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Published: April 11th 2020
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Turin
Panoramic view from the Capuchin monastery in the hills of the east bank of the river Po. In late May, the European Conference of Work and Organizational Psychology took me to Turin in Italy. I arrived there in the evening and met a few acquaintances in the airport. They were, of course, going to attend the conference as well. We shared a taxi into the city, I checked into my hotel and then met my former colleagues Richie, Lena, and Mats for a very tasty Italian dinner. The Italian cuisine is one of my favourite cuisines, and I love Italy in general: not only the food, the ice-cream and the coffee (I usually drink way too much coffee when I’m there just because I like it so much, so my heart is racing quite often), but also the people, the language (it is so passionate), the landscapes, the many historic sites one can visit. The country has such a long cultural history and so many stories to tell. Anyway, the dinner was fantastic, and I returned to my hotel way later than I had intended to.
The next morning, I went for a run along the river Po. To the west of the river, the city is almost flat, and to its east it is hilly and
View of Turin
With Via Po, the avenue connecting Palazzo Reale and the river, and Mole Antonelliana (the tower in the picture). covered with a forest. There is a nice promenade on both sides of the river on which, of course, I was not the only runner. I started at Ponte Balbis and ran through Parco Valentino, a beautiful park that is located on the west bank of the river. Opening in 1856, it was Italy’s first park. Located in the park is Borgo Medievale, a reproduction of 15th century Piedmont and Aosta Valley buildings and furnishings that was erected in 1884 for the Italian General Exhibition. Then I ran past the palace Promotrice Delle Belle Arti, a building in classicistic style that hosts the society for promoting the fine arts. Just a few metres away was Castello del Valentino, the former ducal residence that was built in the 17th century and that is now part of the Polytechnic University. At Arco monumentale all'Arma di Artiglieria, a triumphal arc, I crossed the river on Ponte Umberto I and ran back along the other side of the river with a nice view of the park and its castles and palaces.
The next few days were busy with work – I had four talks to give during the conference, and none of them
River Po
View from one of the bridges in the morning. were prepared yet, and there was the usually work to do anyway – and the conference, of course. So I did not get much of a chance to see the city. One evening, I went into town with my colleague and friend Hennie from South Africa. We caught the metro to Porta Nuova station and walked along Via Roma to Piazza San Carlo, a beautiful square in Baroque style dating from the 16th and 17th century. In its centre there is the equestrian statue of Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, and there are twin churches on both sides of one entrance to the square, Chiesa di San Carlo Borromeo and Chiesa di Santa Cristina, both with beautifully decorated facades in Baroque style. There are restaurants on both sides of the square, and we had dinner in one of them. Of course, they are very touristy, but it was nice to sit there, enjoy the warm evening, and watch people.
The conference itself was held in the Centro Congressi Lingotto, the congress centre, not far from the National Car Museum. The Centro Congressi is a large building that used to be the Fiat car factory. Fiat was founded in Turin
Borgo Medievale
A reproduction of 15th century Piedmont and Aosta Valley buildings built in 1884 for the Italian General Exhibition. in 1899. Today the building hosts not only the congress centre, but also a large shopping mall and a hotel and was designed by star architect Renzo Piano. However, what is most spectacular about it is that it has a racecourse on its rooftop, with a lift especially for cars. In the old days, the engineers tested new car models on this racecourse hidden from curious eyes. We got a special key from the hotel reception that allowed us to ride the lift all the way to the rooftop, and there we took a walk around the racecourse. When it was still in use, the cars were brought up with a special lift. I was amazed by how steep the slope of the curves on both sides of the racecourse was. On could barely stand without falling over, and one had to be very careful when walking down again to the bottom of the slope. From the rooftop we also had a nice view of the river and the hilly part of the city.
After the congress had finished on a Saturday afternoon, Hennie and I took the metro into the city centre again, went for a nice walk,
Palazzo Reale
The Royal Palace. had dinner and met our colleagues Tim and Lothar and their teams for a drink. And the next morning we went on a hop on hop off bus tour. It was nice to see a little bit of the city and to learn about its history. It is the fourth largest in Italy and has almost 900,000 inhabitants. It has a long history. There were Celtic settlements over 2,000 years ago, and after Hannibal had destroyed them, the Romans built a military camp and city there. One of the city gates, Porta Palatina, is still there. It is not far from the Palazzo Reale, or Royal Palace.
Later the Langobards and the Franks resided in the city, before the Dukes of Savoy conquered the city in the late 13th century and made it their capital in the 15th century. They founded a university and did a lot of construction work. When Italy was united in 1861, the city became the country’s capital, which was, however, soon moved to Florence. Turin became an important industrial town with the car manufacturers Fiat and Lancia opening their factories there.
There are still a lot of baroque style buildings. From Palazzo Reale
a beautiful avenue, Via Po, leads down to the river Po. On both sides there are high buildings. The ground floor of each building has a roofed passage and we learned that this was so that the city residents could stroll from the city centre down to the river during rain without getting wet. The first floor of the buildings is the noblest one, with high ceilings, and the higher one gets up the lower the ceilings become. Thus, in the old days, different socio-economic classes used to live in the same building. On the other side of the river there is the old Capuchin monastery, located on one of the hills, that offers a beautiful view of the city centre. From there one can see Mole Antonelliana, the city’s landmark. It has a large tower and was originally intended to be a Jewish synagogue. However, because of the architect’s hubris the cost for the building skyrocketed, and the Jewish community could not afford the building anymore. Therefore, the city of Turin took it over and turned it into a museum. The tower is almost 170 metres tall and, at the time of its construction, was the second tallest walkable
building in the world. It still stands out from the city’s skyline.
Enjoying the view of the city was a nice end of my trip to Turin. Hennie and I walked back into the city, had one last coffee together, and then I went back to my hotel to pick up my luggage and catch a taxi to the airport. There was a nice goodbye from the super friendly staff at my hotel. There had always been friendly conversations, with the staff trying to practice their German and me trying to practice her Italian. Again, I had enjoyed the country, its people, its sights, its language, its food, coffee, and ice-cream. And I hope I will be able to come back soon.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Work trip
Too much work and not enough play. It is all about the food isn't it? Thanks for taking us along.