CDP November Theme : Brown

This brown horse belong to the police of Turin, he and his colleagues are kept in a site at the Valentino Park, occasionally they can be seen patrolling along the streets in the center with their human colleagues.

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CDP October Theme : Orange

Orange Sky it is, for the CDP October theme.

Fire sky, orange sky, occasionally the sky of Turin is well colored. Photo take at Porta Palatina , the ancient town gate of Turin.

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CDP September Theme : Red

Red, not my favorite color, too strong for my taste however it does represent happiness, luck and sense of festiavl in my culture.

The photo was taken at Chinatown in Singapore, a bit before the chinese new year. Two me busy checking their handphone under a series of red lanterns.

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Botanical Garden Of Turin

The Orto Botanico of the University di Turin (2.6 hectares) is a botanical garden and arboretum operated by the Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale of the University of Turin. It is located in the Parco del Valentino along the Po River, at Viale Pier Andrea Mattioli, Turin, Italy, and open weekends and holidays during the warmer months; an admission fee is charged.

The garden's origins can be traced as far back as 1560, when collections of live plants were established at the Studio di Mondovì, which moved to the university in 1566. Today's garden dates to 1713, when Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia established the Orto Regio. With establishment in 1729 of the university's chair in botany, held by G.B. Caccia, it legally became a part of the university.
Between 1730 and 1731 the garden was laid out in a geometric plan of flowerbeds within the Castello del Valentino's existing garden area (approximate 6800 m²), within which Caccia planted about 800 species. By 1762 some 1200 species were in cultivation. In 1796 Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia donated areas west and north of the castello, bringing the garden's area to somewhat larger than its current extent. By 1810 the garden contained about 6000 cultivated plants, with an arboretum organized on its northern section (the boschetto), and the constructions of greenhouses, orangery, and herbarium. Between 1831 and 1839 further construction added more greenhouses, and in 1848 a substantial orangery.

But the subsequent century saw considerable diminution of the garden. After 1876 various greenhouses were demolished to make way for laboratories, in 1892–1893 garden space was lost to further building, and in 1929, 1969, and 1977 additional greenhouses were eliminated. The garden was extensively damaged, with loss of collections, during World War I and World War II by neglect and bombings. However, the garden is now recovering. Prof. Bruno Peyronel introduced an alpine garden in 1962–1963, in 1969 a new greenhouse was built for tropical and subtropical species, in 1986 another greenhouse added for succulent plants, and in 2006 another for South African plants.
Today the garden proper cultivates around 2000 species, with an additional 300 species in the alpine garden, about 500 species in the arboretum, and a further 1000 species in greenhouses.

Although the garden is pretty small, but it is actually very interesting and provides a peaceful and enjoyable atmosphere for visitors who like to get away from crowd and chaos.

  
For people who criticize that the garden lack of pretty flowers and does not have a hugh species of plants, lets remember that there isn't much funding and it is more a vegetable garden than a flowers garden. Many plants and flowers are seasonal, so don't expect to see them blossom all year round.

Mercato centrale

Mercato Centrale is located in Porta Palazzo, where the huge open air market is.

It was just a shopping complex with mainly shops selling clothings and other mainly uninteresting goods. It is now renovated and upgraded to quite a chic eating place where some really nice and impressive foods are served at the ground floor, the first floor remains mainly shops and with a spacious 'room' to serve for events, such as private party, exhibition etc. 
The most interesting aspect of this floor is actually the terrace which can oversee the open air market at a higher level, which makes it perfect spot to photograph the market.

Whereas, at the basement, there is the antique ice house, the ghiacciaie where once ice was kept and distributed. 

The Mercato Centrale opens still past midnight everyday, being at the not really safest spot of the town, it really needs to be a lot more convincing to get visitors coming after the evening, plus the foods although are of better quality than most eating places in town, but so are the prices higher....

Please visit https://www.mercatocentrale.it/torino/ to know more about the place.

CDP August Theme : Black

Black and misterious, and extremely suspicious...
A black cat near the river, staring at me while I was snapping photo of him. 

There were a few wild cats living around that area, they seem to have formed a little community being free and wild.

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CDP July Theme : Blue

The Mole in the mist of blue....
Sometimes the weather in Turin can be quite foggy, and when that happened, the top part of the Mole usually is hidden by the fog and the rest of it is embraced by the fog in this case colored by the blue light projecting onto the Mole.

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Fishermen Club

More and more people go fishing at the river Po

CDP June 2019 Theme : Pink

To show support to the Women's right campaign, the Mole was presented in Pink, the color which is delicate but loving, soft but hopeful.

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Inside Palazzo Della Luce

A tribute to the splendours of the belle epoque and the seductions of the past, the Palazzo della Luce occupies an entire block with its imposing yet discreet structure. Defined by the Turinese as "the little Madama", it is inspired by the majestic and spectacular façade of the Palazzo Madama in Piazza Castello, magnificently interpreting the eclectic style in vogue at the beginning of the 20th century. A style that, nostalgically looking at the golden years of architecture, sometimes mixes it in a bizarre way, styles and details.
 

Inside, the wide and luminous entrance is a preamble to the sumptuous rooms on the first floor served by an impressive and spectacular grand staircase. Here, unknown to many, a large room of elegant neo-baroque architecture is revealed, dominated by a coffered vault with stucco rosettes, a hall that despite its evident richness of decorations retains a sober elegance and a discreet charm.

The palazzo is normally not open to public, I took the chance of attending an exhibition about psychology to visit this beautiful palazzo.

Turn out, the exhibition was pretty interesting itself.

Spring Green

Spring has arrived, the plants began to have colors, tiny green leaves began to appear and the brown and bold earth has started to be replaced by fresh green grasses and wild flowers in various colors...

Among the wild Spring flowers, the most commonly seen are the dandelions, which matures into blowballs...

Master Of The Bubbles

He is a master of the bubbles, often performs at piazza Carignano, the colorful comic design costume and the painted face is his trademark.

 

Whenever he releases the huge bubbles, the kids go ecstacy and try to capture the bubbles. He sure brings a lots of fun and happiness to the kids.

CDP May Theme : Purple

Spring brings in a variety of colors, one of the colors first appeared along the river bank is the purple of these tiny fruits....

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Blue? No, Is Jazz Festival

The 7th edition of Torino Jazz festival began on the 26th and will last till the 4th of May.

The town celebrate the event by projecting the notice directly onto 'La Mole'.

' The program features international artists and original productions by the best local jazz musicians. It is a surprise-filled rundown of big-name artists like Joshua Redman, Fred Frith, Enrico Pieranunzi, Jon Balke, Randy Brecker, Bugge Wesseltoft, Kyle Eastwood, Stefano Di Battista, Eivind Aarset, John Paul Jones, Michel Portal, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Ernst Reijseger, Jim Black, Sidsel Endresen, Deborah Carter, Don Menza, Flavio Boltro and Enrico Rava, who’ll be playing in concert halls and clubs, where the spirit of jazz at its most authentic mixes it up with a host of all-new lineups and alternative performances. The 2019 edition also sees an expanded schedule of outdoor performances, promising a festival atmosphere bounding through the streets of the city. For the second year running, the TJF presents evening performances at OGR Torino – the city’s old railroad mechanical services depot, today a symbol of urban transformation that has become a vital crossroads for contemporary culture in a city projected on an international level. '

Quoted from : http://www.torinojazzfestival.it/english/

Another Piazza Another Reflection

A huge pond of water was gathered at piazza San Carlo, perfectly reflecting the two churches at the end of the piazza plus the horseman statue in the center of the piazza.

Is it sarcastic to thank the bad mantenance of the pavements which provide uneven ground to form these ponds of water?

Innocent Death

23rd of Februay, morning at about 11 o'clock,  along Murazzi on the river bank of Po, a young man had his throat cut from someone behind and killed.
The killer ran away toward piazza Vittorio and the young man tried to get to the street for help, but he was too injured, he stumbled and died.

After about 2 months, a guy confessed that he had killed the young man, and it was a random kill, or rather a random selection. 

The man just wanted to kill someone on that particular day, so he bought the knife and sat on the bench along the river and waited. Then, he saw the young man walking by, and he decided that he looked too happy and for that he was the chosen one....

An innocent death, a bizarre reason, a tragedy....

A day or two before the confession, balloons and flowers were placed at the spot where the young man was killed and the mayor led a walk along the river to mourne the lost of an innocent life.

La Mole Beyond The wall

Walking through the Royal garden, going towards the old wall which separates the upper and the lower gardens, saw a group of youngsters sitting on the wall, watching the magnificent La Mole. Couldn't help it, so here is the photo....

CDP April 2019 Theme : Yellow

Yellow! The first thing comes into mind is the turned yellow leaves in autumn.

And my favourite place to see these autumn leaves is along the river Po where the leaves covered up the slope which leads to the walking path along the river, the leaves turn the usually green slope into golden yellow...

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Women's Day Protest

There are so many protests nowadays, I just can't follow up what protest is for what purpose. Went to the market the other day at Porta Palazzo, there was some commotion at one end of the market, went near to take a look, there was a group mainly of women and they were shouting, 
Then I realised that it was a protest about violence against women, I think....

 She said : We want bread and roses.....

San Bernardino Church

San Bernardino Church is loctaed in the San Paolo Distict, which is consisted as in the suburb.

It was built in 1891, when the zone was still very less populated.

In August 1917, in the heart of what is known as the "bread revolt", the parish is set on fire.
A widespread anti-clerical attitude (also fueled by the harsh reaction of the friars against a boy who a few days before had tried to steal fruit from their gardens), the discontent of a war that forced a miserable life and even led to the lack of bread and rumours according to which the undergrounds of the church and the convent were occupied by the military as a deposit for armaments (only partial truth, since they actually housed pharmaceutical products and above all bandages) fueled the anger of the demonstrators and, indirectly, the fire that severely damaged structure.

An adverse fate also befell the parish during the Second World War, when a bombardment set it on fire again destroying the roof, the organ and some windows.
Another pyre, this time not of malicious origin but probably caused by a short circuit, hit San Bernardino again in 1988; with the consequent loss of various documents.

 

CDP March Theme Green

Green is the color of Toret, the iconic fountain of Turin, which still can be found in some streets and piazza in the town, and it is my choice for the theme day.
Toret is a noun of the Piedmontese language which literally means toretto, ie small bull. In a translated sense the word is commonly used to designate the typical public fountain of the city of Turin, of which it is a famous feature of urban furniture.
 

The fountain is made of cast iron, with a parallelepipedal vertical development closed by a hemicylindrical vault; It is painted with a particular bottle-green color which is also, in turn, iconic. The dispensing cinnamon placed on the front consists of a small bull's head from which water gushes through the mouth. The bull's head recalls the animal symbol of the city of Turin: the rampant bull also present on the official insignia. Complete the installation, on the ground, a hemicircular drainage grate often equipped with a central basin useful for the drinking of pets.

The citizens of Turin have developed a very acute sense of affection towards the toret, which they consider to be a symbolic object of their city, inextricably linked not only to the satisfaction of food necessities in moments of emergency or in sports practice, but also often in childhood memories and sentimental events.

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Orange Sky

The sky of  this winter has been rather colorful and sometimes even spetacular. 

A walk by the river Po in the evening, quite often one is presented a beautiful sunset view with the colorful sky as background....

San Valentino In Turin

Is San Valentino, not that I celebrate it, but the La Mole is painted Violet Pink and a young couple asked for help to have their photo taken in front of this romanticized building, so lets celebrate for them!

Actually I am not sure if La Mole is painted in pink for San Valentino, in fact I think it is not, but it does suit the occasion and the photo was taken two days before San Valentino.