Just in case you didn't know: the Italians drive like crazy and fast, so driving in a 1 million people town like Turin is stressful: the cars cut in without indication, scoters are weaving in and out between the cars, and pedestrians are coming from everywhere. But it all is a form of organized chaos. Everyone seems to anticipate what their crazy cousin is going to do! Very few accidents here!
The outskirts of Turin were dusty, slightly shabby, and somehowbold-fashioned. We followed the signs to Centro, and parked at the end of Corso Re Umberto. The city center, however, is beautiful; lots of piazzas, tree lined boulevards, river Po, arch walkways and historic buildings. Piazza Vittorio Veneto is especially beautiful.
Italy was born here, as the treaty unifying Italy under the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 was signed here at the Palazzo Carignano/Museo Nationale del Risorgimento Italiano. We were told that when the palazzo was designed the Prince told his son he could choose one feature on the building. And if you take a look at the 'framing' of each window you can see that the framing resembles the head piece of an American indian chief: the feathers on top of the window and the long row of feathers along his back (each side of the window) - the son had spent time in the US and was fascinated by the indians.
The place where Turin rises and its orientation is not chosen by chance; the first settling was influenced by magic-religious factors. Turin has a Roman plan, with the route that opened the four access doors on the four cardinal points, while the main street following the ascending line of the sun. The esoteric tradition considers Turin as one of the three vertices of the triangle of the white magic, together with Prague and Lione, but also as the top of another triangle, that is the black magic, that includes London and San Francisco. We can't forget that Turin is built on the 45° parallel, indicated by the obelisk that at the top has the astrolabe, situated in piazza Statuto (there is one identical at 11 kilometres away at the end of corso Francia). Turin rises at the confluence of two rivers, the Po and the Dora, that create a link of water around the town. The Po symbolizes the Sun, and therefore the masculine side, the Dora is the Moon and the feminine side. Source: aboutturin.com
Turin is also said to hold the entrance to the Underworld, so the devil is lurking! The San Lorenzo church, located on Piazza Reale, has some interesting windows in the dome.
Can't see the Devil?
We strolled around town takeing it all in, and went up the Mole Antonelliana tower to see the city from above.
We had a beer on a samll piazza on Via Di Stamapiori, which had this amazing piece of art on the facade - only visibile when the sun is shining on ii from a certain angle.
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