
The airport is connected to the city by bus and taxis.
By train
Turin has two main railway station, Porta Nuova and Porta Susa. There also a smaller station near Lingotto area.
Generally speaking, Porta Nuova is a station dedicated to mid-range and long-range trains, while Porta Susa is more likely arrival place for local railway, but you'd better check in advance where you need to go. Many trains also stops in both stations.
Both stations are managed by Trenitalia, the italian state railways.
By car
- A4. From Milan and Venice.
- A5. From Ivrea and Aosta.
- A6. From Fossano, Ceva, and Savona.
- A21. From Asti, Alessandria, Genoa, and Piacenza.
- A32. From Frejus and France.
By bus
Get around
By public transportation
Turin has an efficient system of city connections with busses and trams managed by GTT. Currently, the first underground line is under construction and appears to be opened a couple of weeks before the Olympics. Both urban and suburban areas are served by an efficient network. Busses and trams cross the city from morning to late at night.
By bicycle
The City of Turin has recently completed a network of bicycle paths throughout the city.
By car
Car Rentals If you would like to rent a car, you can find all the main car hire companies at Turin Airport. Car rentals companies are grouped together immediately in front of the Domestic Arrivals, Ground Floor-Level Zero.
By taxi
- Pronto Taxi Tel: 011/5737
- Radio Taxi Tel: 011/5730
- Turin Airport Tel: (+39)11-991.44.19
- Main Railway station - Torino Porta Nuova Tel. (+39)11-54.73.31
- Via Sacchi ang. C.so Vittorio Emanuele II Tel: (+39)11-65.71.39
See
Turin's main attractions include important baroque palaces and churches, a regular and attractive street grid, an extensive network of arcades, famous coffeeshops and a number of world-renowned museums.
- Mole Antonelliana. Turin's landmark building was completed in 1888 as a synagogue. The 167.5-meter tower is the highest work of masonry in Europe and it now contain one of the finest cinema museum of Europe.
- The National Cinema Museum, [1]. The museum was opened in July 2000 in the building that symbolises Turin. The exhibition space covers 3,200 square metres and spans five floors. The themes of the floors are: the Archaeology of Cinema, the Film Camera, a Collection of Cinema Posters, Video Installations and the great Temple. In a spectacular setting the museum offers artefacts from the collection of the Maria Adrianna Prolo Foundation including: magic lanterns, optical illusions, photographs, drawings, models and other curious items.
- Museo dell'Automobile (Also Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia, Biscaretti for short.), Corso Unità d’Italia 40, [2]. Some may place this above the Uffizi as a showcase of Italian art. The collection houses over 170 vehicles, from 18th-century carriages to Formula 1 racers, and lots of gorgeous red sports cars.
- The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, Duomo di San Giovanni. The Cathedral's Chapel of the Shroud houses the controversial Shroud of Turin, which is stored in a vault below the Duomo. It is only displayed by papal decree, and the last time it was shown was during the Jubilee Year of 2000. The next time it is slated to be shown is the next Jubilee Year of 2025.
- Egyptian Museum, [3]. The Egyptian Museum houses the most important collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts outside Cairo. Founded in 1824 by King Carlo Felice after acquiring the collection of the archeologist Drovetti, the museum contains 30,000 exhibits. It documents the history and civilization of Egypt from the paleolithic to the coptic era through unique exhibits and collections of objets d'art, articles of daily use and funeral furnishings (including the Altar of Isis, the canvas painted by Gebelein, the intact tombs of Kha and Merit, and the exceptional cliff temple to Ellesjia). It's the second biggest egyptian museum of the world, second only to Cairo.
- Palazzo Madama
- Palazzo Carignano
- Quadrilatero romano. Full of restaurants, it is the old roman town
- Via Garibaldi, pedestrian-only shopping zone nearby Piazza Castello.
- Galleria Subalpina, a pedestrian passage from Piazza Castello e Piazza Carlo Alberto. One of the most elegant place of the city.
- Cathedral of Superga. On top of the hill nearby Turin, the cathedral had been builted as thanksgiving for a victorious battle against French and houses the tombs of the member of the House of Savoy. In 1949 the plane carrying the entire Turin FC team falled just under the cathedral, killing one of the greatest football team of ever. In the place of the wreck now there's a plate with the names of the killed. From the top of the hill there's the greatest possible view of Turin, with magnificent Alps behind. You can reach the top by car but also by a little chain-train. Ask for the Trenino per Superga.
- Rivoli Castle, [4]. Placed in the small town of Rivoli, east of Turin. Houses one of Europe's most important Contemporary Art Musems. The Castle of Rivoli is a unfinished XVIII castle that stands on top of Rivoli hills. Corso Francia (France Road) is one of the world's longest street and had been builted because of will of House of Savoy to connect Royal Palace in the centere of Turin with Rivoli Castle. You can reach it buy bus or taxi.
Do
- A trip to Superga and seeing how beautiful is Turin view from there.
- A walk on Roma street from Porta Nuova Station to Piazza Castello thru Piazza San Carlo to see how scenographic this city can be.
- Have a break in one of the historical cafe located around Piazza Castello, such as Mulassano or Baratti&Milano(est. 1873).
Learn
Work
Buy
Eat
Budget
- Doria: Via Academia Albertina, 42 (near to Porta Nuova Train Station, Center) +39 011 889300 Single 30euro, double 40euro. TV and bathroom in the room, very friendly staff.
- Serenella: Via conte Luigi Tarino, 4 (Center) +39 011 837031 Double 31euro. Clean and nice, fantastic price for Torino (note: at the Youth Hostel in Torino you pay 14euro for sharing the room with other 9 people; here you can share your room with one person for 15.50euro, and it's much nearer to the city center)
Mid-range
- 'L Birichin, Via Vincenzo Monti 16/a, 011657457, [5]]. $35-$45.
Splurge
Drink
Sleep
Budget
Mid-range
Splurge
Contact
Stay safe
Cope
Get out
- House of Savoy residences and haunting reserves. The city of Turin is surrondend by magnificent XVI, XVII and XVIII residences, such Royal Palace and Carignano Palace (in the centre of the city), Valentino Castle (inside the city, near Po river, within Valentino Park), Rivoli Castle (10 km west of the city), Stupinigi Haunting Pavillion (between the town of Orbassano and Nichelino, south of the city), the Racconigi Castle (near border with Cuneo province).The two main Savoy's haunting reserves, La Mandria Park and Stupinigi Park, are now natural reserves.
- The Alps. Turin is a city that feels his legacy with mountains and their very little distance is the reason why so many inhabitants has second homes in the thousands little village in the valleys. During Summer, if you have a day and want to relax, please do take a trip to Gran Paradiso National Park, or Orsiera Rocciavrè Park, or Val Varaita Park. During Winter, the Alps offer a wide range of ski resorts, from one of the world's greatest, Via Lattea, to a number of small ski area, less crowded and cheaper.
XX Winter Olympics
Torino 2006 XX Winter Olympic Games will take place from february 10 to 26, 2006. The centre of Olympic event is Turin, here are press and tv center, the main Olympic Village, most of accomodation facilities and this is the centre of the transport network to/from mountain competition sites. Olympics will take place part inside the city and part in the mountain are between Chisone Valley (Pragelato and Sestriere) and High Susa Valley (Bardonecchia, Cesana and Sauze D'Oulx). The town of Pinerolo will host Curling competitions.
Transportations
Turin
The best way to travel around in the city is public transport: GTT (Turin Transports Group) has hardened its transportation network with more vehicles and improved timetables, and has also set up a special trasport network to deal with Olympic fans, the X lines. These lines have fewer stops than normal ones and great part of their route is on reserved lane (Olympic Lane). Daily Olympic Pass (cost 5€) is a special card that allow you to travel all day long on every X line and on the whole public transportation network.
by car: outside the city have been set up 11 parking lots (9 free and 2 by booking), follow signals placed along highway ring to get there. It is not possible to park near competitions sites and is strongly raccomended not to enter inside the city by car. Every parking lot is connected to X line network.
by train: Every Turin FS stations (Porta Nuova, Porta Susa, Lingotto and Torino Dora) is connected with competitions site, non-competition sites (Olympic Village, Olympic Stadium, Medal Plaza) and with main hotels by the X lines. This has been named train&ride system. Porta Susa station is arrival place for Caselle Airport railway link.
Mountain Areas
by train: probably the best choice. There are two main railway line connecting Turin to Olympic Sites: Torino-Pinerolo line and Torino-Oulx-Bardonecchia line. Ride approx every 30 minutes. There are a number of special daily or multi-daily discounted pass.
by car: private car are not allowed to access Olympic Mountain Sites, there are a number of parking lot connected to competitions sites by free shuttle. Pay attention! Some of them are booking-only and you have to book your car park in advance at gttpark.telepark.it otherwise you will be rejected. This has been named Park&Ride system. There's no other way to access Mountain Sites by car, only inhabitants or guests with accomodations can apply for a limted number of special pass.
by bus: in order to let fans move freely around mountain areas has been set up a 4 lines, 24/7, free public transport network, the Dorsale Olimpica Montana (DOM). To deal with increased number on fans, on competition days there will be a special shuttle line departing from parking lots approx 4 hours before the competition starting and getting back when the competition have ended.
Olympic Locations
- Torino -- the Olympic centre, is where every medal will be assigned (in Piazza Castello/Medal Plaza) and where on-track competitions will take place. Here is the main Press Center and the main Olympic Village.
- Pinerolo -- medium-size city south-west of Torino, one of the two main roads to access Olympic Mountains.
- Bardonecchia -- small town right off Frejus tunnel, host the second Olympic Village.
- Cesana - San Sicario -- host the bob/skeleton/sledge track.
- Pragelato -- host ski jumping and cross-country skiing.
- Sauze D'Oulx -- beautiful town in the middle of wonderful woods, its ski resort is connected with Sestriere in Via Lattea ski resort.
- Sestriere -- centre of one of greatest ski resort in Europe, host the third Olympic Village
check torino2006.org to know about competition locations, dates and schedule.
Safety and Restrictions
Every competition site access point will be equipped with metal detectors and x-ray machines. There will be also police officers maually inspecting your bags. Access to Olympic Sites will be denied to:
- people not provided with tickets or pass.
- people refusing safety checks.
- people carrying objects subject to restriction.
In order to accelerate safety checks you'd better carrying only unavoiding things, Italian police probably is less paranoid than American one but is nearly impossible challenge policemans' statement (even if you are right).
Object prohibited on Olympic Sites are:
- cans and bottles, both plastic and glass-made
- sprays
- fireworks
- lighter, helmets, coins
- every object useful to damage event.
Object subject to restrictions are:
- Animals
- balls, frisbee and such
- bike, skateboard, moped
- cameras, videocameras and object suitable to audio or video recording
- trumpets and such
- laser
- unauthorised commercial signals
- flags bigger than 1,8x0,9 meters or different from country taking part to competition
- food and beverage
- big bags
- unauthorised flyers or promotional gadgets
All Olympic Sites are Non-Smoking areas
External links
- 2006 Winter Olympics. http://www.torino2006.org/
- Tourist info. http://www.comune.torino.it/canaleturismo/en/index.html
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