The Italians call it Torino. It’s their country and their former capitol after all, so we’ll go with that.
It’s fortyish miles from Saluzzo to Torino, depending on how much you want to spend on the direct route or minor roads. There’s no obvious or well documented cycling route, so I just do my best to piece one together through the maze of small roads that carve up the upper Po valley. We want one that’s reasonably efficient and easy to navigate, because we ‘re racing the weather a bit. It’s foggy this morning, but rain is in store later in the afternoon.
I nailed it, for a nice change. We had overall a very nice ride, with maybe five miles of dirt, two miles of highway, and the rest quiet lanes, bike paths and farming roads. Much better than I expected, really. It remained foggy all day, but comfortably cool - perhaps 55. We arrived in Turin about 3:30, just as it was beginning to sprinkle a bit.
We’re checked in to our apartment, a large unit with abundant space in a converted palace, in the heart of the historic core. We’ll be here for three nights and then will take the train to Genoa for another three night urban stand before resuming biking again. Hopefully conditions will improve enough so that we can start working our way west on the bikes again.
For now though, we’re giving our trusty steeds a well earned break. And, we’ll give the team’s Chief Scribbler and our readers a bit of a break too. I’ll put some sort of photo gallery/narrative together for both Torino and Genoa (and for Saluzzo, which I haven’t forgotten about), but they may not come out for several days so don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for awhile. TTFN.
The large pedestrian zone in Saluzzo is swamped under the Saturday market. We’re standing here at a three way intersection, with the view looking the same down all three directions.
Nor to the north. And don’t think this is just another cow shot, which we’ve seen so often lately. This is a food shot, of the famous Piemontese beef. I can’t tell though whether we’re looking at steaks or cheese here.
Had we only known, and if we weren’t worried about the impending rains, we might have stopped in. Behind this mile long wall lie the UNESCO protected grounds and palace of one of the royal residences of the House of Savoy.
Scott AndersonTo Valter FumeroOh, what a shame that we missed each other. We would have loved that! There’s a fair chance we’ll make it back that way in a few years, so keep in touch. Thanks for checking int.
Nebbiolo, a particularly suitable wine today: the right region, the right conditions. Nebbiolo is grown in this region, and its name is believed to derive feom Nebbiolo, the Italian word for fog, because of the intense fog that sets in here during harvest season.
Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesBeen there, done that, yesterday. Although I didn’t really know what I was seeing until after the fact when I read up on it. You can’t actually see the shroud, which is not on public display. You can see where it is encased though, and there’s a continuous video playing in the cathedral that shows it, explains what it is, highlights different sections and comments on them, in a rotating series of languages. Reply to this comment 5 years ago
