Happy Holidays!

La Befana holding Turin's Mole Antonelliana by Alberto Bonis

rice and cornmeal cookies

Whether you are busy Christmas baking or you simply enjoy making, eating and giving cookies, today we are sharing a recipe that very simply sums up Piedmont.

Piedmont is the top European rice producer, risotto is one of our staple foods so 50% of this cookies is made with rice flour. Piedmont is also famous for polenta or cornmeal which makes up to the other 50% of the ingredients. Yes, these are simply delish a gluten free cookies that sing out loud: Piedmont!

Rice paddies in the Vercelli area in April when they are flooded

Ratafia' - cherry wine liqueur

Among the many souvenirs you can buy when in Turin and Piedmont, and especially among the MANY local specialties you should try here, Ratafia' holds definitely a special place.

Ratafia' is from Adorno Micca in Piedmont

Epicurean week-ends

1. Read the list and count how many you know and like:

espresso, all Martini & Rossi beverages, Italian fashion, Juventus, Italian cars, Cinzano, Fiat 500, gelato on a stick (like Magnum), chocolate, Lavazza coffee, vermouth, lady fingers (cookies), lady's kisses (cookies), alpini, aperitif, Italian design, RAI tv, Cirio pasta sauce, Robe di Kappa, grissini breadsticks, risotto, arcades or porticoes, the Shroud of Turin, Salone del Gusto - Terra Madre (Slow Food), IED, panna cotta, polenta, tramways, agnolotti, tajarin, Mole Antonelliana, Italian cinema, Italian sport, Egyptology, Sandokan, brutti ma buoni (cookies)

2. If you marked at least 10 you MUST come over to Turin, home of all the things listed above 🙌

Foodies, wine lovers and lovers of all things Italian: you'll easily get hooked on Turin and will crave for more 😎

Piemonte flavored gelato in the UK

If you love gelato as much as we do, you will love this post by Laura Hadland about Gelato Village, in Leicester, UK. This is the gelateria founded by our Twitter and Instagram friends Antonio and Daniele, both from Turin 🙌

Gelato Village: Bringing a flavour of Piemonte to the UK

When Gelato Village first opened its doors in August 2014, its Italian owners, Antonio De Vecchi and Daniele Taverna, had no idea if the people of Leicester, England would have an appetite for authentic Italian gelato. The two natives of Turin had come to the UK over 10 years earlier, working in the medical and IT industries. It was their love of high quality food, inspired by their Piemontese upbringing which encouraged them to throw in the towel on their old careers and turn their passion into a business.

Ishita's love letter to Turin

Ishita at Al Bicerin here in Turin!

This week we are sharing our friend Ishita's second post, you can read the first one about Sacra di San Michele here.


Ishita Sood is an Indian blogger hopelessly in love with all things Italian. She pens downs her travels in her blog Italophilia and makes it a point to visit Italy every year. And naturally, we hope to see her very often right here in Turin.

Follow her on her stories and her great pictures of Italy on her Instagram account

Marco Giachello, a real chef from Piedmont

The chef is an artist who shapes nature's ingredients into dishes that are deeply rooted in their territory. Preserving the original flavors and atmospheres has always been an important concept in Italian cuisine and even more in Piedmont where Slow Food was born.

The bond between the chef and his/her home region is vital because it emphasizes how local specialties vary town to town around the year and how they can be developed to adapt to a more modern taste.

Chef Marco Giachello shaving white truffles over his egg tajarin

Strolling around Turin

Follow our Twitter friend, Michael Hindley strolling around Turin through his favorite parts of our city.

Michael was educated at London University and the Free University of West Berlin and is a former Member of the European Parliament.
Michael has travelled extensively throughout Europe and Asia.
He writes and lectures on European politics and divides his time between his native Lancashire and Evian-les-Bains, France.
Follow Michael on Twitter @HindleyLancs

Dong Film Fest

Fall in Turin is a rather rich season of events, especially for all those who love cinema. As Italian cinema was born in Turin - that was the Hollywood of silent productions in 1910s, it doesn't come as a surprise that we are now hosting such a unique festival as the Dong Film Fest.

nocciolini di Chivasso

Only three ingredients are needed to make this traditional tiny amaretto-shaped cookies from Chivasso, a small town in the Canavese area, 13 minutes by train north of Turin.

super tiny and delicious nocciolini di Chivasso

Lyn fascinated by Turin!

Back in October 2015, through Instagram we connected with Louise Rhodes, an Aussie friend with a passion for food, wine and travel. 

The following month, on November 1st, we accompanied her at Manuela Gomez  to pick her "on demand made in Turin" wedding shoes for her wedding in May 2016.

Cinzano? Turin!

Vermouths, wines, cocktails and even beers, Turin is your city and Cinzano is another BIG Italian name that conquered the world starting here in Turin in 1757!

Cinzano's Vermouth Rosso label

Turin for beer lovers

Besides being worldly renowned for its top quality wines, Piedmont is also the second top brewing region in Italy with a long European brewing tradition!

So beer lovers, you will find many amazing craft beers over here and foodies, you will certainly gets inspired by the new flavors to make new recipes for breads, risottos, roasts and even cakes.

If you are in Turin and love beer, or are just curious to taste our local productions, you must visit at least these 5 breweries.

The Shroud of Turin

Turin has been worldly renown for the Holy Shroud for centuries, no matter what religion you practice.

back and front of the Holy Shroud

lots of kisses!

One can never get enough of kisses especially here in Piedmont where baci di dama or lady's kisses were invented 😙

let's face it: just 1 tin of kisses isn't enough!

Timeless jewels

Turin's creativity is constantly twirling, giving life to many new events, projects and products. This is where among the many unique galleries, Creativity Oggetti stands out as one of those places of wonder where design, art and fashion merge.

books from Turin

This post is for all our friends who are studying Italian, book-lovers, travelers and the armchair travelers.

We are often asked about books, Turin and how to improve Italian when you are learning it or have been living in Italy for some time and want to write better. So, we thought of suggesting 5 made in Turin books (actually 7...) you can find translated in different languages too.

Executive Hotel: an art gallery

In 2017 Turin Epicurean Capital has grown up, we needed a new partner hotel to host our guests, this is how we got to collaborate with Best Western Plus Executive Hotel and Suites in Via Nizza 28.

As always we like to rely on hotels with very high standards that are also conveniently located downtown so that our guests can just walk everywhere, because this is the most immediate way to get to know Turin.

the Executive Hotel internal hall is an informal meeting space

our belly is our brain

After following his Instagram account for so many years, we finally went to meet Behrang Danesh Eshraghi to understand how Turin and yoga can go hand in hand and when it all started.

Turin is literally Behrang's home

The Watchful cook at TurinEpi17

Our dear friend Jan Egan aka The Watchful Cook is sharing her experience as Turin Epicurean Capital guest. If you wonder about the insider's perspective, Jan is shading some light!

Grazie mille, Jan!

Photo by Lucia Hannau

Turin: an Italian discreet gem

Here's a second guest post by our dear friend Patty Boner of Foodie Sneak Peeks.

Patty Boner enjoying the aperitivo rite at "La Farmacia"

A guest of Turin Epicurean Capital 2017, she was very happy to make it back to Turin and try new foods and visit places!

Here below enjoy her second guest post about her Turinepi17 adventure 😎

Turinepi17 thanks

This very successful fourth edition of Turin Epicurean Capital was made possible thanks to the priceless collaboration of many people. Today, we are taking the time to thank all those who made turinepi17 possible and smoothly organized:

walking tour and parade

The Turin Epicurean Capital 2017 activities finished with a walking tour offered by the GIA Tour Guide Association. Our tour was led by Laura Sgarlazzetta who strived to keep us cool, engaged and in the shade despite the exceptionally hot and humid weather.

talk show 3

The third talk show of Turin Epicurean Capital 2017 closed the fourth edition at the peak of an exceptionally hot and humid heat wave.

Carolina Stupino aka Tastes of Carolina hosted the talk show with Patty Boner or Foodie Sneak Peeks and Amanda Courtney of Amanda's Wine Adventures.

TurinEpi 17 mindful eating

After plunging into fashion with Adriana Delfino, the Turin Epicurean Capital 2017 program listed a sensorial aperitif with psychologist Dott.ssa Lucia Andriolo at Associazione Qubi'.

Dott.ssa Lucia Andriolo giving us some technical information. Photo by Alberto Bonis

Adriana Delfino at TurinEpi 17

On the second day of the fourth edition of Turin Epicurean Capital 2017, after our mandatory risotto lunch, Turin fashion designer Adriana Delfino started our journey through the senses, with sight and touch.

Adriana Delfino

talk show 2

The second talk show of the fourth edition of Turin Epicurean Capital was hosted by the American actor Daniel McVicar now a Turin resident and truffle knight.

The other guests were Jan Egan aka The Watchful Cook, world renown food photographer Ilva Beretta and Turin astrologer and author Patrizia Balbo.

TurinEpi 2017 cooking class

The Turin Epicurean Capital 2017 cooking class was taught by Chef Marco Giachello at Associazione Culturale Qubi' in a vibrant and growing neighborhood of Turin.

Chef Giachello has been a Turin Epicurean Capital supporter since our very first edition in 2014 and we are really happy we could work with him again.

talk show 1

Turin Epicurean Capital 2017 was such a great success that the guests left 2 days after the end of our turinepi activities feeling they must come back for more!

food for thoughts

Food and thoughts are strictly connected and yet too often we forget to reflect about what we are eating. Food keeps us healthy but in many ways, it's making sick an always larger portion of the population.

Before meeting with Lucia Andriolo, psychologist and psychotherapist we had never heard of mindful eating.
We too take sometimes for granted our amazing food even though in Turin we are blessed to have access to fresh, local, natural and seasonal food. Artisan producers are virtually everywhere and the food we crave is really just non-Italian specialties we can't replicate in our kitchen, like American bacon and tropical fruit.

food is alchemy

Planning Turin Epicurean Capital 2017, Chef Marco Giachello introduced us to his friend Margherita Frari at Associazione Qubi'.

We sat down with an espresso and got to know Margherita who is also a professional chef with a special interest in food properties and powers.

6 Italian things born in Turin

Italy is famous for many things, yet very few people are aware that these Italian symbols in the world were actually born in Turin, first capital of Italy in 1861. 

stars and shoes

Since the dawn of humanity, men and women have always been fascinated with astrology and its power of prediction, and at Turin Epicurean Capital we always keep an eye on our horoscopes both for fun and curiosity. 

Patrizia Balbo, astrologer and author

Ivrea's cookies

Eporediesi

For all lovers of chocolate and hazelnuts out there, here's one more recipe from Piedmont. Eporediesi are the traditional cookies from Ivrea, a small town just 40min driving from Turin, famous for its carnival, tomini cheese and fairy tale wine: Erbaluce di Caluso - the only Italian DOCG wine in all 4 of its variants!

Turin Epicurean Capital 2017

Turin Epicurean Capital 2017 is coming up soon and we have just published this year's guest list and program.

Turin discovered

Our friend Jan Egan aka The Watchful Cook is sharing with us her love for Turin.

After an international corporate life during which she was well paid, well travelled and well fed, she now has the luxury of combining her twin passions of Italy and food. Keen supporter of Slow Food and love to source and cook with authentic ingredients in her kitchens in London and Milan. She fell in love with Turin about four years ago and now she tries to be here as often as she can. She can’t be doing with fake or speedy anything and likely to rant about the industrialisation of food at the drop of hat. When not in the kitchen, she is likely to be found with her nose in a book, wandering around looking at art and architecture or listening to opera (the earlier the better). She is blessed with a wonderful Italian partner, Edoardo, whose role in the kitchen is to keep her glass filled.

Follow Jan on The Watchful Cook where you will find many enticing recipes and posts elegantly written in her down-to-earth and witty style!

Turin's aperitivo

For happy hour or aperitif, Turin is the cradle of the Italian aperitivo rite and all the drinks and foods related to it.

Vermouth and just some nibbles (cappuccino was Lucia's)

Bicciolani from Vercelli

Piedmont is famous for its many local cookies, some expanded over the regional borders and have acquired a national recognition becoming regulars on all Italian tables, others are still pretty much connected to their locality and you will find them only where they are produced.

artisan bicciolani

bull fountains

Small green fountains with the bull head - toret in the local dialect, are one of the Turin's symbols together with Mole Antonelliana and gianduiotti chocolates.

Camporelli aka Pavesini

Each Italian town has its own cookie and camporelli are Novara's cookies or biscottini (tiny cookies).

Coming from the Milan Malpensa airport, driving or riding the train toward Turin, you go through Novara, also known as the gorzonzola cheese hub.

Camporelli are among the few cookies or biscotti that go through a double "cooking" (baking) - bis-cottatura process.

eggs, sugar and flour

Gobino's chocolate factory

We have already told you how Turin has been the European chocolate capital since 1600 but we have never shared with you how cool the Gobino's chocolate factory is 💁

the Gobino factory is in Turin and the neighborhood perfumes of chocolate!

Turin rocks

If you have never heard of Turin or Torino and you have no clue about it, or if you haven't been here yet, after reading this post by our friends the independent people, Xavier and Valeriia, you will simply want to teleport here!

Xavier and Valeriia, a couple of cyclists, dancers and photographers explorers are living the expatriation experience, currently in England. On their mission to discover hidden or little-known spots of Europe and prove that there is no need to go too far for some genuine treasures. You can read them on their blog Independent People and follow their adventures on Twitter and Instagram

Amanda's cheese spots

Today we are sharing a new guest post by our friend Amanda, a new resident in the Piedmont wine country!

Amanda Courtney born outside of the Boston area, after high school she went to study metal-smithing and jewelry design at the Maine College of Art in Portland ME. Which then brought her to Los Angeles and from there she was tantalized by the super passionate and exciting food and wine scene that LA had to offer.  It was then that she found her passion and where she got her wine degree at the Wine and Spirit Educational Trust. Working with wine, talking and educating people about the different regions, varieties, and philosophies of the winemakers, she had found her true talent. She now lives and works in one of the most important wine areas in Italy, Piemonte. Having recently started up her own Wine Adventures company she is now able to show people around this area to educate them about the food, wine, and culture of this wonderful place.  

You can find her at www.amandaswineadventures.com. 

Turin's bicerin coffee

Turin more than any other city in the world is so characterized by its own coffee culture to have its own coffee: bicerin.

The word bicerin comes from the local dialect and it means small glass because back in the 18th century it was served in a small glass and at a small price to allow everyone to enjoy it.

This decadent coffee drink includes chocolate and frothed cream and it's the evolution of "bavareisa", another 18th century popular drink, served in large round glasses and enjoyed mainly by aristocrats and wealthy people.

According to the local custom, the bicerin's identity stays in keeping the three layers of coffee, chocolate and cream unstirred so as to fully taste them separately. After all, this is not a cappuccino, a cafe' moka or any other kind of similar coffee you can enjoy anywhere else.

bicerin and the cookies to dunk: torcetti, baci di dama, canestrelli, krumiri and lady fingers

Most likely it was invented in a tiny coffee shop that today carries its name: Caffe' Al Bicerin, located in Piazza della Consolata, between Via Garibaldi and the Porta Palazzo market. This is the only place in the world where they still serve it following the original and secret recipe. 

Anywhere else in Turin, you will still be able to order it but... the ingredients, their amounts and preparation will not be exactly like the one enjoyed by the Count of Cavour, the very first Italian Prime Minister and all the other prominent people of the past like Picasso and E. Hemingway who adored it!

Piedmont royal cookies

or savoiardi better known in English as Lady fingers 😋

These are the top royal Piedmontese cookies invented in the 14th century by the chef of Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy when the King of France and his court came over to Turin for an official visit.
They loved them so much that that's how savoiardi became the official royal cookies and were offered to all the royal guests as a symbol of the local cuisine.

Turin: love at first taste!

Our food and travel blogger friend Patty Boner talks about her love at first taste with Turin! As her guest post is very detailed, you will be traveling with her while enjoying her writing and pictures!

Patty is the author and photographer of delish Foodie Sneak Peeks where you can find all her culinary adventures around the world and at home!

Cintia Soto's Turin

This week we are sharing a guest post by our friend Cintia Soto, an amazing photographer and lover of all things Italian. After years of online friendship, we met her in person last September during the Slow Food convention Terra Madre in Turin and in front of a bicerin coffee, she shared with us her love for Piedmont and the authenticity of Turin.

Turin porticoes

The porticoes are indeed one of Turin's distinctive architectural and social traits. 

Via Pietro Micca

Mardi Gras fritters

Very few foods have a huge comforting power: home made Carnival fritters sprinkled with powder sugar are one of those, at least to all Italians 😍

In fact, Carnival like any other holiday is connected to a culinary specialty and wherever you'll go, in Italy as well as, in many other Latin countries, you'll find these fritters.

Piedmont canestrelli

Cookie lovers, Piedmont offers an endless list of delicious cookies and many share the same name like canestrelli!

In fact, according to where you'll visit, you can find waffle like cookies, thin wafers or wafer sandwiches, could it get anymore scrumptious?

Piedmont canestrelli from Val di Susa (the waffle-like ones) and from the Canavese district (the large holy wafers)

White Truffles

We are always bragging about Piedmont and Turin, our royal lifestyle made of decadent chocolate, cashmere sweaters, designer's cars and long tradition slow food cuisine. 

It is true, but after all, despite our totally understated regional pride and local promotion, we can 😎