February 2, 2026

Torino, Italia > Sondrio, Italia

Good morning. Another good night's sleep. The ORSA union 24-hour train strike is underway. Yesterday there was a misunderstanding or miscommunication about the guaranteed service hours. They are from 06:00 to 09:00 and again from 18:00 to 21:00. This strike primarily effects Lombardy (i.e. where we are in Northern Italy). Suburban, regional and airport trains may be cancelled and/or modified. The train to Sondrio is considered a regional train. Checking the Trenord website for guaranteed trains, train 2836 is the only evening train guaranteed heading to Triano (its final destination). That is the one we are booked on. The train is guaranteed but a seat on it is not.

Honestly there is no real worry. If we miss a train, we find a hotel for the night. If we make train, we sleep in Sondrio. Or, maybe somewhere along the way. This is life in Italy, and the thing that makes it both a challenge and fun.

I was awake at 05:30. Took a bath, shaved, and got dressed. At 07:00 I headed downstairs to the breakfast room at the hotel. I followed yesterday’s pattern, and had a cappuccino, spumante d’arancia, two small brioche, scrambled eggs, and a slice of bacon. Back in the room I checked the Trenord website for cancellations, and guaranteed trains. Had a cup of tea or two and woke nonna up at 08:00 per instructions.

After that it was finished up packing. We head to the elevator and downstairs to check out. We asked them to call us a taxi, mostly due to all the luggage we had. We had the two large suitcases we are leaving at Serra and Pietro’s, and the two small carry-on sized suitcases we are taking to Sondrio and Bologna. It is worth the €10 it cost us to have someone else deal with the suitcases.

Once at Serra and Pietro’s we dropped the suitcases in the hall, and spent time talking. About noon it was time for lunch. Last time we were in Torino, a week or so ago, we tried several times to have either lunch or dinner at Il Mannarino della Rocca. It is a butcher shop that also has a cucina. You go into the shop, chose your meat from the case, add your contorni (side dishes), and your drinks, and then go to your assigned table.

They cook your meats, prepare your side dishes and bring them to you table, along with your drinks. It is a really nice way to start your meal. The restaurant has a fair number of tables, maybe 20 – 25? The brought us a the Torinese version of bruschetta. It is the basic grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with olive oil and salt. In Torino they add a ground meat with some seasoning. The word “spices” could be used but it implies something else. This is really good meat with some fine seasoning. Not spicy, or bitter.

Now we have had some really awful bruschetta topped with meat. Probably the worst one was the traditional Sienese meat-topped bruschetta, or crostini. They have two versions of it. One features a savory spread made from chicken livers (crostini di fegatini, or crostini neri), and the other hearty local cured meat like Cinta Senese salami. They are served on toasted Tuscan bread, often rubbed with garlic, reflecting the rustic, authentic, and high-quality meat-focused cuisine of the Siena region. There is a third one we haven’t had the fortitude to try – crostini di milza. Crostini di milza has a traditional meat topping which is made from a mixture of spleen, which is often cooked with broth, capers, and anchovies. One shivers at the very thought of it.

We ordered a 1.7 kl (3 ¾ pound) T-bone steak (Fiorentina) for Mary and I to share, along with some roast potatoes. Mary also got an insalata verde semplice con olio EVO e aceto balsamico, aka a simple green salad with oil and vinegar. Grace got the same salad but also ordered Sovracosce di pollo con marinatura mediterranea, aka chicken thighs in a Mediterranean marinade.

So, the meal started with some really nice bread and fresh oil. Mary got a mezzo litro di vino rosso della casa, Grace got a coca cola, and I stuck with water. Then the brought the bruschetta. At first, we were a little timid. This hadn’t happened before. Mary was the first quickly followed by Grace. Clearly it was worth the chance so I dived in and took the third piece. Good thing I didn’t wait or there probably wouldn’t have been a third piece to have.

They brought the salads. The salads were huge. The bowl each of them was in was at least a liter, maybe a liter and a half. Honestly one salad for the two of them would have been more than enough. A, live and learn. It has been probably a year and a half maybe two years since we last ate here. The put a wire frame in the shape of a square box on the table, like you see in pizza parlors to put the pizza about the table to give you more room, and then put this gloriously properly cold steak, which was resting on a flare piece of heated stone. Then the brought the potatoes, maybe a quarter liter.

Graces dish came as well. There was enough chicken on the plate to, again, serve two people. Now you would think that a 1.7 kilo steak would be more than enough for two very old people like us. However, by the end of the meal there was nothing left except for once big bone, probably close to a kilo all by itself. And a few pieces of fat and grizzle. Someone, without naming myself, even too it upon himself to chew and much of the meat off the bone as he could. It was that good. It was also enough for both dinner and lunch.

After “luniner”, lunch & dinner, we walked back down Via Della Rocca to Piazza Vittorio Veneto and them up Via Po. We stopped at the Christiania Hat Shop, one of my favorite places to visit, looking for a pair of gloves for Grace. They had some really cute ones in the window, but it Monday and they aren’t open until after 15:00 on Mondays. So, we made the decision to walk down the Via Po. It will probably take us the hour until the shop is open.

Mary wanted to stop Flying Tiger Copenhagen store and see if they had a heart shaped cake pan so we could make a Valentine’s Day cake in the shape of a heart for Luisa and Amadea while we are baby sitting in ten days. There was no luck on the cake pan but both Grace and Mary managed to fill most of a shopping bag with “stuff”, they probably really don’t need. As we continued on we had to stop at a shoes store that had cute shoes and boots in the window. Grace needed a “dressy” pair of shoes in case she needed to go out while she was here. After trying on a couple pairs to get the size right she chose some black flats which were in fact really cute. The good news is, is that they were only €25.

Unfortunately, new shoes require new socks. Socks seem to be a particular fetish in this family, so we HAD to stop at Calzedonia for socks. This is a traditional shopping point for Mary anyway. She always has to stop her to by socks and legs for Rochelle and Grace. Now, being an honest blogger, the men’s socks are really nice. Choices were made, including five pair of really nice cashmere men’s socks which go all they way up to just below the knew. Nice and warm and soft. This one stop cost more than four times the shoes.

Then Grace wanted to get some shot glass from Torino for her friends back at Old Miss. Well, the best place to do that would be in the Torino Store, a tourist shop, where the Via Po ends in Piazza Castello. We walked down one side of the Via Po, stopped at the Torino Store, left the store, crossed the Via Po and headed down the other side. Since we didn’t find a heart shaped cake pan Mary is hoping that Dmail store which is on the “university” side of the Via Po. The south side of the Via Po has shops, like the shore store and Calzedonia. A great deal of the north side of the Via Po is taken up by the University of Torino.

Dmail is an who specializes in unique, practical, hard-to-find, functional products for the home, garden and leisure markets. We love to stop in here on our trips to Torino just to see what fun stuff they have. Sometimes they will have something we would like for the rental we are staying in. Things were usually very cheap, but practical. It is easy to spot with its distinctive vibrant yellow stores. Unfortunately, the store had a slightly different name and was having a “going out of business” sale. Apparently, Dmail was acquired by Kasanova in late 2023. According to information on the web, “Dmail store located on Via Po in Turin has closed due to rebranding or consolidation, with the location likely shifting to or being replaced by Kasanova.” Progress?

We continued down the Via Po until we reached the Christiania Hat Shop. It had gone 15:00, but the shop was still locked up. The sign clearly said it was open Monday afternoons from 15:00 to 19:30. Maybe they were just late on opening? We left disappointed and walked on to Serra & Pietro’s just a few blocks away.

While we were at Serra & Pietro’s Harry V arrived. It was kind-of a surprise. We thought he was going to be arriving at the train station just about the same time we were leaving, but apparently, he caught an earlier train. We stayed and talked for a while. I took the extra luggage back down to the cantina. The jaunt as it had gone 16:00 we headed out for the tran station. Due to the strike we “managed” our train reservation so we would be in Milano at 18:00 when the strike was beginning the guaranteed train phase. The train to Sondrio is a Trenord train so it was halted by the strike. But there is an 18:20 train which was guaranteed. The only train, not counting the early morning train, which would take you to Sondrio today.

However, first we have to get to Milano Centrale, as that is where the train for Sondrio starts. The Trenitalia trains are not effected by the strike. Accordingly, the first train we take is a Frecciarossa out of Torino. It is scheduled to leave at 17:00 and get is to Milano at 18:02. We get to the train station about thirty minutes before our departure time. We walk around the train station a little bit. There was a shop near the front of the station that pops up as being like Dmail. So, we head up there see if we can find that elusive heart shaped cake pan.

The store is called ODStore. Dmail – ODStore, the sound similar. Unfortunately, ODStore is just one very large candy store. They have all types of candy, but nothing else. Ok, limoncello is considered candy in Italy. After spending a few minutes walking through the store, we walk back to the platform area. It is still a quarter to 17:00, and the track isn’t posted yet. The Trenitalia app says it will be Binario 12, but who knows the app isn’t always as completely up to date.

Surprise, about ten minuted before 17:00 the binario is posted, and it is number 12. We head towards the binario, scan our tickets, and board the train. There is no hurry, we have assigned seats. Unfortunately, the next train is only open seating and, being the only train in the day after 09:00, it will be full! We are a few minutes late pulling into Milano Centrale, but there is a twenty minute gap between trains so we should be ok.

The departures (partenze) board is all lit up, there are masses of people everywhere, it has just gone 18:00 and the strike just lifted for three hours, regional trains are just loading up. People are scurrying everywhere. The 18:20 train for Triano is listed, but no binario is listed. The Trenitalia app says it will be binario 7, but the train to Zurich is parked there and is 10 or 15 minutes late, which puts its departure time after 18:20. It is unlikely that it will be binario 7.

We wait, we watch, we fret, 18:20 comes and goes. The train is still listed as 18:20 and isn’t showing any delay or cancellation. A couple trains ahead of it on the board are now showing cancellations. 18:30 still nothing. Finally, the train will be 40 minutes delayed (in ritardo). Well, that gives us a little better feeling. At least it hasn’t been cancelled – yet.

It has now gone 18:45 and the binario still isn’t listed. Oops, yes it is – Binario 4. We head out to binario 4 as fast as we can. We would like to have a seat for the two-hour ride. The first four cars of the train are completely full, so much so it isn’t even possible to get into them. The fifth car has some space and we find two open seats on the isle, but across the isle from one another. The small carry-on bags are hefted into the overhead, and we take our seats for the ride.

In this direction, that is heading towards Sondrio from Milano the first stop is Monza. Monza is a station where a number of different trains depart in the eastbound and westbound directions north of Milano. Usually we lose about a third of the passengers here. Tonight, maybe not so many, probably only about 25%. The next big stop is Lecco. Again, we usually lose about a third of the passengers. Tonight, maybe more than that get off.

No usually the next stop is Varenna-Esino. This is probably the main tourist city on the southeastern side of Lake Como. During tourist season, which this is not, we usually lose most of the rest of the passengers. Tonight, there aren’t many tourists on board, and frankly not that many people in total. The ride beyond Varenna-Esino is usually just locals heading to Colico, Morbegno, Sondrio or Tirano. If you are on an early train, before school starts or just after it lets out for the day, the train would be filled with students. However, it is all most 20:00, and most of the students are probably at home having dinner. Assuming they even had school today. It is probable that they cancelled school in Morbegno because of the strike.

The train pulls into Sondrio just before it goes 19:30. There is a light rain, and it is probably 3° C (38° F). It is pretty much a 500 meter straight shot though Piazzale Giovanni Bertacchi, which starts right in front of the train station, down Corso Vittorio Vento to Piazza Garibaldi Giuseppe where the Grand Hotel della Posta is. However, it is cold, raining and we are old and tired, we chose to take the one waiting taxi. No meter, no question about the fare. We know it will be €10. Don’t know how, but all the taxi rides in Italy seem to be €10. That may simply be a minimum. It will be worth it at this point in that day.

We arrive at the hotel, go to reception and wait for a few minutes for someone to show up. We check into our room, organize things a bit, and fall into bed.  

Buonanotte e Ciao

Enrico e Maria