This morning I finally made my beef stew – with red wine, whole garlic, red onion wedges, thyme, and some young carrots. I taste it before we leave and am thrilled that it’s much more tender than the original too-lean meat promised.
On the way out we go along Via Milano. We used to be on this road a lot in ‘our’ old flat but haven’t gone along here too often this time. There are still things there that evoke the pure essence of Torino.
Torino StarVia Milano and Piazza della Citta
We went on the metro to Pozzo Strada. We had no idea what was there – we chose the station at random. Pozzo! Pozzo! Turns out it means ‘well.’ Nothing much around there – lots of low rise apartments. What was pretty cool, though, was how long and straight the road was (Roman roads here in Turin) and straight through to the Alps. Today we could see them.
Now the clocks have changed, I’m waking up at 5am. Nothing new there but hopefully I’ll get used to it. I have another time change to grapple with when we get back to London so we’ll see!
Today we decided to go to see some more Millo and then pick up some groceries. We have a map that shows where all the Millos are so we pick off four to the west of us and set off to the bus.
They are all in the Barriera di Milano, a mostly deprived area to the north west of us. The map shows them really clearly and in the end the four we’ve chosen are all within very close distance of each other. Excellent! I’m feeling lazy.
Milano is interesting. There are several ethnic communities. We find a market with many Africans selling. I buy some bits of lace and some white thread as it closes. I also find a Latin American store and come close to buying tamales but they are frozen and I don’t feel like carrying the large frozen package around.
I feel somewhat uncomfortable photographing neighbourhoods that are busy with people. Sometimes the camera is unwelcome, sometimes someone will get hostile and often I feel awkward and ugly photographing something that’s obviously downtrodden. Like a rich, disinterested voyeur/anthropologist.
Barriera di Milano marketBarriera di Milano neighbourhood
Not a lot of words today but plenty of photos, I think. After some busy stuff in the morning, I thought I could manage to get out – my sore throat soothed a little with some good old British cough sweets – as long as I took it easy and could get back quickly.
Krish had discovered that an area north of it, Barriera di Milano, had a lot of street art. We knew, for instance, that the artist Millo had some large commissioned works on various walls and were determined to find as many as we could. We even have a map of where they are but thought today we might just stumble across a few and indeed we did!
First of all though, we went into the Balon district while it was empty – market day changes the whole look and your ability to really explore. There are some nice pieces of art here. We also discovered where the Baloon is anchored and takes off. Sadly, I blinked and missed it being lowered with its occupants.
On the evening I arrived, we went to a birthday party for one of the teachers Esmeralda works with. They were sitting at a very long table together with several bottles of prosecco at hand. It was aperitivo hour and at some time a food buffet would appear – one extra euro when you buy the prosecco. But I’m hungry and when I hear one teacher say she’s leaving to get some ‘proper food’ I ask if I can tag along. The teacher, her sister and the sister’s boyfriend and I hurry across the food to a restaurant inside a market but it’s closed for 45 more minutes and we’re all hungry.
As a rule, restaurants are open for lunch from 12-2 or 3 (I’ve seen a couple that open just for one hour at lunch) and then don’t reopen until 730 for dinner, much later than I’m used to. But some are open earlier for tourists or don’t close at all so we find one that will let us in. I order a gnochetti with clams and rapini. It’s not bad – the rapini is cooked far too long, as usual. But it fills a hole. I talk to the teacher who has arrived six weeks earlier from her last job in Dubai. She says her long apartment is 600 Euros a month and that she’s just getting used to the pace of life here – not rushing, just like the Italians. I’m mostly struck by how different her life and her sister’s lives are. They’re from Liverpool and their idea of going out is to cafes and restaurants. After a while, I’m happy to get back to the noisy pub.
My gnochetti wasn’t a large portion so Esmeralda brings me a plate or two of green beans and chick peas, some eggplant and potato. It’s decent, cheap food to serve along with drinks and I’m glad that I had some clams earlier.
We get along well in the flat. There’s plenty of breathing space but no internet! So glad my phone has plenty of data. I enjoy the independent and girly feel in that flat. I think I miss it. It’s been a long time. Wistful.
The next day we go for brunch and I shock myself by having a burger. It’s been ages since I had meat! It’s not bad at all. Then we wander around the various markets – stalls are selling vintage clothes, housewares, clothing of all sorts, antiques, old stuff. I buy three old scarves for a euro. They’ll do for fabric for my next doll when I get around to it.
Later that night we went for dinner. The menus look pretty similar everywhere. I choose a predictable tagliatelle with ragu (or bolognese, as everyone else calls it) and can’t finish it. We are both stuffed to discomfort so collapse at the flat.
Today was a great day! There was a good mix of all the things I love.
I was busy until about noon, then had a quick lunch with leftover pasta and meatballs. I did some research, still trying to find out about the bipparevale (monthly card). So far it’s just not clear so I tweeted to the GTT.
First we walked to Raspino, a bakery Krish had loved the last time we were here. It wasn’t open (expected) but it was the first step in exploring the Vanchiglia neighbourhood. I had three addresses that would act as markers along the way. I figured out that north of the river was Vanchiglietta, a pretty neighbourhood filled with trendy cafes and workshops. Very peaceful here. It definitely has all the earmarks of the sort of villagey feel such areas need to have to work well. Nothing much was open but I think another visit will work really well. There are plenty of places to sit quietly or have a coffee. There are also some art spaces and finally some interesting wall art.
Vanchiglietta StreetVanchigliettaVanchiglietta Wall Art
