Buongiorno tutti,
Benvenuti to all the lovely new subscribers who have recently signed up for these newsletters and bentornati to my regular readers. You can expect to receive a couple of newsletters every month from me with recipes, updates on life in Italy, travel tips, and more.
In today’s newsletter, I wanted to put a spotlight on my home in Italy - the beautiful city of Turin. I’m sharing some of my favourite things to do to help inspire a visit one day. In fact, you can come and discover Torino with me later this year or next year on a small group, multi-day tour with Untold Italy (more on that below!)
There have also been some fantastic live tours over the last month that I wanted to alert you to in case you missed them. I’m now uploading all of these tours on my YouTube channel as well as Instagram TV.
Things to do in Turin
I just published my first blog post for the year on my 10 favourite things to do in Turin. Here are my top 3, but if you want the full list, be sure to click through to read on my blog.
1. Visit Palazzo Reale
Did you know Turin has royal roots? It was home to the Royal family of Savoy and they’ve left their mark in the region with no end of castles and palaces to explore. In the heart of Piazza Castello, you’ll find the Palazzo Reale and the Royal Gardens. The gardens are free to visit and quite beautiful to stroll in during Spring and Autumn. The palace is definitely worth a visit, although I’m always a bit disappointed that you can’t visit every room.
2. Climb the Mole Antonelliana and visit the Cinema Museum
The standout landmark of Turin is the long spire of the Mole Antonelliana that you can see all throughout the city. The Mole was originally a synagogue before being built by the city and transformed into the iconic symbol it is today. Once the tallest brick building in Europe (167.5 metres), you can go up the tower in a glass elevator and look out to a fabulous 360-degree view over the town. Make sure you pre-book tickets as this is one of the most popular things to do in Turin! Don’t forget to visit the Cinema Museum afterwards (it’s just downstairs) either. It’s without a doubt my favourite museum ever and a great thing to do with kids in Turin.
3. Sample Piemontese food & wine
Piedmont is a total foodie’s paradise – Barolo, truffles, chocolate, rich egg pasta, the world’s best hazelnuts and more. The Piemontese cuisine is heavy on butter and eggs and has some of the best cow cheeses in all of Italy. Try some of the local dishes like agnolotti, tajarin, battuta al coltello (carne cruda), bagna cauda (for garlic lovers), brasato al Barolo, panna cotta and more. Red wine is phenomenal here, so make sure you try the famous Nebbiolo, but also Barbera and Dolcetto wine.
Small-Group Piedmont Adventure - October 26-30 2022
Are you a food and wine lover? Then why not come and visit Piedmont with me! In collaboration with Untold Italy, we are running small group, multi-day tours in my home region of Piedmont. Fall is the perfect time to visit as the leaves change colour, the wine harvest begins, and the scent of truffles are in the air. I recently filmed a chat with Katy from Untold Italy to talk more about our special tour. Click to watch it now.
We’ll spend 2 nights in Piedmont's capital Turin -the perfect place to be elegantly European and try cheeses and decadent chocolate treats. And then, we’ll escape to the the wine region of Le Langhe for a final two nights for wine tasting, truffle hunting, cooking classes, Alba's White Truffle Fair, and picture perfect villages you don’t want to miss. No wonder the nobility settled in this area and built beautiful castles nestled amongst the vines!
Instagram Live City Tour: Capri with Holly
Monday 14th March, 3pm Italy
Have you ever been to Capri? Come and visit (virtually) on Monday with Australian Holly from Michel’Angelo. Holly has the most romantic story ever on how she met her husband some years ago as a tourist on the island. You can listen to her podcast episode on Untold Italy if you’re a lover of a good romance story. On Monday, Holly will tour us around her favourite places in Capri and answer all your questions about visiting the island. PS Did you know we’re collaborating with a small group, multiday tour in Capri in May 2023? Click here for all the details.
Watch the recaps on YouTube
If you can’t make my live city tours, I’m now saving them all to my YouTube channel.
That’s it for now! If you have any destinations or people you would like me to do a live tour with, please respond to this email or send me a message on Instagram. Slowly, slowly we are covering some amazing destinations both big and small, but there are still so many places waiting to be discovered.
Next weekend, we are heading off on a little adventure to Umbria. I’m very excited to go back to the region and will be doing some more research for our guided tours there later this year and next year. I look forward to sharing more with you in my next newsletter.
Buona domenica!