Intenzionale

How do I like Turin?

I guess, it’s love at fist sound.

When we parked our car in a hotel in Turin, “summertime” was playing at underground parking lot as “background music”.

Turin is the city of cars.

I feel like there are too many cars here, but also, a lot of bikes. I like how light and freely people move through this busy city on bikes. I wish I could, too.

Francesco, the guy who I met today as a local via Couchsurfing, works in a car industry but rides a bike. He likes hiking, skiing, traveling and listening to Depeche Mode.

Randomly we figured out we’ll see each other again at Primavera Sound festival next June in Barcelona, where one of the headliners are … Depeche Mode.

Intenzionale unintentionally.

Until today I didn’t know Francesco, I didn’t know his story and the fact he’s a Depeche Mode fan, or that he will also go to Primavera Sound like me or Ita, and Francesco didn’t know that Depeche Mode will perform there…

Life… Just happens. Such coincidences are the consequence of grooving with the universe - going with the flow, and trusting that the present moment will take you where you need to be.

Like.. On a highway 444 from Milan to Torino.

Now I’m waiting for a table to eat at a local pub - they have good music there. When I entered, “Staying Alive” was playing, and it felt like a good sign. The menu is cheap and good - I guess that’s why it’s so crowded.

The same red bearded black guy comes around to offer flowers to busy customers. They ignore him completely. Yet I recognize him - he’s been following the same way I went, from bar to bar, trying to make some money. Not much, but… some work. His way to make a living.

9 pm. A bell rings on a beautiful tower in front of me. Catedrale de San Giovanni Batista.

“My name is Giovanni Giorgio, but my friends call me Giorgio.”

Giovanni Giorgio will host me from 9 to 12 of October and now I’m on my own. I am a ghost in this city. An alien that will leave tomorrow. A guest. It’s nice to be a guest.

Apparently, it’s  easier for two people to get a table than for one. Couples who arrived after me have been already seated, while I’m sitting in the middle of the street and watch the world pass through me.

I enjoy listening to Italian. The speech, the intonations, the sound and the expression of it fulfills my soul. So expressive. So melodical. Troppo bello.

5Bis - my number of the table, and I took the antipasto mix. Now I regret it, because a man next to me is having some very delicious looking pasta or a soup.

Io mangio il pane.

Torino… is so much of everything. It feels so true, as well as in the antipasto mix I got. Acciuga con pesto, carne crudo, some cheese, some ham, a meatball and something I don’t even know the name of… cauliflower flan ? but I liked it. Variety is the spice of life. And Torino is full of it.

From ugly urban neighborhoods to grandeur palaces, Roman fortresses, first Italian parliament to majestic galleries and exquisite cathedrals, hip cafes, clubs, bars, parks, Torino is full of parallel worlds.

I started my exploration today with taking pictures of car workshops (one street was packed with them at every step!) which basically were real “dirty work face” of Torino. While standing in the traffic jam, I was looking at construction workers building the house, I saw how their muscles were pulsing from physical effort - and I thought: “I never knew physical labor”.

Neither did Ita, my driver friend, know. He also seems like a person who doesn’t drive often. The road trip with him is not the same as the road trip with Vincenzo or Cumper famiglia behind the wheel.

It’s different, and in the difference lies the beauty of it. The variety, which is neither better or worse. Just else.

Now Ita is at the match Juventus - Haifa. He’s there with his father and a friend, and I could have joined them if I wanted. Yet, I preferred my own adventure - getting lost and exploring the multifaceted town of Turin, which turns bizarre yet magical during the night.

The mystical experience of Turin I had today is enough for a good first impression. This city has interesting inhabitants and a rich history and probably, if now I had more energy, I could meet another person to get to know Turin through their eyes, but even the limited or rather, short encounter I had today has spiked me with the appetite to come here again, maybe, different time of the year, and enjoy the city, differently…

Yet, I feel lucky. Lucky to walk these streets and smile to the strangers, listening to Italian banter and watching beautiful people living lives the way they do.

Intenzionale🤌🏻