Arriving in Torino and Visit to the National Museum of Cinema

We left Toronto at 9:25 p.m. on Monday October 3 on Air France to Paris. We arrived 45 minutes early into Paris at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday October 4, and then left for Torino 45 minutes late at 2:15 p.m. Only a one hour 15 minute flight between Paris and Torino. Beautiful 19C in Paris and 23C when we arrived in Torino. We took an Airport bus into the centre of town and then had a 15 minute walk to our Airbnb.

Waiting area at Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris

A quick Hop on Air France from Paris to Torino

Flying over the Alps near Torino

David and Alice, our hosts, met us at the apartment. We are on the first floor (second in Canada) and our hosts live in an apartment across the hall. The apartment is quite large with a separate small laundry room, a small room off the bedroom to hang clothes, and a small balcony. Very quiet building on a quiet street. Our apartment faces a courtyard. There are very high wooden ceilings and the place has recently been restored with fresh paint, cabinetry and new appliances. David and Alice restored two mosaics on the floor. One says 1874, although the building itself is even older.

Entrance and small area off kitchen with two large seats

Modern kitchen with restored mosaic- large fridge, dishwasher and gas stove!

Laundry room off to the left

Bedroom

Bathroom with large shower

Main floor entrance off street

We headed out to buy some provisions and get a bite to eat.

Outside of our apartment

Just a few blocks away there was a lovely square (Piazza Statuto) with a bakery and a place to get an aperitivo with a charcuterie plate.

Piazza Statuto

Lots of porticoes in Torino

We ordered two Campari Spritz's and a charcuterie plate at Rojto Coffee Club recommended by someone at the bakery across the square. Torino is the original home of Campari as well as Vermouth.

Alonso with the drinks and charcuterie plate (also comes with chips and olives)

Grissini (bread sticks) are another food that originated in Torino back in the 17th century

Outside signage at Rojto Coffee Club

Our total bill for the two drinks (very good portion of Campari), large charcuterie plate with meat, cheese and bruschetta, chips, olives and two espressos was 24 euros! Definitely a perfect meal after having been up since Monday travelling.

We wandered a bit, checking out the wonderful architecture and a number of Piazzas (Squares).

Wonderful old lamps

Piazza Savoia

We wandered back to the apartment and crashed at around 10:30 p.m.

Wednesday October 5 was a mainly cloudy day but it was quite warm and a bit humid with a high of 22C.

Torino (means little bull in Italian) is a wonderfully underrated destination in Italy. Thanks to our friends Vicky and David for their recommendation a few years ago. Torino has a population of around 885,000. It's original settlers were the Taurini, a Celt-Ligurian people. It was then a Roman camp, a medieval trading post, and then the seat of the House of Savoy, an ancient royal family founded in 1003 in the Savoy region (now in Rhône-Alpes, France) which expanded to northwestern Italy. It was the first capital of a unified Italy from 1861-1865. The architecture in the older part of the city is largely baroque. Torino has become a huge cultural and foodie destination since the Winter Olympics were held there in 2006.

After our breakfast, we headed out to Porta Palazzo Market, the largest open air market in Europe with around 800 stalls. There are also four covered markets with amazing meats, fish, deli and cheeses.

From our balcony facing a small courtyard with a BIG tree

Our apartment building from the street

Just around the corner is the Quartieri Militari. Between 1716-1728, Filippo Juvarra designed two symmetrical buildings used as barracks. Today the buildings house judicial and municipal offices.

We then walked to the market- 15 minute from our apartment.

Hundreds of food stalls--- great veg

Meat store in one of the covered markets-- Piedmont is known for its meats

Grissini shop

Fish shop where we bought some orata (sea bream or dorade)- excellent quality

A church with some ruins from the Roman colony founded in 25 BC.

The food prices are very low (comparable to the prices we paid in Spain during our spring trip). Beautiful 1 euro melons (so sweet); a kilo of beans for 2 euros; our fish was just under 6 euros and vegetables are extremely reasonable. We probably paid about 1/3 of what we spend in Toronto for a comparable amount of food.

Then it was back to the apartment for a light lunch.

Alonso making our coffee with the Nanopresso (best travel espresso machine).

After lunch, we walked down Via Garibaldi, a pedestrianized street that took us to the main Tourist Office.

Old pharmacy on Via Garibaldi

Beautiful buildings en route

Favourite gelato and sorbetto store- Grom (will have to go before we leave)

After picking up some maps and brochures we continued to the National Museum of Cinema, our destination for the afternoon.

Torino- So Much of Everything Logo

We peeked in at Baratti & Milano coffee and chocolate shop

Chocolate is huge in Torino

Beautiful metal work

Teatro RegioTorino- home of the Opera

Peering down a side street-- the architecture is amazing

We wandered into the courtyard of the Universita deli studi di Torino, where there was a multimedia display for a Geodiversity conference.

Entering the courtyard

Display of Minerva statue and temporary exhibit

Geodiversity

We finally reached our destination of the Museo Nazionale del Cinema which is housed in the Mole Antonelliana, designed by the architect Alessandro Antonelli and originally meant to be a synagogue. Its construction began in 1863. Due to additional costs and longer construction time than were originally anticipated, the Jewish community withdrew from the project. The building was purchased by the Municipality of Torino in 1878. It was the tallest building in Europe upon its completion in 1889. "Mole" in Italian is a building of monumental proportions. It has housed the National Museum of Cinema since 2000.

Mole Antonelliana

The permanent exhibit starts with "the Archeology of Cinema" dealing with shadow theatre, magic lantern shows and then moves on to the history of moving pictures. It has thousands of artefacts and a lot of interactive displays.

Shadow theatre

Peep shows

Magic Lantern

Turning to modern cinema...

Editing

The Stars

Scene from Breathless by Jean-Luc Goddard

Screenwriting

Special effects

Alonso in the bugs bunny (cartoon) room

After the permanent exhibit dedicated to the history of cinema, we saw the temporary exhibit dedicated to the Italian director Dario Argento (b. 1940 Rome)

Poster for show

Locations in Torino for some of his films

There was a very extensive exhibit of posters and information about his major films in a ramp show that went up about 4 floors of the building.

The Temple Hall in the centre of the building

Another shot of the Temple Hall

As we were leaving, we saw a wonderful photo of Maria Adriana Prolo, a historian of Italian film who founded the National Museum of Cinema. She had the idea of founding a museum of cinema back in 1941 and started her collection at that time. The Museum was established in 1958 and moved to its present location in 2000.