Dazzled

I've never experienced Italy before. We have travelled the length of the country, non-stop, by train (breakfast in Bologna, boat out from Bari) and I have made business trips to Milan (which leave almost no impression), but I have never spent a day here walking, looking, tasting, listening, navigating, interacting, understanding. It actually shocked me a little to realise this; one way or another, I have spent time - at least a day or two - in much of the rest of western Europe, but Italy feels like a shirt I know is in the wardrobe but have never actually worn

So today was a full on explosion of first impressions - exhausting but exhilarating. I have barely looked at the history of Turin, but I know it is home to Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo, it was briefly the first capital of newly unified Italy (a huge statue of the first king is on a column outside our temporary apartment; "during his long reign, he made few, but excellent, decisions", says the droll plaque in front of it)

It is clear from what we have seen that there was a massive explosion in the city's population and infratructure during the 19th century. On the face of it, an already wealthy city became much bigger and even wealthier. Large areas are given over to residential development of exceptional quality, organised on a grid/block system, similar to many US cities. We have spent the day wandering from piazza to piazza, proud municipal monument to even bigger monument, fountain to fountain, palace to palace

We managed (with some effort) to get inside an 18th century chapel that redefined my understanding of the word 'baroque' - if in doubt, add more gilt, more flourishes on the flourishes on the picture frames, or paint another square metre of plaster. We gazed through shop windows on meticulously designed displays of cake, chocolates, sweets and all kinds of luxury foods. We are by no means in the centre, but the 500m walk to our chosen breakfast cafe (to check out the ornate baroque interior!) took us past four or five others that would have done just as well. The place bristles with commerce and consumption, but all of it with such understated style and nonchalance; opulence raised to an art form, so lightly worn, you can't be offended by it

I've taken lots of tourist snaps, of course. This is the calmest - a glimpse into a cool interior of courtyard after courtyard, portico leading on from portico. The visible wealth, I sense, is paired with less obvious depths of luxury and heritage

(Another addendum for kendallishere. Our tapas lunch included a plate of local cheeses, with a little toast and salad garnish - beautifully presented, of course. In the centre was a small pot of golden liquid - olive oil, we assumed. Not a bit of it: it was local honey. There is a thing going on!)