Part of the collection in Turin’s National Automobile Museum, this is a Brixia Zust, made in the Brescia region of Italy. It’s the 10 HP model made in 1908, with the manufacturer trading being 1906 and 1912 and eventually becoming part of Officine Meccaniche, which later became part of Iveco.
I’m not that engaged by cars and so visiting the national automobile museum didn’t overly excite me, and I had envisaged it being quite a brief visit. However, it’s a substantial museum and I was there for much longer than I had initially anticipated.
The start of the museum tour starts with a reminder of from where this all began, horse drawn carriages. The carriages evolved into having engines and then the carriage design changed over the decades into the modern day car.
I’ll post about individuals cars on another occasion, as there were so many historic vehicles in the collection. However, of note was the excellent way that information was displayed. There were panels by each car giving information about it, with the additional option of QR codes for visitors who wanted more detail. This worked smoothly and gave me all the information that I wanted without initially being overly complex.
Highlighting the need for cars to be more environmentally friendly.
The downside of cars, they end up like this.
There was a substantial collection of F1 cars and behind was a large video screen displaying an impressive animation.
An individual F1 car.
I know a driver like this.
Visitors could walk on this map of Turin, with automobile related sites pointed out.
As well as the restored cars, some of which I thought were perhaps over-restored and lost their originality, there were some car frames (or whatever they’re called) on the wall which showed the inner workings of the car.
Overall, I thought that this was a really well put together museum with plenty to interest those who aren’t necessarily that obsessed with automobile history. We can’t all be aware of when sunroofs were first placed into Skodas and I’m pleased that the museum aimed at a wider audience. Looking through some of the reviews, there were a not inconsiderable number of people saying the same, they had low expectations as they weren’t that engaged in cars, but left feeling that the museum had worked for them.
There was a strong focus on Fiat vehicles in the museum, but since Turin is their home, that’s not surprising. And I liked just how many early vehicles there were on display with some rare cars in the collection. I was also surprised at how many people kept stroking the cars, even though signs said not to touch them, which must be a constant irritation for the museum ensuring that they’re all cleaned regularly.
The museum was also well signposted and I only went the wrong way once, which is definitely on the low side for me. The staff were all helpful, but mostly looked a bit bored wandering around the museum looking at their phones, but they were visible if anyone wanted help. It wasn’t that busy during my visit which also made it a pleasant environment not having to wait to look at any individual item. Overall though, this is one of the best museums I’ve visited in terms of the visitor experience, so all rather lovely.
The Rock Cafe is likely inspired by the Hard Rock Cafe, but this is an independent outlet in Turin and it has a unique sort of vibe to it. I visited here as it was the city’s best rated burger restaurant, although it wasn’t open when it was meant to be and so I had to come back an hour later.
The interior is quirky and has a music theme to it, with rock music also playing, although fortunately at a quiet level. The restaurant has table service and the staff members were friendly and engaging, making an effort to check if I had visited before. This simple question is vastly under-asked by restaurants, it gives them the chance to either thank returning customers or an opportunity to explain the menu.
The restaurant doesn’t have any English menus at the moment, although they’re on order, but I found an English menu on their web-site which made choosing easier. The staff member had though offered to translate or assist me with any questions that I had, so the process was efficient and helpful.
An American beer, at the appropriate temperature and it tasted suitably refreshing.
The onion rings tasted fine and there were a decent number of them, although weren’t exceptional in terms of the coating.
The burger was though far better, the sesame seed laden bun contained bacon, boar burger, some salad stuff and the devil sauce. The meat was tender with a wonderfully rich taste, the bacon had a depth of flavour, the bun was fresh and it was served as a large portion with 200g of meat. No cutlery is supplied with the burgers, but fortunately it held its shape and didn’t collapse midway through my eating it….
Customers can choose between rare, medium and well done burgers, and with this menu option, they can also choose between the more mild angel sauce, the hot devil sauce or the very hot satan sauce. The devil sauce sufficed me and I requested a medium burger, which is how it arrived.
The central bar area and seating, the premises are relatively large and there’s a outside dining area as well. There was one stand out view from TripAdvisor though in my opinion:
“Wow, it was AWFUL!! Italians come to the USA and tell us our Italian food is not Italian, well let me return the favor. Your burger and fries (An American staple) is NOT even remotely close to how it should taste. The burger was under cooked. A burger should NOT be rare like that! The fries live up to the name. As hard as rocks. The coleslaw was also semi-crunchy! Wow….semi crunchy coleslaw.”
The restaurant responded appropriately, but I’ve seen no end of American restaurants offering rare and medium-rare burgers, fries should in my view be crispy and coleslaw is often semi-crunchy in the US. I can imagine how irate the restaurant must have been to receive such a bizarre review.
The prices here aren’t the cheapest, but given the friendliness of the service and the quality of the burger, I’m glad that I came here. There’s a welcoming vibe to the restaurant, although my biggest complaint would be that their opening hours on Facebook and their web-site don’t seem to entirely coincide with when they actually open.
And just because I could, I thought it only right to sample an Italian special item on the McDonald’s menu. Asiago PDO is cheese and Speck Alto Adige is lightly smoked and cured ham, and they’re merged together in a crispy coating. It’s an attempt to do something different and the flavours do work well together. In a country without Greggs, this will just have to do…..
Located in a beautiful, although slightly incongruous, building on top of the former Lingotto test track is this small art gallery. I had a Torino + Piedmonte Card so I could get into the art gallery free of charge, but admission also gives visitors the chance to walk around the test track.
The danger with merging these entirely different attractions together is that it has give the museum some challenging reviews. Here are my favourites:
“The racetrack on top of the building was unidentifiable as only an asphalt covered area.”
“I really wanted to go and see the track on the top of this iconic building. Having finally got there, i was told it was “Not possible” by a very stern looking Italian lady! We must to pay to go and look at an art gallery before we could go on to the roof – there were big glass doors and we could see out – so near and yet so far!”
I like the idea that it wasn’t possible to notice the track, it’s perhaps one of the most improbable things not to notice. The actual reason for the joint admission requirement is for insurance purposes. It’s also possible to visit the track for those guests staying in the hotel which is located in the same building.
There aren’t that many artworks in the gallery, around twenty different pieces of art. They did have two paintings by Canaletto, my favourite artist, which sufficed me, although there are also works by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.
The museum is named after the art collector Marella Agnelli who was born in 1927 and was married to Gianni Agnelli, the main owner of Fiat and one of the richest men in the country. This explains the link between the racetrack and the gallery.
The entrance price, which I think is €10, is perhaps just a little rich given the number of artworks and the audio guide is extra, so the admission charge by this stage has made it expensive for anyone who isn’t bothered about seeing the track. The gallery has though put huge effort into making sure that visitors can find it, as the shopping centre has directional arrows nearly all the way around it.
Lingotto was once one of the largest car factories in the world and it was constructed by Fiat between 1916 and 1923. They had what was then a pretty revolutionary factory concept of moving the cars up from the ground floor to the top floor via ramps during the assembly process.
The factory closed in 1982 but it was later converted into a shopping centre and entertainment complex. The design work for this redevelopment was completed by Renzo Piano, who had been responsible for numerous buildings which I saw in Malta earlier this month.
These tracks are also where part of the Italian Job was filmed.
A view over towards the city and the mountains.
The former factory building, now a large shopping centre and offices.
More track photos. I thought that this might be busier than it actually was, but I meandered (in the walking sense) around the track mostly on my own. The track is in itself worth seeing, but the extensive views do add to the whole experience.
The city’s museum of human anatomy has been in operation (note the word play there….) since 1739 and it has been in its current location since 1898. There’s now a deliberate attempt to ensure that it maintains its period charm, so there haven’t been any recent efforts to update or modernise the displays. Given the nature of what’s inside the museum there’s also a ban on photography.
A few items from the eighteenth century collection remain, but the bulk of it dates to the nineteenth century. The staff member at the ticket desk was helpful and friendly, giving me an English map of the museum. Some of the highlights included the skeletons of a giant and a dwarf, the first Etruscan skull to be the subject of science, hundreds of brains, two South American mummies and a collection of wax medical models.
There is perhaps an opportunity to improve the lighting in the museum as some elements were dark, and a lot of the exhibits weren’t captioned at all, so they remained something of a mystery. But, an intriguing museum if nothing else….
The River Po is the longest river in Italy and runs through Turin and also through Milan and Ferrara. The bridge in the photo is the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele I, the city’s main bridge, and the current structure was built by the French during their occupation in the early part of the nineteenth century. There were some who wanted it demolished as it was a reminder of French rule, but Vittoria Emanuele I, the Duke of Savoy, kept it and it was named after him. A very fair compromise….
There’s a viewing platform at the top of the Museo Nazionale della Montagna, which offers some excellent views over Turin and is a reminder of just how close the mountains are to the city.
This is the city’s Second World War museum, telling the story of the conflict from the perspective of people who were part of it.
I didn’t take many photos as this is a museum without exhibits, by their own definition. For Italians this means that they are given headphones so that they can hear all of the videos and interactive features. For those speaking English, there are subtitles.
The staff were incredibly helpful, offering a quick guided tour of the museum so that I could understand how it was laid out. The screens on the above photo are activated by hand movement and fortunately a staff member came to assist when it was too complex for me. The staff were excellent, some of the friendliest I can recall in a museum.
This is just a representative display, highlighting how many people were killed by firing squad between 1944 and 1945.
The screens showing videos from people who lived through the experience.
This represents the four principles of the Italian constitution, those of yes to freedom, yes to democracy, yes to equality and no to violence.
Visitors could leave a message with their thoughts on a post-it note at the end of the museum visit.
An unfortunately blurry photo, but there were underground war shelters under the museum. These were only rediscovered during renovation work to the building, which must have been an interesting adventure for the staff who first went back down into them. They were used by the newspaper which was located in the offices above and the marks on the wall are where benches used to be.
Modern benches placed into the shelter.
What I think is an original no smoking sign.
All in all, a nicely put together museum with staff who seemed really proud of what there was available. For those who don’t speak any English or Italian a visit is perhaps mostly pointless, but it’s an interesting concept to tell the story of those involved in the resistance movement during the war.
