Wednesday May 17, 2023
Today, we can not sleep in too much. We have to catch a bus that will take us to our destination, the Royal Palace of Venaria. We first get on to Tram 15 which takes us to the Piazza where the bus will leave from. It is an express bus that takes us out of the city to where the Savoy family estate is located. It is about a 50 minute ride. The Palace was built in the mid 17th century and was a place for hunting and leisure. It has over 80000 square meters of buildings, 1600 square meters of frescoes and 60 hectares of gardens. The rooms are decorated with works of art, tapestries, sculptures, and silverware.
We start out in the lower level of the palace with the portrait gallery. It presents portrait paintings of the royal Savoys from Humbert I, Count of Savoy to Charles Felix, King of Sardinia. Between 1504 and 1815, the House of Savoy brought the entire Northwest of Italy under its rule. We see some beautiful tapestries from the early 1500s that used gold and silver metallic yarn in their weaving. Most are religious in nature, from the Last Supper to foot washing. Like many palaces, there are plenty of coffered ceilings and chandeliers. The rooms often have views out over the immense gardens. We enter the great gallery which is a 250 feet long covered passage that connected the Kings apartments to those of his son. It is lined with floor to ceiling windows that overlook the gardens. We enter some museum type rooms that display various intricate cases used to carry items in. A staircase has figures dressed in period fashion clothing of the time.
Before long, we enter the stable area which features royal carriages. One thing it has that is not a carriage is a Bucentaur, a Venetian Gold Barge commissioned by Victor Amadeus II in 1729. It is the only known example of an original 18th century Venetian ceremonial and parade barge since the Doges Bucentaur was destroyed by fire in 1798. This floating palace was used by the Savoys for major celebrations and weddings for about 140 years before they gifted it to the City of Turin. It is truly a magnificent vessel. We also see several royal carriages which are nice but the boat steals the show.
After the stables, we take a fairly quick walk around the gardens. the walk is hastened by the fact that it is starting to rain and we also want to catch a bus to go to the Castle of La Mandria, a few miles away. The bus only runs once per hour and the rain is making us a bit lazier than usual.
The Castle of La Mandria was the personal retreat of King Vittorio Emanuele II in 1859. It offers insight into the kings life and personal tastes. The castle is not exactly what we were expecting. It is more of an estate than a castle. The cool thing about this is twofold. One is we are literally the only ones here and two is that the rooms and furnishings have been preserved and are original from when the King lived here. Nothing here is too exquisite or over the top. It is an excellent look at a more simple and livable space than the palace might have been. For whatever reason, the next bus was two hours from when we got off.
Since it is raining, we pop into a small coffee shop between the museum entrance and the bus stop. We get two cappuccinos and milk them for 45 minutes before heading to the bus stop. On the ride back to Torino, we discuss making an unplanned visit to another museum.
One of the advantages of getting a card like the Torino card, is that it is often includes museums that we might not otherwise think of visiting. Our late afternoon choice is one of these. It is the Lavazza Coffee Museum. We switch from the palace express bus to a tram that stops a few blocks from the museum. We go in and are pleasantly surprised by the exhibits. It is well laid out with interesting and interactive displays along the way. They all have English options for the language challenged. Interesting fact #1 is that the plant of coffee arabica comes from Ethiopia and in particular the region of Kaffa after which it is named. Legend has it that a Shepard noticed his goats eating the red cherries of this plant and then noticed that they became very risky. He decided to taste the fruit too and for a very long time was wide awake and could not sleep. Interesting fact #2 was that Lavazza sent the first espresso machine into space, engineered to work in zero gravity. Another bonus at the end of this museum is that you get an espresso or cappucino made by their expert coffee maker. They have coffees that are not your everyday varieties and we try some and Carol says it is the best cup of coffee she has ever had. Take that Colombia!! We take the bus back to the piazza where we can get our new favorite natural gelato and have another one while staying under a portico out of the way. Then we stop at the market to buy some items for dinner and eat in again. We also get another nice piano concerto from the nearby apartment pianist. He or she is very good and it is wonderful to listen to every evening.
Expenses Transport Ticket Veneria Express 8E Cappuccino 3E Foccacia Pizza 3E Gelato 4E Dinner Items from Carrefour Market 11.46E Golden Eagle Apartment 106.60E Walked 5.8 Miles
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