The Home For Solid Chocolate

Turin stands at the foot of the Alps, commanding rail and road routes between Italy and France. Turin is Italy's most important industrial centre. It is well-known as the home of the Shroud of Turin, one of Italy's biggest football clubs Juventus FC, headquarters of Fiat automobile manufacturer and host of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The Christmas Market throughout the month of December, you will find many original gift ideas here, including decorations for the Christmas tree and the home, nativity scenes, clay sculptures floral compositions, glassware, wood carvings, embroidered fabrics, items in wool and felt, candles and many more handmade creations. At many of the stalls you can sample locally made sweets or enjoy one of the hot drinks that warm up the cold days before Christmas.

This is a fun city that loves to show its guests a good time. Music, dance, performance and cinema are part of the character and tradition of Turin and her people, who are proud to show what they can do and what they have to offer. What better way to find out than by experiencing the city nightlife.

Turin has classical music, theatre and opera for those with more refined tastes, but it also shows, cabaret, literary cafes, street festivals, dance, all night non-stop events that animate the city streets until dawn. With more than 30 cinemas and hi-tech multiplexes in Turin and the surrounding area, premiere screenings and experimental cinema play a leading role in the citys night life.

Turin has more than 40 museums, and it will introduce you to many amazing worlds. While its buildings each tell a significant part of the citys history. In fact, many great architects, city planners and landscapers have played a significant role in Turin development over the centuries and even today, the most important names in architecture are called upon to redesign the city and plan alterations.

Turin is the birth place of solid chocolate. It was in Turin that, at the end of the 18th century, Mr Doret invented a revolutionary machine that could make solid chocolate. Turin chocolate firms produce a typical chocolate, called Gianduiotto, named after Gianduja, a local Commedia dell'arte mask, plus many other kinds of chocolate. Every year the town organizes cioccolaTO', a two-week chocolate festival run with the main Piedmontese chocolate producers, such as Venchi and others, as well as some big international companies, such as Lindt & Sprungli.