I only went to Italy to visit Roberta. After my visit, I was tasked with getting back to France, but how and where were somewhat flexible. I met Matteo at the Sherwood festival in Padua. He invited me to Turino (Italy) which was on my way back to France, so I decided to check it out.
I’d never been this far north west in Italy. I really enjoyed it. Perhaps because of its proximity and influence from France, but it had other lovely qualities too.
As soon as I arrived, Matteo showed me around the market place. Its open daily and has inexpensive food and clothes. I love these cities that have this kind of scene.

Turino used to be the capital back in the day, so there’s quite a bit to see. There are many plazas. There are old Roman ruins.

That night we met up with Matteo’s friend, Alexis. Later, we went to this live music performance at this …. place. I don’t know exactly how to describe it. It looked like the parking lot of an abandoned building. It was now a bar/ community events place, with what looked like college furniture, the kind you find on the sidewalk and decide to give a 2nd life to. There was a free clothing exchange next to the bathrooms.

After we rode our bikes to this party in the park. I felt like the DJs were amateurs, as the beats were predictable and bit rough, but it was still a novel experience. I asked about the legality of the party. Matteo said they were definitely illegal, but the cops don’t do anything about it. These are regularly occurring parties AND they happen in the parks all over the city! I was/ am truly jealous of this city.

The next day, Matteo took me to the weekly antiques market. Like other places in Italy/ France, there are public drinking fountains set up around the city, but this place had the water coming out of a bull, one of the city’s symbols.

Later I had a walk around the city.

That evening, we took Matteo’s motor bike to a park to watch “Only Lovers Left Alive”.

My last day in Turino, I walked around town again. I went up to the Basilica of Superga, the church in the hills, to get a view of the city. My highlight of the day was watching a guy sing “Take on me” (A-ha) on accordion. He was hitting all the high notes. This guy was living the dream.