Parco Valentino and the Borgo Medievale

 Buon Giorno,

I am having a big day tomorrow, so I wanted something more low key, but still active for today, so I went in a different direction.  Instead of taking Via Po, I walked parallel to the River Po away from the historic center to a part of the city I had not been before.  It was a fair step along a busy street with a lot of traffic, but at length I found the entrance to the park.

Torino is well provided with parks, but most of them are not in the city center.  The city does take advantage of its river banks and Parco Valentino is quite large and very lovely.  If you are there at the right time and fancy a snack or apero, several small establishments can provide.  If you want to join a boating club, you can find those, too.

I strolled around and up and down admiring the trees and flowers and enjoying the green smell and the sound of chirping birds.  One of my favorite places was what they called the Alpine Garden--very appropriate for Piedmont with a variety of colorful flowers including irises.  There are a lot of nicely winding paths to follow.

I'm guessing that on fine weekends the place is pretty lively.  Even on a weekday morning plenty of Torinesi were there walking their dogs.

The Borgo Medievale or Medieval Village is on the far side of the park.  Entrance is free.  Now, you have to understand that this is not a real Medieval village--it's a Nineteenth Century pastiche from the Romantic Era when all things Medieval were the fashion.  It's fakery aside, it's a delightful place and very pretty and fun to walk around.  There are a couple of gift shops, but I found them disappointing since I care naught for Harry Potter merchandise or fake armor and weapons.

What was fun was the presence of some tiny gray squirrels chasing each other around.  Are gray squirrels Piedmontese?  Italian?  I don't know.

The weather was very nice, and I promised myself that I would walk back along the river.  The water sparkled in the sunlight and flowed peacefully along.  This stretch of the Po is evidently for recreational purposes only because I did not see any tourist or commercial activity going on.  This was fine by me as I could enjoy freely flowing water.

Ciao for now