Turin & Courmayeur

Turin, Italy’s first capital, is a very walkable city with miles of covered arcades, beautiful piazzas and grand avenues, sophisticated museums, shops, historic cafes and restaurants and all with a magnificent backdrop of the Alps. It is the home of Italy’s car industry, its first cinema, and arguably chocolate; it’s the place in which vermouth and Nutella were invented, and it gave birth to the Slow Food movement.

We just stayed one night in Turin so just had time to walk around the City and visit the National Museum of Cinema before sampling some fabulous cocktails with vegan Aperitivo and a delicious pasta supper.

If you are interested in Italian cinema then a visit to the Mole Antonelliana is a must - and the bonus is a ride up in the panoramic glass lift, for some sublime views over the city, the River Po and the Alps.

The following morning, we were up early to hit the slopes of stylish resort of Courmayeur (2 hours from Turin) – a traditional, cobbled, traffic free village sitting at the foot of Mont Blanc with excellent cafes, bistros (French influence) and Après ski. Plenty of snow cannons make the snow virtually guaranteed and perfect for intermediate skiers. We are looking forward to skiing there again this season - if Covid allows!