Good Food and Football!

Another short trip to Italy, this time Turin. Somewhere I have never really thought of visiting, but as a football fan I couldn’t pass on the chance to go to the last game of the 2017-2018 Serie A season Juventus versus Hellas Verona. Juventus had already won the championship (for the 7th year in a row) and Verona had already been relegated, so there was nothing riding on the game, but it was the last game that the legend Gianluigi Buffon would play in goal before retiring from football – and what a great atmosphere it was. Buffon was substituted in the 60th minute to allow a standing ovation followed by a lap of honour round the pitch hugging the lucky fans in the front seats while the game was still going on. The heavens opened, and thunder appropriately accompanied his tribute as he was going round! I don’t think anybody was really watching the game after that, nor noticed or cared when Juventus missed a penalty, nor noticed or cared when Verona pulled a goal back to make the final score 2-1 to Juventus!

Turin itself is very different to other Italian cities I have been to – and personally it didn’t overly appeal to me. Lots of grand old buildings, museums and churches, but not much “life”. When we arrived on the Thursday evening we strolled out of the hotel to find somewhere to eat and drink but there was very little going on and most of the bars and restaurants in the immediate vicinity appeared closed or about to close and it was only 9.30pm. It had been raining (as it did every day of our 5-day trip) so outside seating had been stacked away. It just didn’t have that Italian Mediterranean feel – of course Turin isn’t on the Med, but you know what I mean! I’m not a fan of really touristy places but it’s nice to go to a city that is busy and Turin was very UNbusy and UNtouristy. There are pockets of “life”, such as down by the river there is a large area of bars and restaurants, but many appeared closed when we were there. I think this city comes to life more in the summer months! However, we did have a great time and walked for miles even though we had to dodge the frequent rain showers!

We stayed at the Grand Hotel Sitea in the centre - a lovely 4-star hotel with a delightful courtyard garden where we had breakfast and drinks every day. The garden also housed a family of 5 tortoises – we have often come across hotel cats, dogs and obviously birds, and even rabbits, but never tortoises so this was an interesting and unusual surprise!

Ristorante Carignano, the hotel restaurant, is superb – every dish was a real wow factor and very good value for its Michelin star. There are only 5 tables so advance booking is essential. Real personal service with the chef popping out regularly to ensure all was well – it was all very well!

Maybe it was the rain, and maybe if it had been sunny I would have seen Turin in a different light, but even though it is part of my beloved Italy and we thoroughly enjoyed Ristorante Carignano and the football match, I am only giving it 3 stars!