In and Around Torino

The central city area of Torino is lined with covered porticos. Incredibly beautiful and civilized!

The House of Savoy ruled this area of Piemonte (and Italy as a whole for a while) and dissolved in 1946. This Castello was their city residence. Piazza Castello is at the heart of the city of Torino.

One of the rulers was smart enough to build his mother-in-law a palazzo herself right in the Piazza as well.

Torino has a great feel because it truly is a functioning city. This market, in Piazza Repubblica was enormous. Those clementines pictured were 1 Euro per kilogram.

I call is fractal broccoli. My colleagues say it's amazingly tasty but smells up your kitchen. I'll have to try it for myself.

In 1861, the Italian Risorgimento occurred and Italy's many city states came together to become the country of the Italian peninsula that we know today. The leader of the House of Savoy at that time was Victor Emanuelle II who became the leader of Italy. As facism came to be, VEII was pushed out by Mussolini.

This building here is the Museum of the Risorgimento. The star pattern is an alpine artisan symbol that has been used to decorate the outside of the building.

Torino was an outpost of the Roman Empire. Here is an original piece of a wall from Roman times.

One set of Ancient History students had the students and teachers reenact at battle scene from the Carthaginians (students) sacking of the Torini (teachers). It was a rout both then and now.

I live on Via Cavour in Viterbo and here I am with Camillo Cavour himself. Cavour was a resident of Torino and a leading figure in the drive for Italian unification. He was the first prime minister of the Italian Republic.

In a portico off Piazza Castello is Cafe Mulafsano where Cavour himself came for his morning Bicherin.

The Bicherin is a Piemonte specialty. It is a hot drink of chocolate, espresso and clotted cream on top. As you can see, the barista is putting the dollop of cream. It makes the drink.

Torino has lights strung above all the major boulevards. Apparently Viterbo is going to be doing it as well as I saw them putting up lights along the Corso this morning.

Abbazia Sacra di San Michele

The Abbey of Saint Michael (this picture and the following courtesy of the Google Image Search)

Day 2 had us back on the bus on the way to Torino. The highlight of the day was a trip to the Abbazia Sacra di San Michele. The stunning location and beauty of the church overcame any issues I had with the fact that all tours are being held in Italian. My Italian isn't good enough yet to be able to understand what's going on so I just look and then go the internet to get the real details. I can get about every fifth word but it's mostly nouns right now but the verbs are harder. Adjectives and Adverbs? Forget about it. So, everything I write about here, I learned from the Abbbzia's website.

Here's why I had to pilfer pictures off the web. The weather in Northern Italy's Po River valley in the late fall and early winter is dreary and fog filled.

The Abbey on this high point, about 30 kilometers from the French/Italian border was erected in erected in the 10th Century and inhabited by Benedictine monks through the 1600's.


 

 

This statue of San Michele stands at the entrance of the Abbey. San Michele was the archangel of good, who defeated evil.

Who remembers flying buttresses?!?! Here they are. These exterior struts allowed buildings to be with thinner walls and also to be built taller to allow additional light to enter.

This Latin inscription was laid sideways as a Christian jab at Paganism's decline.

These ruins are from the battles of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1836 the fathers of the Rosmini Order were allowed to take over the Abbey. Although they no longer reside here, they still are the ones who "inhabit" it.

Today, after much generosity from the public and the fact that the Piemonte region considers the Abbey their symbol, the Abbey is undergoing extensive safety and upgrades for accessibility.

Parma

One of the, if not THE biggest, benefits of my job here at SYA Italy is the opportunity to go on the school trips. Orientation earlier, well, was nice, but it was orientation and there was work to do. Workshops and discussions and adviser meetings. These past our days, it was museums, free time and just plain sightseeing. Trips are planned by my Italian colleague Santo S. (who I will get to chest bump me by the end of the year, you'll see) who just decides where he thinks is cool and makes it happen. A trip usually has a two year run and our trip this week to northern Italy was the second. Therefore, my guess is that next year's November trip will be a new one. The February trip, 13 days, will be going to Sicily and, wait for it, TUNISIA. My job is taking me to Carthage. This is a classics based program, remember, so Santo is throwing down and taking the school to North Africa.

Oh, right, so where did we go this past week? Parma, yes, the home of Parmesean Cheese and Prociuotto. Then we drove to NW Italy, to Torino, which being near France, has a very French feel, but still at heart, an Italian city. First up, Parma!

At the heart of Parma is this building of the 11th-12th Century, the Battistero, which is a baptistry. The Catholic Church was beginning to take hold in Europe and buildings were being erected after the Dark Ages with the Church's great influence. The Battistero is constructed of the famed pink Venetian Marble and built in an octagonal shape.

Even though the Battistero is many stories tall, the inside is one large room. Here's the ceiling.

Here is the actual pool in which people were baptised into the church.

If it's an Italian city, there is a Duomo. The outside of Parma's Duomo is uninviting, but the I liked the door.

One student with a good eye noticed an interesting "mistake" or perhaps intentional design feature of the pediment of the Duomo. See if you can find it. I'll put the answer at the end of the posting.

In another church near the Duomo, this was the pattern on the floor. The Geometry teacher in me loved it.

Near the Duomo was a monastery. Here's the largest of three inner courtyard.

Yes, I had to post pictures of food. It is Parma. This shop smelled so good. I would walk out so I could walk back in and be bombarded with the smell, which was almost one of being sweet, but was essentially the strong smell of fresh cheese and meat.

My colleague Frank and I purchased prosciuotto and cheese for lunch the next day, but we couldn't resist sampling it that night.

We were in Parma for an evening and night. The next day it was back on the bus to Torino. As for the "mistake". If you look at the arches on the left side, the tops point diagonally to the left, whereas the arches on the right, point directly skyward. Mistake or on purpose. You be the artistic judge!

Olive Oil

Each grower brings their olives to a press to be turned into olive oil. Here they are stacked up and ready to go. The return is 14% of the total mass will be returned as olive oil.

First the olives are dumped into a huge blower, to remove twigs and leaves.

Olives are then put underneath the granite rollers to be turned into a paste.

The paste is spit out and spread in a thin layer onto one of the "rope disks."

The disks are then stacked up between metal disks ready to be pressed.

The liquid seeps out from the paste as the machine compresses the disks.

The liquid is then sent to a centrifuge which separates the olive oil from the other liquid, water.

The final product! The smell in the press is so sharp, it's almost a spicy sensation on your nose.

Tuscania

It's Saturday and time for another local Viterbo adventure. I find out most of my information from my colleagues in my office. I say where should I go and I get suggestions and then off I am. This time, the town of Tuscania, a 20 minute bus ride away. As usual, it's beautiful views from scenic lookouts and religious sites. But, well, I love it anyway.

This is the view from the edge of town. It takes my breath away every time I come upon a sight like this. How can anyone ever get bored of moments like thins?

The great thing in Tuscania is that you can walk on top of about a quarter of the city wall. It's also perfectly manicured.

The church from the first picture is San Pietro. Here it is from the front.

Where there's a walled city, there are towers.

Maybe the front of this years Christmas card?

Inside Chiesa San Pietro

Chiesa San Pietro has a crypt. Notice that all the columns are different. It's as if the builders went to the scrap heap and picked out any columns they could find and stuck them here.

Another candidate for the cover of the Christmas card!