Torino

Austere homeland of cars (FIAT plants are still located in the metropolitan area) and chocolate, Torino is the center of a region renowned for its culture of wines and cuisine. A city of many souls, Torino is imperial, and bourgeois; it is a masterpiece of aesthetic urban design, and has immense suburban landscapes of cement; it is centered on the slow pace of the Po river, and it is enlightened by the beauty of its green hilly flanks; it's a city in which nobility is not an anachronism, and where union wars flared in the past decades. In the city, the world's most important museum of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt; the Holy Shroud is back to public view.

Torino City Guide

Torino Special

Lake Maggiore

It has one Piedmontese and one Lombard bank. The climate is so mild that it possible to grow olive, lemon, and orange trees. Its acid soil chemistry makes its banks the world growers of Azalea and Rhododendrons. There are many famous holiday resorts along its banks.
Not to be missed: The wonderful villas built by the upper middle classes during the 19th century, especially around Stresa and Pallanza. Villa Taranto hosts a magnificent historical garden, open to the public.

Stresa

Small lake town, full of charm, it overlooks the Borromeo gulf of the Lake Maggiore. The elegant villas, the private parks and gardens which give Stresa its prestigious image were built in the 18th century, and during the Art Nouveau years of the beginning of this century.
Not to be missed: A walk on the promenade where the most beautiful villas and the de-luxe hotels overlooking the Borromee Isles are. They can be reached by ferry leaving from the Piazza Marconi pier.