#2 Mole Antonelliana in Torino

Turin became more internationally known after it hosted 2006 winter Olympics, but in Italy it is a city that symbolizes modernization, prosperity and plenty of grace and charm. Our trip to Turin was completely out of a whim. After being bored of window shopping in Milan (probably one of the most visually stimulating things to do there), we decided to hop on the train and take a day trip. From Milan, the ride was only 2 hours and we feasted our eyes on the Alps rising to the north, snow-capped, solemn and majestic. From the train station, we walked through Via Roma directly to the historical town center. During the infant stage of Italy as a newly united nation from 1861-1865, Turin was actually the capital city. Then it became the cradle of industrial revolution, exemplified by the founding of FIAT by the Agnelli family in 1899. The historical town possesses a noble air with wide portico pedestrian walkway, impressive buildings, high-end stores and well-dressed citizens. Along Via Roma, we came across Piazza San Carlo first, an elegant square with an ensemble of Baroque architect. It is dubbed as "Italy's drawing room". We happened to be in town on March 8th, the international woman's day and the town was just full of life and frequent parades. On Piazza San Carlo, there was an installation of purple human cutouts in memory of the victims of domestic violence (pic1. purple is the color of the country this year and it is everywhere).
We continued down to the main Piazza where Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Reale and the 15th-century Duomo stand. The Duomo gained its fame by acclaiming a pocession of "Cappella della Sacra Sindone", the chapel of holy shroud. The shroud is a piece of cloth with an imprint of a crucified man wearing a thorn crown. It was acclaimed that the shroud was the very cloth the body of Jesus was wrapped after his sacrifice. Clearly, no one could verify it, hitorically or scientifically.
Our favorite part in Turin was a visit to Mole Antonelliana (pic 2), the Turin's equivalent of Paris' Eiffel tower. It was an ever-expanding project by Alessandro Antonelli. Starting out as a modest design for a synagogue, the architect was carried away by his ambition. The final structure was completed in 1897 and it reached a staggering height of 550 ft, briefly the tallest building in the whole world. Throughout the years, many endeavors had to be made to restore or modify the various engineering parts of the building because of its massive weight as well as several damages due to the natural causes. What was cool about the tower for us was that it was buried in a neighborhood with a setting as if it was nothing but just an ordinal building. Its massive presence was completely elusive until we turned on its very street, Then there it was, looming in front of us and its complete visualization demanded a backward bending of our upper bodies. The line of the elevator was not unbearable and the view on top was absolutely rewarding (pic 3). The town was very good-looking from up there, a stretch of continuation of red-tile roofs radiating out to the hills surrounding it.
Turin is the birthplace of Fiat yet US no longer imports Fiat, so later we decided to rent one from Venice to continue our journey to Tuscany. It turned out that our Fiat model was called Panda, how appropriate.