Torino - The Medieval Village

It has snowed a few days ago, and it has been misty and rainy every day since, which is frustrating as I would like to try and get some pictures of the city from the hills across the river Po, which runs through the city on the east side. I would also like to visit the Mole Antonellianna, which is the tallest building in Italy (I'm sure you've seen it on TV, it is a beautiful, giant, domed building with a spire on top).

Instead, I've tried to do some indoor things, like the Egyptian Museum, and the art gallery above it (the Galleria Sabauda), which I visited this morning (pictures to follow in in another post). Yesterday, it was misty and foggy again, so I decided to try visiting the Borgo Medievale (Medieval Village) on the shore of the Po right behind the arena where I saw the hockey game last week.



The village is walled on all sides, but has shops facing out to the river on the east. Note how the two turrets appear to be so strikingly different...



The Borgo Medievale is actually a recreation, opened in 1884 for an Exhibition, that is a composit of elements from real medieval villages across Italy. This is why there appears to be such variance in each of the village walls and turrets...



They've painstakingly duplicated different types of buildings to create a small village, where you can stroll down the streets and courtyards to visit different stores...



The southwest corner of the village contains the Castle (or stronghold), in which each room is an exact duplicate of a room from a castle somewhere else in Italy. Here's a picture of the stronghold from outside the village. Notice how different the colours are from the other pictures of the village walls...



To walk through the village is free, but you need a ticket to go inside the castle. Fortunately for me, my accreditation gets me in without paying! As you know, I've been frustrated by how few English signs there are, even on major tourist attractions. You can imagine how pleased I was to discover that the only way to visit the castle is with a guided tour, and then to find out that my guide spoke English, and I was the only person on this tour!

The tour was terrifc, as was the commentary from my tour guide, Antonietta. She explained the purpose of each room, and where the original room was located in Italy. The castle was fairly dark inside, so it was hard to get good pictures, but here's one of the King's bedroom...



I saw defense positions, the soldiers quarters, the dungeons, the royal court, the royal bedroom, the kitchen and dining areas, and the church. It was interesting to note how they divided areas between servants and nobles. Here is where the soldiers would eat (and sleep, on beds of straw)...



The tour guide talked me into buying a book about the village, and actually it is very good, with some very nice photos from inside the castle. She had another book that she thought was good, but only had a French copy. Since she already knew I was Canadian, she asked if I spoke French. I told her I didn't, but that my son did, and that he loved all things medieval. She ended up giving me the French copy for free for Connor!

All in all, this was one of my best days doing the tourist thing in Torino!