magic Vezzolano Abbey

Art and history lovers - especially if with a passion for food and outstanding wine - will be amazed by the Vezzolano Abbey from the 12th century.

Hotel Genio refined atmosphere

Very few Turin residents are aware of the real beauty of our hotels and how amazing their services are. We usually walk past them imagining what the visitors are like and what they do, so this week we decided to go and have a look at Hotel Genio where Lisa Comento and Laura Silver were hosted when they took part to Turin Epicurean Capital 2015 in July.

Turin Epicurean Capital's collaboration with Hotel Genio was possible thanks to Mr Roberto Anino director of Federalberghi - TYSM again!

Although in Turin, Hotel Genio is one of the top downtown hotels, we had never been inside like a regular visitor. From Laura and Lisa, we knew it was a great hotel and now we understand why they were so excited!

Hotel Genio is located in the central Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 47 and it's part of the Best Western chain. This is definitely one of those places where you want to sleep at least once in your life!

TRN Turin airport

yes, Turin has its own tiny and beautifully working airport!! 

TRN is the international code for the Turin airport, "Caselle" for the residents. 

TRN is connected to the major European and Italian cities plus some extra EU ones.

Coming from outside Europe, many visitors are not aware that Turin actually has its own airport and just waste their time and money landing in Milan and then getting over here by train or bus.

That's very unfortunate because, as Turin airport doesn't have many Alitalia flights, whenever there's a national air strike, it is one of the very few fully working airports in Italy!

Turin: devil's city

Enjoy this very interesting guest post by Mari Biella, an author and blogger. She has been writing from an early age, and her mother still has some highly embarrassing poems and stories to prove it. Her published works are The Quickening a psychological ghost story set in the Victorian Age, and Loving Imogen a collection consisting of a novella and three short stories. A free short story, The Song of the Sea, may be downloaded from her website.

Mari was born and raised in Britain, but currently lives in Northern Italy. She’ll read just about anything she can get her hands on, but particularly enjoys literary fiction, psychological horror, and crime fiction. In her free time she enjoys travelling and exploring Europe’s lesser-known corners. 

Rebekka's slow fashion in Turin

Right in downtown Turin, inside a courtyard, there is a shop where you can find Rebekka, a quite unique fashion line made of eclectic patterns and styles. Olivia Magee is the Irish owner who has been calling Turin her home since 1990s.  

Originally from Cavan County in Ulster, Olivia left the emerald island to come to Italy and learn Italian; without knowing much and following a friend's recommendation, she ended up in Turin, and the city has slowly grown on her for its atmosphere, architecture and long avenues.

At the end of her first year as an au pair in Turin, Olivia decided to stay and took a job in one of Piazza Vittorio bars and right there she met Mario, her husband and her best friends.

When talking about Italian fashion, Milan and Florence come up right away, yet the very first fashion show in Italy took place in Turin, where a long sartorial tradition and sense of fashion has always been in the DNA of the locals. If the Italian silk hub is on the Como Lake, the cashmere one is in Biella, one of Piedmont provinces. As for the Turin area, Chieri has the textile hub since the middle ages with its wool, cotton and hemp fabric production. By the 15th century a moleskin guild was established to guarantee the quality of its production. 

Olivia's husband Mario has worked in the textile industry all his life; his grandfather had a loom and Olivia has always been totally fascinated by it and by the swarming creativity of Turin and Chieri so tied to the fashion world and the famous brands.

Fashion though wasn't in Olivia's plans for a while, in fact, after getting married and having three kids, she was an ESL teacher. In 2014 though she manifested her wish to work in fashion and decided to collaborate with a stylist friend of hers.

Pepino's pinguino gelato

Add the royal seal in the logo signaled Pepino as a gelato royal supplier

Turin: hidden treasure

Enjoy this guest post by Tom from Bristol (UK) co-author of There's treasure everywhere a very interesting and rich website about art, travel, books, movies and food. This website aims to be a place where you can read about the hidden gems that make your life better. 

Thanks to this trip to Turin, there is now a travel section on his website and more people can be introduced to this wonderful city!

Turin is a hidden treasure

Our decision to visit Turin was made without a great deal of research. We wanted to visit a city that was near mountains. One that would be interesting but with plenty of scope for relaxing, oh and some nice food and wine would be great as well. 

Nestled in the foot of the Alps, the location was as expected perfect. What we didn’t realise though was how beautiful, stimulating and downright delicious the city would be.