Thursday, 21 September (Day four)
Although we had thought about a day trip today, I don’t think we are organised enough so I suggested we go to Lingotto since it’s on our list. At Lingotto there is the old Fiat factory which has been turned into two NH Hotels, a large shopping mall which includes a cinema complex, and on the roof is the old Fiat testing track. As well there’s the original Eataly, which is on my list.
The first adventure was finding and buying tickets for the bus. Before that, we need to find out how much they cost and how to use them. This kind of thing is different everywhere – figuring out transportation is important but can be bewildering with conflicting information. It seems it costs 1.50 for a 90 minute ticket. You can use it on all the modes of transport – metro, bus, and tram, but you can enter the metro only once. Sounds reasonable. Buying the tickets is another story since there’s no metro station close to us. Tobacconists seem the best source so we find one near the bus stop and, joy, he speaks English (rusty, he says, but he speaks it very well).
It’s one bus all the way to the Lingotto complex and thank goodness for my map application since there’s no announcement of stops along the way. When we do arrive at what the app promises to be our final stop, we can’t see anything that looks like the Fiat factory. We walked half a block and there on our right it said Eataly. In my mind, I’d placed Eataly inside the Fiat buildings but it seems it’s instead inside an old vermouth factory (Vermouth is from here) and a short hop across a walkway from the Fiat complex. K is impatient in Eataly, which is modern and bright, so we head straight for the factory.
It’s a cream coloured building and hard to imagine there’s a shopping mall inside there. But it’s actually very deep.
Sadly, it’s not much of a mall. The stores aren’t too interesting, the food court is unimaginative, but there’s a lovely gift shop with Fiat and Lambretta souvenirs and the like, as well as some fabulous looking books. Inside the gift shop is a glass elevator that takes you to the roof. We hope there are some views up there but know that if you want to see the track it’s included in the price of admission to the art gallery, 10E entry.
Out of the elevator is a gorgeous view of the inner courtyard. It’s lush and green with several palm trees. I tried to take a few photos but with the elevator moving and the layers of glass, they aren’t very successful. However, reaching the fourth floor we discover that despite a notice saying no admission to the test track, there it is! Honestly nothing to look at but the history…!
The best part is an ‘eyrie’, I’ll call it. A lookout point over the track that looks like it came straight from a sci fi movie. One part of it reminds me of the roof on the Reichstag in Berlin and I muse about the wartime ties between the two countries. And I wonder out loud how the Italians decided to side with the Germans, something that I’ve never thought about before.
Suddenly, I’m comfortable with this country and its ideologies. I think about the officious police officers with their black uniforms and guns – automatic or pistols – and unsmiling faces, the rules laid down for tourists, and for residents too, and I wonder how it affects daily life. I may be here to live like a local but I’m not voting, or sending my children to school, or buying a home, or navigating the various government channels for any reason. Is it different elsewhere but really just the same? Just as many but different rules?
There’s a long bridge leading out to the parking lot. The travelators aren’t walking so it’s a good journey over there. There’s also the Olympic ground with a large arch that I joke looks like a basketball net. And from up there we can see that the Fiat grounds have gorgeous lush green spaces – one with blocks of hedges and one with a neat grove of trees. It’s a little hard to imagine the factory as a factory but it’s interesting to try to discern the old amongst the new.
I wrangle a short visit to Eataly. I really don’t want to come back here since I can tell I won’t stay here long in any case. And I don’t. Krish waits outside but I do call him in to look at the kitchenware. We are still in the market for a frying pan and a spatula. There’s nothing suitable in here though. Eataly looks like a fancy food court with a small supermarket and a couple of shops attached. But the prices aren’t too bad! Nothing worth hanging around long for though so we leave and are on our way.
The plan is to eat somewhere between here and home. It’s almost three and we’re hungry. Then we spot a gelateria so pop inside to look at the flavours. We choose a medium cup with three flavours – cream of pistachio, which has a thick Nutella like topping, fior de latte, and violet. It’s a great ice cream and violet is the winner! Yum.
We’re pretty happy to be home. We’ve managed to arrive without having had lunch and it’s now close to 5pm so I put together the remaining agnolottoni, the leftover cooked sausage, and some salad. Done!
Later that evening we decide to pop out again in search of a drink and some salume – we head for a place we’ve been before – it’s local and reliable for salume (local cured meats). We order antipasto misto but it turns out to be a selection of their starters and not the meat and cheese platter we’d expected. A mistake but one we’re OK with since it looks interesting and lighter than what we’d gone in for. I got prosecco in a large wine glass, woah. I’m a cheap drunk but it was enjoyable.
In the market square some people are hanging around, some try to engage us. We keep walking. Some of the stalls and awnings are being taken down but not all. For the third time I wonder if they no longer dismantle it but without our previous years’ vantage we can’t tell. In those days we could look out of the window regularly and watch the wonderful choreography of the market.
Home to watch some more of The Expanse and then to bed.