Piazza Carlo Emanuele II (more known as Piazza Carlina) is one of the main squares in the historic center of Turin, near Via Po. It has a square shape of 120 meters per side. It is much more known as "Carlina Square" (so much so also indicated in road maps) because of the nickname that the Turin people affirmed to Carlo Emanuele II of Savoy for his effeminate ways, starting since in the 17th centuryCreated during the second enlargement of the city in 1673, in the direction of Po, the square, conceived as the main public space of the "new city" and ultimately of Turin, it was the starting point for building the new neighborhood and It was the headquarters of the works.Regent Maria Joanna Battista of Savoy-Nemours, wife of Charles Emanuele II of Savoy, called Amedeo di Castellamonte to draw the plan of the square, which was thought to be octagonal. The project was modified, reducing the size of the square and leaving it in the characteristic square shape.The position was also changed: from the neighboring Via Po, as in the Duke's idea, it moved to where it is still today.
In the center of the square is the statue of Camillo Benso di Cavour,
the work of Giovanni Duprè and placed in 1872 where it is todayOn the south side, the church of Santa Croce, by Filippo Juvarra,
built in 1718 by the will of King Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy: nowadays
it is used as a Orthodox-Romanian church.On
the east side, the Palace of the Marches Ferrero d'Ormea, acquired by
Tancredi Ferrero d'Ormea in 1844, paid a sum of 600 thousand lire to the
Marchese Luigi Coardi. The building was designed by Amedeo di Castellamonte and later restored by Giacinto Roero of Guarene. Damaged by World War II bombings, it has been left for many years in
partial abandonment and is currently the prestigious seat of a BankAt
civic number 15 is the building of the Ex- "Albergo di Virtù", an
educational and welfare institute for the vocational education of young
poors, specialized in manufacturing arts, and which was active in Turin
from 1580 to the second half of the nineteenth century. In this place, it later became a group of residential housing. From the years 1919 to 1921 Antonio Gramsci lived there.Extremely refurbished in the interior, it is later transformed into a four star hotel and inaugurated in November 2014
The piazza underwent a major construction, and was completed recently. This is how it looks like now.
It was claimed that Milan will be the new capital of book. At
least for the Italian Association of Publishers (Aie) who has
officially departed from the collaboration with the Salone del Libro of Turin
in favor of a new project that will be in the capital
of Lombardy.
That was quite a scandal when Aie decided to move the book fair from Turin to Milan ( more accurately to Milan Rho ), they had a voting and the result was in favor of the decision.
The book fair in Milan Rho was held in April, titled ' Tempo dei Libri ' and according to official source, there were 50 thousands visitors.
Nevertheless, the book fair ' Salone Dei Libri ' continued in Turin and it was closed on Monday, and the number of tickets sold was 165 thousands, 30 thousands more than the previous year and way more than the one held in Milan Rho.
Founded in 1988 as Book showroom (Italian: Salone del libro), The Turin International Book Fair is the largest book fair in Europe, involving more than 1,400 exhibitors and 341,000 visitors in 2015.
It was founded in 1988 with the name Salone del Libro by the
entrepreneur Guido Accornero and the bookseller Angelo Pezzana. The
opening ceremony was held on May 18, 1988, at the opera house Teatro Regio, with the Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky.
It has been held first at Torino Esposizioni and then, since 1992, at Lingotto Fiere.
The special exhibition about 'Silk Road ' in MAO ( Museum of Oriental Art ) is surprisely well done, the displays are well positioned with the right amount of light brightening them, and the description are appropriate and interesting.
Over all these years, this not so grand museum has became a gem of the city, the cosy atmosphere and careful detail of the displays are just some of the inviting attraction to visit the museum over and over again.
In this exhibition, in particularly, the display of various buddha statues is mesmerising....
Looking down from a building at via San Domenico, the church San Domenico is just below with its bell tower at the back, the big cupola of another church, Basilica Mauriziana is visible on the othern side across via Milano....2 different churches with 2 different styles.
Early Spring, looking down from the park in La Cavallerizza over the Royal garden below the ancient wall once surrounding the antique Turin.
La Mole is as usual dominated the view with all its splendor, and below people are already lying down onto the grass to enjoy the spring sun.
Italy's Liberation Day (Festa della Liberazione), also known as the Anniversary of the Liberation (Anniversario della liberazione d'Italia), Anniversary of the Resistance (anniversario della Resistenza), or simply April 25 is a national Italian holiday commemorating the end of the Italian Civil War and the end of Nazi occupation of the country during World War II.
In the evening, the Liberation Day parade marched along via Pietro Micca toward piazza Castello with people holding a torch in their hand. In particular, this old couple caught my attention.
Also these cardboard pigeons are kind of cute.
And the crowd....
Via Botero, one of those narrow, cobblerstone pavement streets, occasionally one can find here a hidden treasure, such as a fine restaurant or a small affascinating shop selling exquisite item.
In a narrow street, the street lamps are particularly prominent, either to provide light in the night or simply to enchance the atmosphere....
Standing at the bus stop in via Pietro Micca, looking toward piazza Castello, the road present an interesting view, never noticed that the road is curvy....
Via Cernaia, the street which leads to the train station Porta Susa and beyond.....
A busy street, heavy traffic most of the time, and it goes from Porta Susa up to via Pietro Micca.
On a good day, the Alps is visible behind the old structure of the train station.
Lets eat, CDP May Theme, instead of photgraphing food, I decided to post these two photo of tables setup for dining in the open.
This was in via Lagrange, tables were setup outside the restaurant for diners, lets take a sit and eat.
This was during the street food festival, where stalls and tables were setup along the river Po, so food lovers could just buy the food and choose a table and eat.
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