Turin (Torino) Italy (July 2012)

I stayed in Turin, Italy for three weeks in July 2012. The purpose of the stay was to attend the 18th Boulder Institute of Microfinance course held at International Training Center of International Labor Organization of the United Nations located in Turin.

During this trip, I had an excursion to Montecarlo, Monaco and Nice, France. It was covered in another blog post.

On July 29th, Sunday, I took the city sightseeing tours on the hop-on, hop-off buses. Turin has two lines and I was able to get on both of them on one day.

The following are my observations on Turin:

• Turin used to be the capital of the Savoy family, Italia's original power.
• Turin used to be an icon of Italy's industrialization represented by Fiat.
• Turin held the 2006 Winter Olympics, putting its name in the international market.
• Turin is famous for the Shroud of Turin, which is supposed to be the cloth that was used to wrap up the body of Jesus Christ. It is preserved in a glass casket that is stored somewhere in Turin's Duomo.
• Turin has the longest river, called Po River that provides pleasant scenery and hiking trails.
• Turin has plenty of Baroque-style buildings that provide classic looks and pleasant appeals.
• Turin is one of the greenest cities in Italy with a lot of parks and hiking trails.
• Turin has access to the Alps within one-hour drive.
• Turin has also access to Montecarlo and Nice within 3-4 hour driving distance.
• Turin has more than 20 museums that attract the interests of diverse people.
• Turin is the capital of contemporary arts in Italy.
• Turin is the home town for long break sticks. 

Definitely it is one of the cities that I would like to live even for a short period of time. - Jeffrey