Miscellaneous, Torino

You might think that the derby between Juventus and Torino should be the biggest game to see in Torino.
The truth is that the crowd on the latest derbies between the two teams has been even smaller than the media-crowd for both Juventus and Torino.
The last derby was played in front of just 16 000 spectators...! Not that bad in another league maybe, but in Serie A, at Stadio Delle Alpi...? It was too fun to watch that game at a stadium that has a capacity of 70 000 spectators...

Now there aren't any derbies played anyway, since Torino is in Serie B.

But the games you really should see in Torino is Juventus-Milan, Juventus-Inter, Juventus-Fiorentina or Juventus-Roma. Their games against their biggest rivals in other words.

Also games in the Champions League, when they play against a really big team in the semifinal, or maybe quarterfinal, should be really good.

For Torino calcio, the games to see in Serie B should be the one against Genoa. They are friends, so it should be a good atmosphere.

The big stadium in Torino was built for the World Cup 1990, where it was the venue for example one of the semifinals. It can hold a crowd of almost 70 000 spectators, and that - together with the running fields - is probably the biggest problem for this stadium.

Because neither Juventus nor Torino has a crowd this big. Only for the really big games, maximum one each year, Juventus success to fill the whole stadium. Their media-crowd is under half of the stadium's capacity, and on normal matchdays it's empty empty empty, at the once so proud Stadio Delle Alpi.

Juventus has tried everything they can, more or less, to get more people to their games. But their supporters are wellknown with success, and don't go to games like Juventus-Chievo a cold sunday afternoon in november... Not even Juventus-Milan and Juventus-Inter manage to be played in front of a full house each year.

Both clubs have now decided to do something about this. Torino will, after the Olympic Games in Torino 2006, move back to their old stadium, used before 1990, where they most probably will be playing in front of the same entusiastic crowd as 15-20 years ago.

Juventus, on the other side, will rebuild Stadio Delle Alpi, so that it takes a crowd of around 35 000 spectators. Should suit that club really good, and maybe the atmosphere then could always be as it is at the biggest Juventus-games?

The stadium has three stages all around. As a neutral spectator you'll see the game best from the second row, while the cheapest tickets are for the curves, or the third ring.

Juventus has quite expensive tickets, but on the other side you'll almost never have to worry about a sold out game...

Also remember that Torino is situated very close to the Alps, so even if it's warm in Milano or other cities nearby, it might be cold as... well, choose yourself, in Torino. So bring really warm clothes for evening-games played in october-mars!

The faithful and singing Juventus-ultras are standing in the Curva Sud, the second stage. There is the leader-group the old "Fighters". Around them are another groups, like Gruppo Storico, Black&White and on the first stage, also Nucleo.
They use a kind of maffia-system in the curva, which means the people in charge of Fighters, decides everything, and also gets a lot of money for it. Good for them, bad for the other supporters who only can pay what Fighters tell them to, if they want to stand in the Curva Sud.

Earlier there were also a ultras-part in the Curva Nord, but both Viking (a Milano-based group) and Irriducibil have vanished.

Viking is since 03/04 again going strong, but are hardly worked against by Juventus, so they can use they banner only on away-games.

Irriducibili on the other side was banned from the stadium in 2002, after a serie of incidents involving their members. Rumours says that Juventus asked them to go away, and then they refused, Juventus made sure that instead people from Fighters made sure that no members of Irriducibili could enter Juventus-games.

Rumours are many among those classic groups, and it's probably not too much said if I write that everything isn't as it should be in the Curva Sud.

Despite that, they are making quite good atmosphere at Delle Alpi, even when the stadium is almost empty apart from the curva. And the away-sector is always full with Juventus-supporters (although 90 per cent of them then comes from other parts than Torino) when Juventus is playing away.

Juventus is the most loved, and most hated, club in Italy. Therefore it's not strange that most of the opponent-supporters sees Juventus as their biggest enemy. Among the biggest are Milan, Inter, Fiorentina, Torino, Sampdoria, Atalanta... well, I could go on forever...

Actually the only supportergroup in Italy that has some kind of friendship with Juventus is Piacenza...!

Despite the fact that the club is playing in Serie B, the Torino-supporters are still going strong. Standing in the curva Nord at Delle Alpi, their most important ultras-group are the "Ultras Granata", "Viking" and "Granata Korps". They build up a good atmosphere at the homegames of Torino, although not as good as 15-20 years ago when they played at their old stadium.

The Torino-supporters are friends with Fiorentina, mostly since they hate Juventus as much as Torino-fans do... Among the enemies are Juventus, Milan, Inter and Atalanta.

Juventus, borned in 1897, is the most successful club in Italy. 27 scudetti, 2 titles in Champions League, 3 Uefacup-titles, 1 Cupwinners cup-title, and 9 Coppa Italia-title says most of it.

The club has also the biggest support in Italy, some people even say that they have as many supporters in Milano as Milan and Inter.

Still, the stadium isn't even even halfpacked at the homegames, and the atmosphere isn't even close to something it should be, considering a club like Juventus.

Put into that that Juventus actually plays quite boring football, althought not as boring as some years ago, and you'll understand why I don't like to go to Torino for Juventus-games.

Still I go there, though, so I guess I'm a football-maniak... ;)

Famous players in Juventus 2004 is Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero, Pavel Nedved, David Trezeguet, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and many many more. Definately one of the clubs with most wellknown players in the whole world.

This is a great idea. I've did it some time ago in Florence and it was funny and very interesting and I liked it very much.
Now there are some short and long walks. For a total of almost 7 hours of audio guide totally free.
Nicely there is also a map to follow the route and you can also see images on Ipod of the spots described.

Download some itineraries on your mp3 player or Ipod and enjoy your personal guide at your own speed.
And tipping is not mandatory ;-)

The Audio guides are available in English (and Italian of course), some also in French.

It must be quite terrible to have won the italian league 7 times, and the italian cup 5 times - and still being the littlebrother of your town...?

That is how it is for Torino. No matter what they'll win, big brother Juventus has always won more...

Two seasons ago Torino went down to Serie B, and although it looks good so far this season, they have a lot of work to do before they are back among the topclubs in Italy.

But the town Torino stays behind them, as they have a lot of local supporters and their supporters are really loyal.

Famous players in Torino nowadays is quite hard to find, mind you they're playing in the second division. The brasilian Pinga is maybe the most wellknown?

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From the Piazza Vittorio Veneto you can walk along the riverside path to Turin's largest park, Parco del Valentino. It's a nice walk if the weather's good and it's lined with cafes, although when I was there in August, all but one were closed. Near the park end is also where you catch the boats for river trips... but they were not running either, apparently because the river was too low.

Murazzi del Po is the name of the river bank, which was built in 1880 rearranging the warehouses and the storages for the boats.
Now, in the tract between the Umberto I and Vittorio Emanuele I bridges, there are many fashion bars and restaurants where to drink a cocktail or eat good typical dishes.

If you like, from here you can have a mini cruise with the Valentino and Valentina boats.

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One of the things I'd particularly wanted to see in Turin was the rooftop test track at the old Fiat Factory at Lingotto. The concept of a car test track on the roof of a building was fascinating to me and because I'm 'of a certain age', I well remember it appearing in the famous film The Italian Job, featuring Michael Caine.

Finding Lingotto wasn't difficult. The ladies in the Tourist Office told me which bus to catch, it's only a short ride out of the city centre and it drops you right outside the old Fiat Factory. Inside the building is a huge shopping centre and a gallery housing the art collection of Gianni Agnelli, the late chairman of Fiat. However, there were no signs to the test track and only a passing reference to it in my guide book. I couldn't find an information centre but in the middle of the building is the entrance to the Lingotto Conference Centre - a futuristic glass 'bubble' on the roof. Despite a serious language barrier, the receptionist there was charming and telephoned a colleague to see if anyone was available to take me up. Everyone was too busy but she told me that I could get to see the track on my own and gave me directions.

So I left the building and made my way towards the corner of the huge car park, next to the Oval Lingotto indoor arena, where she said I'd find a ramp. And indeed I did, but it was the entrance to what looked like a multi-storey car park, it was very dark and there was nobody around. I was also aware of a security guard in a hut not far away and I was scared I was going to get told off for trespassing. But I'd come this far so into the darkness I went, looked up and saw a fantastic spiral ramp going way up. It was a considerable climb to the top but suddenly I was there... and at last, I was walking out onto the famous test track. I was completely alone and stayed there for some time, enjoying the views over the Olympic Village to the mountains beyond. So my mission was accomplished but I'm still not sure whether I was supposed to be there.