Piedmontese food and wine: authentic flavors in Turin

Choose The Concord Hotel Torino to discover the capital of taste.

Turin is renowned for its rich culinary tradition and its love for high-quality food. Turin’s food and wine scene is a symphony of flavors that blends Piedmontese cuisine with the city’s typical elegance.
One of Turin’s most famous dishes is “Risotto al Tartufo”, a decadent dish prepared with Carnaroli or Arborio rice and fresh truffles gathered from the surrounding hills. This dish is an excellence of Piedmont that captures the taste and essence of the region.
One cannot speak of Turin without mentioning “Bagna Cauda”. This sauce made with garlic, anchovies, and olive oil is often served with fresh vegetables, creating a unique combination of flavors. It is a true culinary ritual with roots in peasant traditions.

Meat is also a protagonist, and “Brasato al Barolo” is an undisputed classic. This dish features meat slowly braised in Barolo wine, creating a tender texture and an enveloping flavor.

In the confectionery scene, the city is famous for “Gianduiotti”, ingot-shaped chocolates prepared with local chocolate and hazelnuts.

To accompany these delicious dishes, the production of Piedmontese wines cannot be overlooked.
Barolo and Barbaresco are famous red wines produced in the hills around Turin. These wines are appreciated for their complexity and structure.

A few steps from the Hotel you will find Ristorante Guarini, the temple of Piedmontese culinary excellence, and many other places where you can taste the best of the refined Piedmontese food and wine tradition.
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Turin in One Day: The Essential Tour for Those Short on Time

If you are in Turin for the first time and want to take a quick tour of its highlights in a single day, we have put together a mini-guide to the Piedmontese capital. Here is how not to miss the very best things to do, see, and eat in Turin in just a few hours.

From the Hotel to Piazza San Carlo: Starting from our hotel, you can stroll along the central Via Lagrange—Turin’s most beautiful and elegant promenade—before passing through Via Roma to reach Piazza San Carlo. We highly recommend stopping for a coffee at one of the square’s many historic cafés, an absolute must for anyone visiting the city. Inside, amidst antique mirrors, rich tapestries, wood panelling, and elegant porcelain dishes, you can taste traditional local delicacies and take a short trip back to the 19th century.

Piazza San Carlo: Once in the square, you can visit the twin Baroque churches of Santa Cristina and San Carlo Borromeo.

Piazza Castello: From Piazza San Carlo, one of the city’s most important squares, you head down toward Piazza Castello. This is Turin’s second-largest square, surrounded by the city’s famous and characteristic arcades (portici), which are now a favorite spot for shopping. The square is overlooked by some of the city’s most significant landmarks, including the Royal Palace (Palazzo Reale), the Teatro Regio, Palazzo Madama, and Palazzo Carignano (the seat of the first Italian Parliament). You will also find the Royal Church of San Lorenzo (Real Chiesa di San Lorenzo), which originally housed the Holy Shroud when it first arrived in Turin and currently displays an exact copy.

The Roman Quadrilateral & The “Bicerin”: From Piazza Castello, move toward Turin’s Cathedral (Duomo) into the famous Roman Quadrilateral (Quadrilatero Romano). This area boasts one of the highest concentrations of bars and restaurants in Turin, making it the perfect spot to stop for an aperitif or a delicious lunch.

A Must-Try Stop: While here, a visit to the historic café Al Bicerin is mandatory. This is the birthplace of the famous traditional drink made of coffee, chocolate, and milk cream, served in the small glass (bicerin) that gives the café its name. Countless famous figures have passed through its doors, including Alexandre Dumas, who regularly ordered it while spending entire afternoons in this historic café facing Piazza della Consolata.

Via Garibaldi to Piazza Vittorio: After a stroll through the narrow streets of the Roman Quadrilateral, head back toward the bustling Via Garibaldi, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, and walk down toward the immense and spectacular Piazza Vittorio.

The Murazzi and Riverfront Life: The square sits right on the banks of the Po River. Walking down toward the water brings you to the Murazzi area, famous for its vibrant nightlife, where you can treat yourself to a rich evening aperitif at one of the many riverside venues.

Heading Back: We recommend returning to the hotel via Corso Vittorio Emanuele, one of the grand, main arteries of the Savoy city.

Shopping in Turin

Via Lagrange is currently one of the most fashionable pedestrian areas in Turin.

This premier fashion street has captivated tourists, youth, and families alike, even surpassing the popularity of Piazza San Carlo and Via Roma. Along the paved street that winds past fascinating historic palaces, you will find iconic historic cafés and boutiques from top international fashion brands.

Via Lagrange is the true benchmark for Turin’s historic center: a place where Italian history, Savoy elegance, and the vibrant brilliance of a city converge, rediscovering and reinterpreting its capital-city heritage every day in a modern and trendy way.

Luci d’Artista (Artists’ Lights)
During the Christmas season, the heart of Via Lagrange beats with literature and light thanks to Luci d’Artista. This open-air contemporary art exhibition reinvents the city’s streets and squares, illuminating them with evocative, high-impact visual installations. Luci d’Artista is one of the key events that has projected a fresh, innovative, and unprecedented image of Turin to the world.

Esoteric Turin – The City of Magic and Mystery

Discovering a mystical and beautiful city
Turin has always been deeply tied to esoteric legends involving black and white magic, so much so that it is widely known as the “magical city.” In fact, it sits precisely at the intersection of two occult triangles: the White Magic triangle (alongside Prague and Lyon) and the Black Magic triangle (alongside London and San Francisco).

From the Royal Palace to Piazza Castello, passing through Piazza Statuto and reaching the Church of the SS. Annunziata or the Gran Madre… Explore the city and discover its most secret and hidden sides, intimately connected to the world of esotericism and Freemasonry.

Piazza Castello: The positive symbol of the city. According to esoteric experts, right beneath this square—where a complex network of underground tunnels winds—lie three Alchemical Caves, places considered to hold the highest concentration of cosmic energy. Piazza Castello is also home to the Royal Palace (Palazzo Reale), viewed as the absolute epicenter of positive energy.

Piazza Statuto: Conversely, this square is the true heart of negativity and dark magic in Turin. Back in the era of Emperor Augustus, it served as the execution site for those condemned to death. The square’s most famous and esoteric landmark is the Monument to the Frejus Tunnel Fallen, which contains numerous masonic symbols. Furthermore, the statue is topped by a five-pointed star, traditionally interpreted by occultists as a symbol of the devil.

The Rondò della Forca & Piazza Solferino: Featuring the Fountain of the Four Seasons (Fontana delle Quattro Stagioni), whose figures are considered by the Catholic Church to be inspired by masonic iconography. All of these sites are located in the western part of the city, toward the cardinal point associated with the setting sun and, consequently, the presence of the Evil One.

The Church of the Gran Madre: One of the most significant landmarks of white magic, where legend has it that the Holy Grail is buried. Two statues stand before the church: one features a triangle with the divine eye on its forehead, representing Religion; the other embodies Faith. It is said that the gaze of the first statue indicates the path to follow to find the Holy Grail, and many believe it points directly toward the Mole Antonelliana.

The Devil’s Door (Portone del Diavolo): Located at Palazzo Trucchi di Levaldigi, the ornate knocker on this door depicts the demon peering at whoever knocks. For this reason, it is famously known as the Devil’s Door—a place heavy with dark energy and wrapped in numerous chilling legends.

Via Lascaris: Where a bank stands today, a Masonic Lodge used to meet. At the base of this building, there are peculiar eye-shaped ventilation slits. Over the years, popular belief has labeled them “the eyes of the devil,” marking this spot as a prominent location for negative energetic charges.

Discovering Turin’s Hidden Treasures

Discovering a magical and beautiful city.
Contrary to what one might think, Turin is not just the capital of FIAT; it is also home to world-class museums and unparalleled monuments that are absolute must-sees. Let’s discover them together:

The Egyptian Museum

This is the world’s second-largest collection of Egyptian antiquities, surpassed only by the Cairo Museum. It houses artistic masterpieces as well as objects from daily life, including the cult of the dead from the 4th century BC to the 6th century AD.

Giovanni and Marella Agnelli Picture Gallery (Pinacoteca)

Futuristic in design, this gallery was created by Renzo Piano in 2002. Suspended above the Lingotto building, it houses 25 masterpieces donated to the city by “the Avvocato” Gianni Agnelli and his wife. The collection includes works by Canaletto, Tiepolo, Matisse, Renoir, Modigliani, Picasso, and a sculpture by Canova.

MAO — Museum of Oriental Art

A new cultural gem in Turin. Located inside the 18th-century Palazzo Mazzonis, it displays Asian art across five exhibition areas spanning from Japan to Tibet, via Cambodia and Burma, featuring Zen gardens, stupas, Buddha heads, and sculptures.

The Mole Antonelliana

Undoubtedly the symbol of the city, its construction was long and filled with obstacles. Standing at 163.35 meters, it is the tallest brick building in the world. Visitors can ride a panoramic glass elevator up to the small temple beneath the spire to enjoy a fantastic view. The Mole is currently home to the National Cinema Museum.

The Cathedral (Duomo) and the Holy Shroud

Located in the piazza of the same name, the Cathedral is dedicated to St. John the Baptist and is the city’s only Renaissance-style church. Inside, you can visit the Holy Shroud, the linen cloth bearing the image of a man who suffered violence and crucifixion. Tradition identifies this man as Jesus and the cloth as the one used to wrap Christ’s body in the tomb.

Valentino Castle

Located in the park of the same name on the banks of the Po River. Today, the castle serves as a branch of the Polytechnic University of Turin and houses the Faculty of Architecture. Its origins date back to the 1500s, and Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy purchased it in 1564. Over the centuries, it passed from king to king and was the site of battles, agreements, armistices, and alliances.

Royal Palace (Palazzo Reale)

The first and most important Savoy residence, it was the heart of Piedmontese politics for over three centuries. The palace is located right in the heart of the city, where the main streets converge: Via Po, Via Roma, Via Garibaldi, and Via Pietro Micca.

Basilica of Superga

Built by Victor Amadeus II of Savoy to fulfill a vow. Before facing the French army of Louis XIV, he climbed Superga hill and prayed to the statue of the Virgin Mary, vowing to build the church in exchange for a victory that would keep Turin and Piedmont independent. The Basilica attracts tourists and pilgrims from all over the world. The dome offers an unparalleled and unique panorama, and visitors can admire architectural and figurative art masterpieces created for the House of Savoy.

The Automobile Museum

A place of worship for car enthusiasts, the museum displays eighty of the most historic and famous car brands, including Bentley, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Opel, Iso Rivolta, Citroën, and many others.