From time to time, Rosco does some virtual work for a board in Australia. Last Monday was one such day. We arose early (7am, we’re not barbarians) to prepare for the 8am video meeting, which was 4pm Australian time.

The internet at our Airbnb is woeful (and I mean dial-up woeful).  Rosco banished me from the apartment in case my mere presence would suck some of the valuable upload / download speed for his meeting.

Rosco has some trepidation about me, alone, in an Italian city, but his need for wi-fi wins, so off I go, headphone buds in, music on, jaunty jubilation in every step.

At this point, I should point out I have a woeful sense of direction and next to no attention to detail when I’m out and about. My ability to navigate around a city, or even a place, is dreadful.  Rosco on the other hand is brilliant, with an in-built GPS that’s never wrong. So annoying! I’ll often comment about something, or some place, only to have Rosco dryly tell me “Kacka, we were here yesterday”. Ooops.   

But with my own personal navigator, there’s no need to pay attention to details of where we are, the street names, where the train station is, and other such mundane matters.  I wander around, head in the clouds, chatting, pointing out all the pretty dogs (bel cane), looking for river otters, trying to decide if a building is in the neo-classical, renaissance, or baroque style, day-dreaming and taking photos. I let Rosco lead the way, and I follow behind him like a little lamb.  No point having a dog and then barking yourself is there?

The other day I got lost in Turin’s amazing car museum, which is pretty hard to do, apparently.  The Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile is like a big, multi-level Ikea store, where you can only go in one direction.  But somehow, I couldn’t get out of one of the rooms (it was a wonderful room) and I had to backtrack all the way to the entrance foyer.

‘Why didn’t you follow the green arrows on the ground?’ asks Rosco, once he’s rescued me.  Me: there’s arrows?  Mamma mia! and eye rolling!!

Rosco’s primary worry about me, is about being run over by a fast-moving Italian car (it’s nearly happened, many times). Every approach to a road crossing includes him firmly taking my hand and pulling me to a position where crossing the road does not involve a traffic accident with yours truly in the leading role. 

In my defence, the traffic is coming from the ‘wrong’ direction, and whilst I LOOK TO THE RIGHT, LOOK TO THE LEFT, AND LOOK TO THE RIGHT AGAIN, just like Hector the road safety cat taught me (showing my age here), it’s all wrong in Europe, and I’ve nearly been skedaddled numerous times.

Plus, there are zebra crossings, and whilst Rosco strides out confidently into the incoming traffic (“they have to stop Kacka, it’s a road rule”, he says) I don’t trust the Italian drivers, so I hesitate, and the moment is gone, and I’m stranded by the kerbside, with Rosco calling to me impatiently from the opposite side of the road. Mamma mia!

But I remain rooted in fear, not brave enough to step into the fast-moving traffic.  Watch the video below (skip to 0.55 if you like) and my every Italian pedestrian-crossing fear is played out in a hilarious manner. Rosco tells me “They’re better than they used to be”.  I don’t believe him for a minute. Hence, every road crossing involves firm handholding, the occasional dislocated shoulder (mine), matrimonial harmony, and not a single death so far. Winning. 

So, back to Rosco’s on-line meeting, I have three hours of unsupervised time to wander around Turino. The prospect swims before my eyes like a shimmering mirage. 

Before I go on however, it would be remiss not to mention our ‘step-count’ target of 15,000+ steps per day, because that plays a major role in my decision on what to do in my three hours of freedom.

Rosco and I, in our recently acquired, nomadic carefree life, do almost everything together. Despite walking to the exact same places and taking the exact same routes, together, at the same time, his step count is always higher than mine. A.L.W.A.Y.S. Significantly higher, by at least 2,000 steps a day.  It’s infuriating. 

Not being at all competitive *collective eye roll* I decide that during Rosco’s morning meeting, I shall hike up to the Superga, a hill upon which sits the amazing Basilica di Superga. This little hike should get me an extra 13,000 to 15,000 steps, thus ‘catching up’ to Rosco’s tally.

The Superga and its Basilica, are prominent features of Turino’s landscape, visible from most parts of the city. The top of Superga is 672m high (in context, Brisbane’s Mt Coot-tha, is 287m high) and the basilica the sits upon its crest is beautiful, and yellow, my favourite old-building colour. 

The Basilica is also prominent in Italian hearts.  It’s the scene of the 1949 air disaster, when in thick fog, the plane carrying the entire Torino football team, crashed into the embankment at the back of the Basilica, killing all 31 passengers and crew.  On the day of the funeral, half a million people took to the streets of Turin to give their final farewells.

There’s now a shrine to the footballers against the wall at the rear of the basilica, complete with images of the players hung on banners and a large metal bull (the talisman of the team). Fans from around the world come to pay their respects, leaving behind their own team pennants, scarves or club stickers.

Every year on the anniversary of the plane crash (4 May), fans dressed in the maroon colours of the Torino football team, make the pilgrimage to the basilica. There, the names of those who died that day are read out. The Torino football team are widely believed to be the best team in Italian football history. They won five straight Italian league championships and supplied the Italian national team with ten players of its starting eleven.

As evidenced by the photos above, I managed to hike up to the Basilica. It took me 3.5 hours, which included a wrong turn, and some back-tracking. The last 2km or so was very steep, involving frequent stops to catch my breath.  During one break, I took a screenshot and sent it to my sisters – Sally, Jo and Tim :). 6.2km, 40 floors ….. and I still had another kilometre to go!

I achieved 36,479 steps that day, doubling Rosco’s tally!  Even though I got a blister, and my legs throbbed all day, it was totally worth it. Mamma mia!

#ILoveItaly #Italy #Turino #Lost #ZebraCrossings #Basilica #Superga #Hike #SlowTravel #Nomads