Turin's
nightlife is more
sedate than that of, say, Milan,
but there is a reasonably varied
mix of clubs and bars here, with
the most lively spots down on
the embankment bordered by the
Parco del Valentino, known
locally as the
Murazzi -
the best advice is just to
wander down there and see what
takes your fancy. Problems with
drugs and theft have given the
place a bit of a reputation and
there's often quite a heavy
police/carabinieri presence - so
watch your wallet and take it
easy. The area is especially
popular on summer weekends when
a big crowd spills out of the
bars and onto the riverfront
jetties. For a more tranquil
alternative try the medieval
area around Piazza Emanuele
Filiberto and Via Santa Chiara.
Getting down to the business
of drinking , you'll find
that birrerias, extremely
popular in the 1980s, have been
supplemented by new vinerias -
wine bars - where you can also
order up a substantial snack
(known locally as a marenda
sinoira ). Note that some clubs
require membership cards, which
cost between L12,000/?6.20 and
L15,000/?7.75, but your first
drink is usually included in
this. After that, although drink
prices can be inflated, the
measures are relatively generous
- bar staff usually keep pouring
until they think it looks big
enough (often until it's about
the equivalent of a triple).
The city has an impressive
agenda of live music in
July and September, with many
well-publicized open-air
performances, some of them free.
The season kicks off with jazz
in the second week of July
courtesy of the JVC Jazz
Festival (tel 011.561.3926) at
the Piazzetta and Giardini Reale,
which attracts international
names such as Tito Puente and Joćo
Gilberto. For rock fans,
the Pellerossa Festival (tel
011.434.3333) in the third and
fourth weeks of July offers an
eclectic mix of Italian and
foreign bands - previous
headliners have included Bob
Dylan and Sonic Youth - with
affordable tickets. However, the
festival takes place outside
town at the Certosa Reale and
the Parco dalla Chiesa, and
you'll need a car to get there.
For most of September a major
festival called, appropriately
enough, Settembre Musica mixes jazz
, world music , classical
music and performance art
(tel 011.442.4777) at various
venues around town. Check the
Web site www.comune.torino.it
and links for listings.
Turin is also the home of the
prestigious RAI National
Symphony Orchestra , which
performs in, among other places,
the Lingotto centre, the former
Fiat factory converted to a
conference centre and
performance space by architect
Renzo Piano in 1995. Turin's opera
house, the Teatro Regio (tel
011.881.5241), is one of the
best in the country and is
recognizable from its pod-like
Seventies architecture.
The city's Il Teatro Stabile
(tel 011.517.6246), one of
Italy's principal publicly
funded theatre companies,
is acclaimed for its productions
of major works by nineteenth-
and twentieth-century European
writers; they normally perform
at the Casignano Theatre on
Piazza Carignano. For new
writers and experimental work,
look out for shows by the Gruppo
della Rocca, the Teatro
dell'Angolo, the Teatro Juvarra
and the Laboratorio Teatro
Settimo. There are also four
international film
festivals held in Turin each
year, among them a women's film
festival in March and a
"cinema of homosexual
themes" in April; contact
the tourist office for details.
For what's on listings
, opening hours and so on, check
the pages of the Turin daily, La
Stampa , particularly its
Tuesday and Friday supplements,
or the weekly News Spettacolo
. There's also a free monthly
bilingual publication available
in hotels and bars, Un Ospite
a/A guest in Torino , which
has a list of events and
exhibitions as well as
suggestions for itineraries; the
Web site address is www.ospite.it
. Failing that you can get
information on events,
exhibitions, festivals and the
like from either the Informacittą
office, on Piazza Palazzo di
Cittą (Mon-Fri 8.30am-4pm; tel
011.442.3602), or the Vetrina
per Torino office, Piazza San
Carlo 159 (Mon 3-7pm, Tues-Sat
9am-1pm; tel 011.442.4740); the
latter also sells tickets for
most events.
