Air sports
Legend has it the bungee jumping was born 1,500 years ago when, in the New Hebrides in Oceania, a woman threw herself off a cliff in order to escape her violent husband. Since then, throwing oneself from a high place attached to a vine or an elastic cord has become an obligatory rite of passage in some communities. Here in the West, by contrast, it has recently become very trendy with lovers of extreme sports and adventure. The first Italian Bungee Centre was set up near Biella in 1993, and has achieved cult status with jumpers from all over Italy. It boasts a jumping point famed for its altitude.
Piedmont has a good deal to offer those who are keen on flying. It offers both flying lessons, at a number of small airports and airfields, and several important centres for parachuting.
Once upon a time, Leonardo challenged the laws of gravity by designing flying machines. Nowadays new sky-surfing boards are making for ever more spectacular aerial stunts, and there are those for whom launching oneself into the air attached to a hang-glider is the only way to appreciate a view.
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Places
Palaisozaki
It is the new Torino Olympic Palasport (Sports Arena) designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki for the Winter Olympics in Torino 2006. A multi-functional space, versatile and flexible which, thanks to the mobility of its platform, can turn from an ice rink into a concert, show, or convention venue.
Abbazia di Novalesa
Near the monastery, there are four chapels dedicated to Saint Mary, Saint Salvador, Saint Michael, and the most important one to Saint Eldrado which has two splendid fresco cycles (from the late 11th century) narrating moments from the lives of Saint Eldrado and Saint Nicholas.
Castello di Aglič
This sumptuous home was built, beginning in 1646 following a design by Amedeo di Castellamonte, by Filippo d’Aglie, statesman, literary man, choreographer, and adviser to Madama Reale, on the ruins of an ancient fortress.
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People
Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
"When we arrived at Piazza Castello, immersed in its new light, we said to each other that it was time to set the dolly up here for the camera."
Wim Wenders
"I could live in Torino if they offered me an office on the top floor of the Mole Antonelliana, a location perfect for a director."
Manhattan Transfer
"Torino has a unique allure: aristocratic, elegant. We enjoyed the museums, the parks and the people are warm and passionate. And also the cafés and fantastic restaurants where you eat in the Piemonte style: truffles, Barolo, Arneis were, for us, an absolutely unforgettable delicacy."
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