Wednesday, 4 October (Day Seventeen)
Today I went to Asti. I’d made a list of a few places I wanted to go instead of doing one big trip and four made the list – Alba, Asti, Bra, and Ivrea. After two and a half weeks I finally was doing one of them – the closest – Asti.
We got the train from the main train station of Porto Nuovo. On our previous two visits to Torino the station was under renovation – tarpaulins, scaffolding, general massive detours. This is the first time the station has been completely finished and it’s quite a lovely building on the outside in general, with its different coloured brickwork. The tram stops are also new and clean. Inside the station, it’s not totally clear where everything is – is there a station that does this well? – but after reading the instructions online on how to get tickets etc we found it easy to show up, use the machine (with English instructions) and collect our tickets.
All the trains start here and line up nicely on the platforms – a very open set up compared to either London or Toronto. Our train is very clean with dark blue vinyl seats, enough facing forward to make us happy, and no tables or power points. But the journey is only about half an hour.
Asti is described as a very pretty medieval city, known for its wines. Like most of Italy, it claims to have very good food. I’m a city person and always sceptical about anything that’s not very urban. But this is an adventure and I’m in for anything.
I really didn’t like Asti. I was willing to try and very optimistic. I’d pictured it being pretty like the Cotswolds, with charming restaurants and markets and smiley people. It just wasn’t. It wasn’t picturesque at all. It was a small town with a modern look, mixed in with some very old areas. There were two markets – a big one where we could see mostly clothes, and later we saw a little one with half a dozen stalls selling fruit and vegetables. In the large market square they hold a horse race called the Palio. This has been happening since the 1200s and attracts a lot of visitors. That was back in September. On our travels we passed a museum devoted to this race and a man hurried out to let us in. We declined and I walked about with the guilt of refusal for hours. (I know…) I don’t like horse racing. I think it’s cruel.
The town had some people in the central area but it was mostly very empty and quiet. The art college had an interesting walled entry, the towers were impressive, and there were several very old churches. Around one cathedral we found a lot of what I assumed was the medieval city. I knew no nice restaurants and I’d done no research choosing to just let things happen. I couldn’t wait to leave.
I thought maybe I could find a restaurant anyway and spend an hour in there having a nice meal – I was starving – but things were very quiet, restaurants that I could see promised only the usual four course meals and so I reluctantly popped into a supermarket on the way to the station, buying some chips and chicken wings from a hot table, and a cold slice of pizza. Luxury!
The ride back into Torino seemed very short. I was really happy to get back. And I feel a bit ashamed and disappointed at this failure. I’m going to ask some pointed questions about the other destinations before I splash out for any tickets. Almost certainly I will be travelling alone!
A short rest at the flat and we decided to go to the open museum event at The Palazza Madama. It houses many ancient Torinese artifacts. It’s another grand palace with three floors of exhibits.
We’re both tired and there’s not a lot of time left in the opening time so we aim to see three floors. The museum was a nice surprise. The ground floor has Gothic and Renaissance period items and the basement has medieval items. There are wood and stone carvings, some very beautiful and elaborate and there are sculptures and paintings. Just about everything is religious with many many depictions of Madonna and child. In fact, the Madonna seems to be just about the only woman featured here. Even in the pictures of childbirth, only one or two women lurk in the background while a dozen or so men loom over the bed. It’s curious.
Down in the basement there is a huge storage room with plates, cups, clocks, ancient books, ceramics of all sorts stored in large glass cases. There are also some Roman mosaics and roughly carved stone pieces, some things dating from the first century or earlier.
There’s also some doors exiting to the gardens. The gardens are very lovely and more wild than I would have imagined. There are fruit trees and a vegetable garden and some herbs. The names are all in Latin so I’m not sure what they all are. It’s very peaceful. Some of the trees have woven baskets arrangements around them, which is a nice touch, and there also some woven low fences. I could sit in this garden for a while. The Geffrye museum gardens are much tidier but the relative wildness here is lovely and feels relaxing and natural.
As they close the museum to new visitors we leave and I want to head straight for some hot chocolate. The air is turning cooler these days and the day’s food has been a bit sparse and disappointing. Over by Porta Palatina is an ice cream shop that sells lovely thick hot chocolate so we sit and share one. We go through the market buildings to look at the counters that are still open but the huge quantities of meat are daunting so we’re having whatever is in the fridge tonight, and Krish is finally making some dhal.