My wife and I chose Turin as one of our stops as we toured northern Italy mostly because of its proximity to the Barolo wine region and because we found a stunning rental property with an enormous balcony overlooking the city. Here we are a few minutes after checking in already making plans for sitting here and drinking wine for a few days.

That deck and the view were amazing. One of the mornings I got up early, made myself a coffee, bundled up against the early day chill and waited for the sun to rise over the hills. As the sun came up, I could feel its warmth on my face and feel the air change over about ten minutes. The silence of Turin at this hour made this one of my favourite quiet moments of the entire trip.

Our apartment not only had that amazing patio, but also a small back deck that overlooked the building’s internal courtyard and the snow covered Italian Alps in the distance. That view paired perfectly with a wine we brought back from the previous day’s visit to the Stroppiana winery in La Morra.

We spent a lot of time on those two patios, enjoying wine and playing Yahtzee, but even with a lot of lazy time spent relaxing, we were interested in spending some time seeing the sights of Turin. We had to cut our plans in Turin short by a day due to a national train strike, so we did a lot of our experiencing the city over one day of wandering around. First, after a short walk from our apartment, we visited Piazza Castello.

It was a perfect day for lazily walking around the city. Over our years touring Europe, my wife and I have come to enjoy some of the less tourist overrun cities and Turin was no exception. It had all of the beauty of the larger Italian cities we have visited (Milan, Rome) but with a fraction of the crowds.

We ambled around the city without much of a plan on this day; content to take in the scenery and enjoy a slow pace.

We stopped here and there across the city to take in the sights during the morning. Palazzo Madama was picturesque and tranquil.

Giardini Reali, nicely tucked away, was serene with the Royal Palace buildings insulating this interior courtyard from the sounds of the city.

From the Royal Palace we visited Porta Palatina and saw the beautiful first century AD Roman gate that pre-dated the settlement of Turin.

From here, our wandering took a decidedly focused turn to visit one of the city’s markets and to have lunch at the Mercato Centrale Torino.

Lunch for me was a very delicious and calorie intensive carbonara washed down with an Italian craft beer, so some more walking and wandering kept me from falling into a deep sleep. A stretch along the river Po in Parco del Valentino was magnificent. We walked along tree lined paths we shared with joggers and lots of dogs and sat at a cafe for a drink (and to watch more dogs walk by!).

After a nap and a glass of wine on our patio, our dinner the last evening in Turin was at Nonna Cleme on account of their highly reviewed gluten free pizzas. We enjoyed a lovely meal in a tiny restaurant to cap off our abbreviated three days in Turin on a delicious note.