Day 2: Today I am thankful that I live in a beautiful city that isn’t overrun by tourist. Most people over look Torino and probably had never even heard of it until the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. I’ve been told that the city did a major overhaul to get ready for the Games and really cleaned up. I’ve seen old pictures of the city and it’s amazing how much has changed just in the last 5-10 years.

Torino has been trying really hard to get more attention and slowly we’ve experience more tourism but it’s not to the extent of Rome, Venice or Florence. It may never be that way and I hope it isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’m doing my part in trying to get more attention to our corner of Italia but honestly, I don’t want to spoil the atmosphere and the beauty of our city.

I’ve heard that the Cinque Terre used to be a hidden gem until Rick Steves started to write about it. No one knew about Cortona until Frances Mayes’ novel was made into the film- Under the Tuscan Sun. I just hope that we can keep Torino to ourselves for as long as we can.

Piazza San Carlo- Torino, Italy Feb. 2011