Piedmont-Turin

The capital of Piedmont, Turin, is splendid — it was also Italy's first capital, since the Risorgimento of our country started from here. Turin is a noble, discreet city, rich in historic aristocratic palazzi that show themselves off along broad avenues and majestic squares, where it is a pleasure to stroll, observing the architecture and absorbing the pleasant aromas coming out of the many cafés. Piazza Castello is the heart of the historic centre, with the Castle dominating it in the middle and the Royal Palace. But the symbol of Turin is the Mole Antonelliana, whose steep dome is visible even from afar; inside it houses the Cinema Museum, laid out in a truly original way with reconstructions of film sets, posters of famous films and dreamlike atmospheres.

You can even take a journey to the dawn of cinematography using the first rudimentary machines for moving images, such as magic lanterns. The first time I saw the Cinema Museum was as a child, with my mother and her Fiat 850 Special. At that time the museum was housed on the ground floor of a palazzo in Piazza Castello, and the Mole Antonelliana was closed to the public. During that short stay I entered the church that houses the Holy Shroud, the linen cloth in which, according to religious tradition, the body of the Crucified was wrapped. Over the two days in the city, my mother and I rode a little train up to the hill of Superga, which houses the Sanctuary but also the memory of the tragic air crash in which the Turin football team perished on the flight home from a match in Portugal.

At the time of the trip I was a football fan, so I went to the Stadio Comunale to see the match between Juventus and Bologna (1-1 for the record, with a penalty for each side). We also visited the interior of the Royal Palace with its sumptuous rooms, its gardens and the castle facing it. I was especially struck by the visit to the Museum of the Risorgimento, which houses, among other things, the Savoy Parliament that gave birth to Italy. I had recently studied the Risorgimento period at school, and seeing the place that was the fulcrum of Italian unification was an emotion for me. Interesting too were the zoo and the Parco del Valentino. This was not, however, my first time in Turin; I had already been there some years earlier on a school trip with the primary school, to visit the Egyptian Museum, the most important in the world after the one in Cairo.

I had studied Egypt carefully and had high expectations of this visit, and that was probably why it struck me as disappointing — but my eyes were those of a child, with a child's powers of analysis. My youthful passion for football and infatuation with Juventus brought me back to Turin on at least three other occasions: twice with a supporters' club of the Bianconeri, limited to the stadium to see the match (Juventus-Avellino and Juventus-Celtic Glasgow), but on one of these (Juventus-Napoli) I was hosted by an acquaintance who, at my request, took me to see again the Museum of the Risorgimento that had so captivated me years earlier. I returned to Turin later for a medical check-up and for work, having to commentate on an exhibition match of elastic ball right in Piazza Castello, in its winter guise with a bit of snow on the roof of the Royal Palace.

I have also been to Turin to attend the Winter Olympics, for which I refer you to "Turin Olympic". Recently I saw the city in its Christmas guise, complete with market and lights in Piazza Castello, on the occasion of an exhibition. At Settimo Torinese I visited the Carioca felt-tip pen factory.