Turin had never really been on our list.
Some trips take months to plan. Others come together in the space of an evening.
Ours started on the ski slopes of Carezza in the Dolomites, where we have spent the past few winters after finding a hotel we really like. Cosa Più Bella by Eros Ramazzotti started playing over the speakers as we were skiing, and hearing it again brought back so many memories.
That evening, over a post-dinner drink, I searched for the song on Spotify. Because we were in Italy, the app suggested an upcoming concert “near you”. I clicked out of curiosity and discovered that Eros was due to perform in Turin a few months later.
The concert was on a Saturday, which made it an easy excuse for a weekend away. My proposal to my husband was simple: give me two hours at the concert and I would take him wine tasting in the Langhe for the rest of the trip.
We decided to spend two nights in Turin, arriving on Friday afternoon rather than risking a delayed flight on the day of the concert. On Sunday morning, we would collect the car and drive to La Morra for the next two nights.
The plan sounded so good that my friend Trudi, who was travelling from New Zealand to visit us in Sotogrande before continuing to the UK, decided to fly to Milan instead and join us. We had first visited Barolo together around fifteen years earlier. In the end, she took my husband’s concert ticket and it became a girls’ evening with our daughter.
This was not our first time in Turin. A few years earlier, when we still lived in England, we had flown there before driving to Val Thorens. We would normally use Geneva or Lyon for the Three Valleys, but the Turin flights were better value that year. We spent half a day in the city before continuing to the slopes.
On this occasion, Milan made more sense because Trudi was arriving from New Zealand. After meeting at Malpensa, we stopped for lunch at our favourite agriturismo (La Galizza) around twenty minutes from the airport, where we have now eaten three times when flying in or out of Milan, and then drove to Turin.
We arrived on Friday afternoon, had all of Saturday in the city and left for the Langhe on Sunday morning. Milan Malpensa to Turin took a little over an hour, and Turin to La Morra was around an hour, so the driving was easy.
Trip Note: The Summer Heat
One thing worth mentioning is that we visited in late June during the extreme heat across Europe. Temperatures were in the mid-40s during the day and still in the high 30s at night. We were also travelling with our six-year-old daughter, so air conditioning featured more heavily in our decisions than it normally would.
One thing worth knowing before you book is that Turin doesn’t have a huge number of traditional luxury hotels. If you’re used to cities like Milan or Florence, you’ll notice the difference. Instead, you’ll find a growing number of beautifully restored apartments and suites in historic buildings, many run to a boutique hotel standard. On both of our visits, we’ve chosen this style of accommodation and, for a short city break, I actually think it suits Turin perfectly.
Friday: Ice Cream, Vermouth and Seafood
After checking into Agorà Suites, we unpacked and headed straight back out.
“Can somebody turn the heating off?”
Our six-year-old daughter, stepping outside into the 45°C heat.
Our first stop was Alberto Marchetti. In that heat, ice cream felt like the only sensible place to begin. I ordered the vermouth flavour, which turned out to be one of the best ice creams I have ever had, while our daughter wisely chose lemon sorbet and enjoyed it indoors before it had a chance to melt.
From there we started walking around the streets surrounding Piazza San Carlo.
One of our first stops was Superga, another reminder of just how many familiar Italian brands have their roots in Turin. As the weekend went on, we kept discovering more. Lavazza was founded here, Martini has its roots here and, of course, Turin is the birthplace of vermouth.
I was tempted by Turin’s famous gianduiotto chocolates too, but at 45°C it somehow didn’t feel like the right moment. Chocolate could wait for another visit.
Dinner that evening was at Mare Nostrum, where we had booked a table for 8pm.
📌 Booking Advice
One piece of advice I would definitely give is to reserve restaurants in advance. Turin may not feel particularly busy while you’re walking around, but the city’s better restaurants fill up quickly. By 8.05pm the dining room was full, almost entirely with Italians.
On the way back to Agorà Suites we stopped at a small wine bar. We’d only gone in for a bottle of water but stayed for a final glass of the local Roero Arneis before calling it a night.
Saturday: Markets, Shopping and an Unexpected Lunch
Saturday started with a short walk to the Porta Palazzo market, stopping at a small café for breakfast on the way.
Breakfast in Italy is usually much lighter than in France or Portugal: a coffee, something sweet and that’s about it.
The market itself was enormous, but it was the food section that kept us there. The fruit and vegetables were beautiful. We couldn’t resist buying a bag of cherries, just coming into season, along with peaches that actually smelt of peaches.
The meat, cheese, charcuterie and fish stalls were all indoors, and it was nice to watch Turin residents doing their Saturday morning shopping before we carried on with our day.
From the market we started walking back towards the centre, stopping at the Duomo di Torino (Turin Cathedral) along the way. Our daughter has always enjoyed visiting churches and this one had the added advantage of being wonderfully cool inside. No queues, no tickets, just a welcome break from the heat before carrying on towards Via Lagrange.
Back at Agorà Suites, the men and our daughter decided to stay behind while Trudi and I headed back out. With temperatures still hovering around 45°C, Rinascente—and its air conditioning—was an obvious place to start.
Rinascente is Italy’s best-known department store. The Turin branch is much smaller than the flagship in Milan but well curated, and we wanted to have a proper look around.
When we reached the beauty floor, we explored a few standout Italian brands:
- Davines: One of Italy’s leading haircare brands. I had first discovered its treatment masks in individual pouches a few months earlier in South Africa, of all places, and had been hoping to buy a few more. They’re perfect for travelling and an easy way to try a product before committing to the full size.
- Diego dalla Palma: Offered the same pouch format, including a whole range for curly hair. We bought several of the individual treatments for our daughter and they turned out to be one of the best haircare discoveries of the trip.
- The Home Department: Also worth a look, with plenty of Italian classics given a more contemporary twist. I was hoping to add to my Ichendorf Milano collection after spending months earlier this year trying to track down their little sugar bowl and matching milk jug, which eventually arrived from Sweden of all places.
Shopping Tip: ask for a Rinascente customer card at the first till you use. Gives you 10% and it is a digital card so you can use in subsequent trips to Italty. You don’t need to be a resident in Italy.
From there we walked into nearby Stefanel, a brand that was a fixture across Southern Europe in the 1990s but has now largely retreated to Italy. It was nice to see it again.
A few minutes later we reached Via Lagrange, Turin’s main luxury shopping street. You’ll find standalone boutiques including Chanel, Hermès, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, alongside the beautifully designed Lagrange12, a multibrand boutique housed inside a historic palazzo.
Shopping Highlight
What surprised me most was how calm it all felt. The shopping is excellent, but without the crowds you might expect in Milan or Rome.
After a couple more shops, the heat got the better of us. We hadn’t planned on lunch, but Eataly had air conditioning and there was a table available, so the decision was quickly made.
Lunch was at Eataly, where we built our own Caprese salads by choosing the exact variety of tomato and mozzarella from the menu. I’d never seen that before and thought it was a lovely idea. Beautifully simple.
After lunch we carried on around the centre for another hour before heading back to Agorà Suites to freshen up and collect the rest of our party.
Thankfully, the centre was only a two-minute walk away.
Before dinner there was one promise to fulfil. We’d all agreed the previous day’s vermouth gelato deserved another visit, and none of us needed much convincing.
Our early dinner was at Le Vitel Etonné, where we had booked one of the first tables of the evening. The vitello tonnato and carne cruda were both excellent and made for the perfect early Piedmontese dinner before the concert.
By 7pm we were ready to head to the Allianz Stadium. We couldn’t get Uber to confirm our booking because thousands of other people were trying to do exactly the same thing, so we switched to Free Now instead. It’s a handy European app that gives you access to the city’s licensed taxis, and within a few minutes we were on our way. The journey from the city centre took around 15–20 minutes.
Sunday: One Last Stop Before the Langhe
Sunday morning came around all too quickly.
Parking in Turin
After packing up, we collected the hire car from the nearby parking garage. If you’re driving into Turin, it’s worth knowing that parking in the historic centre is both limited and expensive. We paid around €50 for 24 hours—more than our daily car hire rate. 😬
Before leaving the city, we made one final stop at Eataly Lingotto.
This is the original Eataly, opened in 2007 inside the former Carpano vermouth factory, and it’s well worth visiting if you’re driving south towards the Langhe. Much larger than the city centre branch, it’s part café, part food hall and part delicatessen, with everything from fresh pasta and cheese to wine, kitchenware and beautifully packaged Italian food to take home.
We stopped for a simple Italian breakfast before having a proper look around. If you’re planning a picnic later in your trip—or simply want to take a few edible souvenirs home—it’s an excellent place to stock up.
From there, it was just over an hour’s drive to La Morra, where we would spend the next two nights exploring the Langhe wine region.
So… Is Turin Worth a Stop?
For us, absolutely.
Would I fly to Turin for a long weekend on its own? Probably not.
Would I happily spend two nights here before heading to the Langhe, the Italian Lakes or even the French Alps again? Without hesitation.
What surprised me most was how easy the city was. We rarely queued for anything, could walk almost everywhere, found excellent food and shopping, and never felt overwhelmed by crowds.
There are very few traditional luxury hotels, so I would happily stay in the centre again in one of the apartment-style suites like Agorà. Being able to pop back to freshen up before dinner—or simply escape the heat for an hour—made a huge difference.
For us, what started as an excuse to see a concert became one of our favourite weekends of the year. If you’re already passing through Piedmont, I wouldn’t skip Turin. Give it a couple of days before heading into the vineyards—you may well end up enjoying it more than you expected.
This was the first stop on our five-day Piedmont road trip. Next, we headed to La Morra in the Langhe wine region.
Mrs. O
Continue planning your trip
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Turin in July was hot, and these are the deodorants that genuinely held up after long days exploring European cities on foot.
👟 The Best Men’s Summer Holiday Shoes
The shoes my husband packed for Turin were perfect for walking the city’s elegant arcades before heading straight out for dinner.
