Chapter Three—Exploration: Get Lost

Max and I stumbled upon Caffé 500. It was nothing more than chance that we went into that café and not one of a million others. It was a good café and if we had not gone exploring near our apartment we would not have found it.

Exploring near your apartment is a good thing, but once you have done that you’re ready to graduate.

First, I’d encourage you to explore from the city center—Piazza San Carlo, Piazza Castello, etc. There are numerous gems of streets that run all around these areas. In my first week in Turin, I found an excellent café that I would return to at least bi-weekly. I found a pizzeria on Via Mercanti—one of those narrow, quaint European streets that we Americans find extraordinarily enchanting—that is very reasonably priced.

Go to the city center. Pick a direction and a street, and just keep going. Go at different times of the day, and go on different days of the week. Each time you’ll find something new. The more you get lost, the more you’ll learn, the more gems you’ll find. USAC-Turin does a wonderful job of giving you a starter kit of things to do, places to see in Turin itself, and I’ll be telling you of a few must-see, must-go places and attractions, but you’ve got to do this first. You’ve got to explore your town, you’ve got to get uncomfortable for a little while, and later you’ll eat the fruit of your labors.

Now it’s time to explore the buses and the metros.

Turin’s transportation system is good and getting better. You can buy an 18-Euro student public transportation ticket and be set to ride as many buses, trams, and metro cars as you want. The bus system is a matrix of complexity, running through all parts of the city. At peak traffic hours, they can take a while, and they can be filled with sweaty, noisy Italians. But they can take you places. The main buses that run along Via Nizza and Via Genova are the 1, 18, and 35.

Since the opening of the Lingotto metro line, however, which services Porta Nuova and Lingotto, you might be using those less. The metro is a wonderful thing—fast, reliable, efficient. It gets you to Porta Nuova in a heartbeat, and has many stops beyond.