Amanda Jack's Turin

We are happy to share a guest post by our Twitter and Instagram friend Amanda Jack 🙆

Amanda is a writer, student, wife, mother and Grandmother. Dividing her time between homes in the North east of Scotland and the Piedmont Region of Italy, she patiently awaits the day she can perfect the Italian language. Until then, she enjoys writing about her adventures and reviewing books, mainly those set in and around Italy. 

Read her blog: http://a-jack-in-a-box.simplesite.com

Enjoy her perspective on Turin and do like her: come over!!

April in Turin

April always makes a great month to visit Turin: the days are longer and the weather is generous enough to allow you to eat out in the many cozy piazzas and pedestrian streets.

Besides our humongous Easter chocolate eggs, and the endless list of artisan chocolate makers, you should try before the chocolate season ends, there are also other events that make April a good month to visit Torino.

Most events of 2019 happen after Easter. So, if you are planning a visit in the first 3 weeks of April check our suggestions here.

If you tango: just imagine what an experience it is to dance inside the Venaria Royal Palace during the Tango days on April 19th-21st

The Royal Palace of Venaria is Turin's Versailles

our sweet emergency kit

During college, or studying abroad, or working far from home, raise up your hand, amici, if you haven't received at least one care package sent by a thoughtful relative or friend!

How soothing it was, wasn't it?

Well, as for us, besides being the happy recipients of a very much appreciated basic necessities bag put together by Chiara of Latteria Bera we were also awarded a sweet emergency kit 🙆

foodies' basic necessities

Some weeks ago we talked to you about Chiara and her nonna's dairy, Latteria Bera founded in Turin in 1958.

Now you may think that any dairy is the same and all you can get is just dairy based products. Sure, they may differ locally, but it's always cheese, butter, milk, eggs and yogurt, and that's basically it.

Well, that's not the case with this historic latteria that is more to be considered like a gourmet dairy and a small production specialty shop 😎 

Today we would like to share with you what Chiara's basic necessities bag contained for us... just in case you needed some culinary shopping ideas when in Turin 😉

Turin in September

September in Italy is when the locals go back to their lives, jobs and school, however, it is also a magic month in Turin and Piedmont. The weather is still pretty much summery, not as sultry as in July or at the beginning of August; foodies and wine lovers can enjoy the new seasonal menus and the harvest in many wineries; art and music lovers will just grab the best opportunities to visit new exhibits and attend concerts and ballets.

In fact, despite its industrial past, Turin enjoys a very vibrant cultural life with many events all year long both in the city's streets and piazzas, and in the many theaters, museums and convention centers.

On top, moving around Turin is very manageable thanks to its one line subway and it is well connected by train to get to other interesting destinations in Piedmont.

Here below there is a list of our top 5 things to do in September here so that you won't have to wonder too much and just hop over 😎

Through Hell to Heaven!

We are happy to share with you all, amici, another guest post by Jim and Julia Dunlop who took part to Turin Epicurean Capital in 2016.

As they are deeply in love with Turin and Piedmont, they never miss any chance to visit.

To read their previous guest post, click on the links: guest post 1 about Lake Orta, guest post 2 about their experience at TurinEpi16, food and wine in Turin!

Strolling around Turin

Follow our Twitter friend, Michael Hindley strolling around Turin through his favorite parts of our city.

Michael was educated at London University and the Free University of West Berlin and is a former Member of the European Parliament.
Michael has travelled extensively throughout Europe and Asia.
He writes and lectures on European politics and divides his time between his native Lancashire and Evian-les-Bains, France.
Follow Michael on Twitter @HindleyLancs

brutti ma buoni

Brutti ma Buoni or ugly but good in Italian are basically hazelnut meringue cookies often eaten during the Holidays.

As they are very easy to make and to modify they come in many variants all around the Italian boot and you can further personalize our Piedmontese original recipe.

organic Fassone farm

Just like the Mediterranean scrub is unique, so the Monferrato wine district is unique territory in the world: its landscape is highly varied, not simply steep hills or plains, but a mix of them both, uncultivated woods, vineyards, wheat fields, hazelnut groves, animal farms and vegetable farms. 

Every season changes its colors and its atmosphere: in the summer, days are literally endless while in the fall, haze and rain make the best time to savor its rich local specialties.

Being just at about 1h driving from both Turin and the Milan Malpensa international airport, it is the ideal destination to enjoy amazing food, outstanding wines, castles and art.

Azienda Agricola Monfrin on the Monferrato hills and its semi-wild cows

Torcetti cookies

Food and wine in Piedmont are a real lifestyle, after all Piedmont is the Italian top wine producer, cheese making region and homeland to Slow Food and all food sustainability philosophies and... it also produces a high variety of cookies!

Let's face it, cookies in their simplicity have the high power to make a bad day into a good one when we dunk them in wine or to start our day in the best way, when we have some for breakfast!

Cookies are easy to make, thus have the big power of making us feel at home away from home. When professionally made they bring us back in time and can also add a touch of royalty to any coffee break.

TurinEpi 16 day 3

This 2016 edition of Turin Epicurean Capital will end on Thursday, June 24.

The third round table will start at 11am at Teatro San Giuseppe in Via Doria 18/A, near the Porta Nuova station.

Xmas dinner @CasaJasmina

A couple of months ago, we were contacted by world-renowned Sci-Fi author Bruce Sterling who is currently living in Turin. He's a fan of Turin Epicurean Capital and had a question about wine for his guests at Casa Jasmina. This is how we found out about this amazing project in collaboration with Fab Lab Torino and Officine Arduino.

Bruce Sterling and Miss Bee