Torino World Design Capital - Piemonte Feel

Torino World Design Capital

More than 180 local, national, and international initiatives scattered throughout the capital and the entire region of Piemonte make up the calendar for Torino 2008 World Design Capital. This year’s leitmotif is “flexibility”, understood as the ability to use design with decision, to use project research and innovation as factors of economic, social, and cultural development. All of the events enter into four major topics of discussion: design and community, design and the business world, design and education, design and development policies.






Places

Villa Taranto Botanical Gardens

Villa Taranto and its gardens, which look out over Lago Maggiore, have a vast botanical trove that includes about 1,000 plants, which until today had never been cultivated in Italy, and about 20,000 varieties and species of particular botanical importance.

Castello di Mazzč

In the ancient underground parts of the medieval castle is the Museo della Tortura (Museum of Torture): tools and methods from the Holy Inquisition. The building is surrounded by a large park with a scenic view looking out over the Canavese.

La “Bollente” di Acqui Terme

This is an elegant, octagonal temple-structure inaugurated in 1879. This eclectic structure has a spring where sulfuric-salty-bromine-iodic water flows at a temperature of 74.5 degrees Celsius.



People

Carla Bruni

Carla Bruni

"I like Torino. It’s alive, beautiful, not at all austere. Plus, it’s creative. Art moves me, even if I am an amateur. I know music well; I breathed it in at home with mom who dedicated herself to classical concerts and my father who composed dodecaphonic pieces."

Riccardo Scamarcio

"I confess. I have committed the sin of gluttony in Piemonte. Dishes made with Alba truffles are irresistible and are a “must” during my stays in Piemonte."

Alain Elkann

“Torino remains a beautiful city, but not only that, it is also a serious city in which one can work well. One feels protected…Then, in those hills on certain winter days when the sky is blue and the air is clean, it’s like being in Kathmandu”.