April 16, 2025

Torino, Italia

Woke up very early this morning. Tried to stay in bed as long as possible but was up at 04:30. Got the clothes out of the washer and hung them up to dry. Made coffee and played on the iPad for a while. Finally at 07:30 woke Mary up and got ready to meet Pietro and the girls at Torteria 40 at 08:00.

We got out of the house and walked the two blocks or so to Via Giuseppe Mazzini and Torteria 40. We beat Pietro and the girls. We walked in and they recognized us but looked a little confused – there were on girls. I ensured them that Luisa would arrive shortly.

We ordered cappuccini and brioche, and then sat down. No sooner than we sat down that Pietro and the girls how up. We sat and enjoyed out drinks. People, mostly old ones, commented on and smiled at the girls. Luisa went and in back and got some dough and brought it out to show us. She then proceeded to make little balls in put it in the decorations around the store. I tried to stop her but the owner and baker said no it is ok.

We left and turned left, while Pietro and the girls turned right. We walked down to via Lagrange and looked at all the shops. The baby’s clothing store Serra liked had indeed gone out of business. We turned left and walked down Lagrange in the direction of Porta Nova, the train station. I wanted to go to il Feltrinelli, the bookstore in the train station which has a good selection on books in English, and see if I could find another book to read.

I found another David Baldacci book, Strangers in Time. We found an ODStore. Looked new, don’t remember it from previous trips. It is a big candy store where you can buy enough sugar to OD rather quickly if you want. We skipped buying any, but thought about it. We continued walking through the station looking for a cheep umbrella. If it is going to be raining for the next week, it might be a good idea to have one.

We didn’t find an umbrella, so we walked out the front entrance, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, which opens on Piazza Carlo Felice. We noticed the Hotel Roma e Rocca Cavour just off the piazza. It is a three star but looked very nice. The location in relation to the train station is great. If ever here for just two or three nights and traveling from Milano Centrale it would be great.

If you are coming from Malpensa and taking the bus, that goes to Porta Susa and wouldn’t be so convenient. We did also pass Hotel Concord Torino when we were walking down Via (Giuseppe Luigi) Lagrange. Much nicer looking and a four star hotel. It may be less noisy as well as it is off the main piazza.

After checking out the hotel we walked back to the apartment. We walked down Via Andrea Doria and past Roa Abbigliamento where we bought Harry V a nice jacket two Christmas’ ago. Back at the apartment we both went down for a nap.

About 11:30 I texted Pietro about lunch at Piazza Della Repubblica. We jointly decided we would all walk from where we were and meet there. Google said it was a twenty-five-minute walk to cover the 1.3 kilometers from the apartment.

14:30 back at the apartment. Playing cards, putting out the laundry and reading. It should be pointed out that we now have nearly 12,000 seps and have covered nearly 9 kilometers. Turns out it was more like 2 or 2.5 kilometers to the market. However, getting a bistecca alla fiorentina at the central market is really worth it.

The three of us shared one, accompanied by a couple potatoes, from La Carne. Noe, yes, it was food staff, but it was really good. It is located on the ground floor of il Mercato Centrale. I know I have described the Piazaa della Repubblica before but one more time maybe helpful.

It is a very large piazza, basically at the intersection of Corso Regina Margherita e Corso Giulio Cesare. The four corners of the intersection each contain a different type of market. Residents of Torino  have always referred to Piazza della Repubblica as Porta Pila, a shortened version  of Porta Palazzo.

The area is also known as the “great cook” or even “the belly of Torino”, Piazza della Repubblica. The octagonal layout is bordered by buildings designed by Formento, Lombardi, Blachier and Mosca. Here there is an enormous market daily where everything can be found: fruit and vegetables, fish, clothing. Some websites indicate that it is the largest open air market in Europe.

Lunch today will be in the most recently renovated building designed by Massimiliano Fukas in the early 2000’s. Here there are numerous food stalls, much like a food court but with really good food. The upstairs is supposed to contain shops but nothing much is really going on up there. Next to that, is a beautiful Art deco building.

The octagon of the square contains three buildings: an Art deco building, aka Antica Tettoia dell’Orologio di Porta Palazzo, housing the meat market inside and the open air fruit and vegetable market around the outside of the building.

On the other side of Corso Regina Margherita are the open-air markets which sell everything and anything you might need. Clothing, electronics, shoes, umbrellas, and what not on the west side and flowers, gardening tools, and the like on the east side.

Then we walked next door to Bottega della Carne in the Antica Tettoia dell’Orologio and got a boneless leg of lamb for Easter. Pietro also got some cheese and milk from one of the merchants. Pietro claimed he didn’t know about this place, and seemed surprised by the number of merchants or butchers, there are probably fifteen, in one area. We have gotten meat here before and it has always been good.

We played a couple of games of canasta. Then read and relaxed before heading over to Serra & Pietro’s for dinner. We were going to stop at a pharmacy on the way and get some more Voltaren Gel, the good 2% stuff, but decided to talk to Pietro first about getting me some more Pantoprazole from his pharmacy. If that doesn’t work, I may try and get EA+ to find a doctor to write a prescription which I can fill here.

Pietro made pizza tonight. It was very good. They have a small portable pizza oven in the kitchen that works really well. Amadea’s godfather and his teenage daughter came by for pizza last night as well. We talked about making pizza in Sonoma this summer. The idea of making sourdough bread and cooking it in the pizza oven in Sonoma also came up. Sounds like something to try this summer.

We walked home about 20:00. It was raining very hard and we got fairly wet just walking home. Our shoes were soaked through, even though we tried very hard to avoid the puddles on the way.

We hung up our clothes to dry out over night. Hopefully, they will. Our jackets weren’t soaked though, yes, we were using umbrellas, but they were wet. Thankfully we have different pairs of shoes to change into.

The weather app is still showing rain all day tomorrow. It is also showing 12°C but says it will feel like 8°C; so around 50°F tomorrow. It is also now showing cloudy and sunshine of Friday; we’ll see.

We played a couple games of canasta while we warmed up and dried out before heading to bed. We are going to try and have an easy day tomorrow, stay in doors especially if it continues to rain.

Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria