Erasmus experience in Turin

My time in Turin was wonderful. I was there in January 2017 for an Erasmus internship in an Industrial Design studio. And from the first day I fell in love with the city on seeing Piazza Vittorio Veneto with the River Po in the background, and high in the skies the Monte dei Cappuccini and the Chiesa de la Gran Madre. These spectacular nocturnal views were what I remember especially of my first night in Turin.

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Accommodation

With regards to finding a house, it was quite difficult to find something as most of the people from the autumn semester would not be leaving until the end of February, and it also didn't help that I only wanted to stay for 4 months, whereas most Erasmus students usually spend 6 months and landlords prefer the longer renting period.

On the other hand, concerning the house search, you must be very careful if searching for accommodation on the internet, and don't hand over any money without the keys in your hand and without having seen the house before. There are many scams on the internet, especially on Facebook. As a matter of fact, I got fed up of it all so I decided to find a place to live once I was there, and after looking at some flats I found a wonderful individual room, although it cost quite a lot compared to the prices where I'm from, Gran Canaria. €450 a month.

Transport

As for public transport, I truly believe that it's unbeatable. I paid €21 a month for a transport card that allowed me to travel on the tram, bus and metro. The metro only has one line, it could be useful depending on where you're living. There's a bus or tram every 10 minutes and at night/the weekends there are night buses for when the bars and clubs close.

Going out

Speaking of partying, there's a decent range of places to go. Personally, I used the weekends to travel and I didn't go out all that much, but for those who do there are a few clubs, especially in Valentino Park, which is a beautiful park that also has clubs. The only issue is that the majority close at 4am, as the Italians start drinking a lot earlier than us. The clubs I went to were XO Café, Quasar, Life, The Beach and Centralino. And of course, "botellón" (street drinking) is legal in Italy, for which people go to Saluzzo, it's like a square in the middle of the street, many young people drink there on the weekends. This square is near the Porta Nuova station.

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Where to eat

For eating, there's a tradition in Turin and Italy called "aperitivo". What you do is you go to any bar, cafe or restaurant that offers it and you pay between €8 and €10 for any drink you want, normally a cocktail, or a typical Italian cocktail called "Spritz". Then, you can eat as much as you want from the aperitivo buffet that is provided. It's quite good and depending on where you go to eat the food is more or less varied and starts and 6pm, and ends at 9pm or 10pm.

Places to visit

The great thing about Turin is that almost everything there is to visit and the historic parts of town are in the city centre, with some exceptions. These are the Basílica de Superga, located outside the city to which you have to get a tram that costs €9-10 for a return ticket, and the Valentino Park which is in the San Salvario neighbourhood.

Apart from this, there's Piazza Costello, where you can find the Royal Palace and it's the most central zone of the city. If from this square we walk down via Roma, a street full of high-end shops and some that are more affordable like Bershka or Zara, we finally arrive at Piazza San Carlo, which is without a doubt my favourite. There are two churches that are very similar to each other and in the middle the statue of San Carlo. Anyone who goes there are night will understand why I like it so much. And at last there's the Piazza Vittorio Veneto, to get there you can go from Piazza Castello passing by the infinite shops of via Po with its arches. But before going to Piazza Vittorio Veneto, if we turn left you'll see the famous Mole Antonellina. It's a building that nowadays is the Cinema Museum of Torino, that I definitely recommend visiting (I went 3 times).

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Vittorio Veneto is a square that is very lively, during warmer weather the bars put tables outside and people go to have a few drinks or do aperitivo. Next to it is the River Po, and if you cross the bridge to the other side you'll see the Chiesa de la Gran Madre de Dio, a beautiful church. And to the right on a not very high hill there's the Monte dei Cappuccini, with an essential view of Turin, where after less than a 5 minute walk up you can see the best views of the city. In fact, high up in the Cinema Museum there's a balcony, but the views are better and free from the mountain. If you're lucky and it's not overcast, you'll have a clear view of the Alps. Below is a photo of this view.

If you like museums, Turin has many important museums such as the Car Museum, as Fiat was founded in this city. There's also the Egyptian Museum in the centre and the Cinema Museum that I previously mentioned, and the Royal Palace Museum. It must be mentioned that behind the palace is the Duomo of Turin, where the Shroud of Turin is kept. The original is not normally on display, apart from special occasions, but there are videos that depict its origin.

My favourite places for gelato and pasta

There are some great ice-cream parlours in Turin, for example, Grom is an Italian chain known for its artisan and natural gelato. My favourite was nocciola and yoghurt. There's also La Romana and Alberto Marchetti, all fantastic and serving the best ice-cream I've ever tasted. As for food, I recommend Sauvrè, a fresh pasta restaurant, on via Garibaldi near Piazza Castello in the Quadrilatero Romano neighbourhood.

Price

With regards to the prices, the city is cheaper than you'd expect, but it's more expensive when compared to Spain. Although I compare it to the Canary Islands.

I hope my experience will help future Erasmus students or anyone who'll have the pleasure of visiting this wonderful city.