Turin and the University of Gastronomic Sciences

 The Italy tour continues!

We left our hotel in Milan and headed to Turin on Thursday, June 5, 2025. In Turin, we had a food-themed walking tour. We spent time in the markets and had free time where we got to explore (we spent time in the gorgeous gardens). Turin is a lovely city--and the home of our awesome tour director, Valeria. There were many porticos and the large indoor market was very fun and modern. 

The whole group at the start of the tour

Outdoor markets

Bread on display in one of the indoor markets

This shop had "primo sale" cheese--the same type that we made at the farm outside of Milan

A view of the outdoor markets from far away

Walking tours involved a lot of walking

In the gardens, there is a sculpture called Fontana delle Nereidi e dei Tritoni

Along the food tour--we tried cookies, chocolates, cheese, and even anchovies

They don't look super into sharing that chair, do they? 

After our food tour in Turin, we traveled to the Slow Food University--or University of Gastronomic Sciences--to learn more about the Slow Food Movement and visit their wine library. The library organizes a variety of Italian wines, and even catalogs the soil so that visitors have a sense of what may be contributing to the wine.

Scout with the wisteria vines

The whole group hanging out in the piazza prior to going to the Slow Food University

Emilie, Jayme, Lora--the chaperones

Wine library

Emilie checking out the wine dispenser

We stayed at a really nice hotel outside of Turin called the Phi Hotel. This was the "fanciest" hotel that we stayed in during the whole trip. They had a shave kit AND a sewing kit, in addition to the toothbrush and shower cap. 

A pork dish for dinner--Ruby got a cauliflower steak with a side of cauliflower

More Italy--June 4, 2025

 More Italy!

On our first full day in Italy, we explored Milan and a farm outside of Milan. The pictures in my collection again went in reverse chronological order, and they are only mine--I can't figure out how to import the Whatsapp photos that other people added! 

Overall observations: I had never been to Milan before and it was really cool. They consider Milan the economic capital of Italy, and it seemed filled with busy professionals and the occasional tourist (while Florence and Rome, by contrast, seemed dominated by tourists and the locals appeared less visible). We took a guided walking tour given by a Milanese woman of three generations. She was an incredible story teller and had a tidbit for almost everything. Another big learning for me was the fact that the further north in Italy, the more involvement in WWII. The southern part of the country was less affected, but there were a lot of areas around Milan where people retreated during the war to escape the big city and make themselves less of a target. We visited a small farm that started as a hobby-farm and has been in the family for 3 generations. They make cheese from the raw milk they get from the small amount of dairy cows they keep on the property. 

A statue on the property of the farm that we visited

Romeo the cat along with Yvonn (L) and Diane (R) and Ruby in the middle

deconstructed cheese cake with cream cheese from the farm

Half-eaten plate of spinach, fresh tomatoes and the primo sale cheese that is crafted at the farm

Pickled vegetables

The farm that we visited had the most gorgeous property

Please observe the tree growing through the roof

Scout and Clara

The farm even had a water wheel

Making primo sale cheese

Inside the milking area

These calves were about 2 weeks old

The hearth that was outside the farm in a separate building

The biggest magnolia trees!

Part of the farm property

The pastry window of the gelateria

Scout and her delicious gelato 

A square in Milan where we sat on a bench and chilled out with our gelato. The sculpture depicts Leonardo DaVinci

Jessica and Ruby in the center of the galleria (Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II)

An open galleria in Milan where they had every fancy store you could think of

The duomo

Note our tour group all wearing our headsets so that we could hear the tour guide

Scout, Ruby and Molly

We started our walking tour in a park that was adjacent to the Sforzesco Castle. This fortified structure dates back to medieval times. Some of it has been preserved, but in parts you could see that the entire structure was probably covered in paintings. 

I think that Clara took this one--of the girls staring out into the gardens at the palace before we started the walking tour

Valeria (tour director) and Gennaro (bus driver) front and center of our whole group at the farm when we sat down to sample the food

Abbey, Scott and Jayme at the Montreal airport dining option (this was actually on June 2)

Just a pic of what we covered in Milan--we walked from the Castello to the Duomo