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Turin Nightlife
and Entertainment (Back to
Turin main information page)
Turin's nightlife is more sedate than that of, say, Milan, but
there is a reasonably varied mix of clubs and bars here, with
the most lively spots down on the embankment bordered by the
Parco del Valentino, known locally as the Murazzi - the best
advice is just to wander down there and see what takes your
fancy. Problems with drugs and theft have given the place a bit
of a reputation and there's often quite a heavy police/carabinieri
presence - so watch your wallet and take it easy. The area is
especially popular on summer weekends when a big crowd spills
out of the bars and onto the riverfront jetties. For a more
tranquil alternative try the medieval area around Piazza
Emanuele Filiberto and Via Santa Chiara.
Getting down to the business of drinking , you'll find that
birrerias, extremely popular in the 1980s, have been
supplemented by new vinerias - wine bars - where you can also
order up a substantial snack (known locally as a marenda sinoira
). Note that some clubs require membership cards, which cost
between L12,000/?6.20 and L15,000/?7.75, but your first drink is
usually included in this. After that, although drink prices can
be inflated, the measures are relatively generous - bar staff
usually keep pouring until they think it looks big enough (often
until it's about the equivalent of a triple).
The city has an impressive agenda of live music in July and
September, with many well-publicized open-air performances, some
of them free. The season kicks off with jazz in the second week
of July courtesy of the JVC Jazz Festival (tel 011.561.3926) at
the Piazzetta and Giardini Reale, which attracts international
names such as Tito Puente and Jo? Gilberto. For rock fans, the
Pellerossa Festival (tel 011.434.3333) in the third and fourth
weeks of July offers an eclectic mix of Italian and foreign
bands - previous headliners have included Bob Dylan and Sonic
Youth - with affordable tickets. However, the festival takes
place outside town at the Certosa Reale and the Parco dalla
Chiesa, and you'll need a car to get there. For most of
September a major festival called, appropriately enough,
Settembre Musica mixes jazz , world music , classical music and
performance art (tel 011.442.4777) at various venues around
town. Check the Web site www.comune.torino.it and links for
listings.
Turin is also the home of the prestigious RAI National Symphony
Orchestra , which performs in, among other places, the Lingotto
centre, the former Fiat factory converted to a conference centre
and performance space by architect Renzo Piano in 1995. Turin's
opera house, the Teatro Regio (tel 011.881.5241), is one of the
best in the country and is recognizable from its pod-like
Seventies architecture.
The city's Il Teatro Stabile (tel 011.517.6246), one of Italy's
principal publicly funded theatre companies, is acclaimed for
its productions of major works by nineteenth- and
twentieth-century European writers; they normally perform at the
Casignano Theatre on Piazza Carignano. For new writers and
experimental work, look out for shows by the Gruppo della Rocca,
the Teatro dell'Angolo, the Teatro Juvarra and the Laboratorio
Teatro Settimo. There are also four international film festivals
held in Turin each year, among them a women's film festival in
March and a "cinema of homosexual themes" in April; contact the
tourist office for details.
For what's on listings , opening hours and so on, check the
pages of the Turin daily, La Stampa , particularly its Tuesday
and Friday supplements, or the weekly News Spettacolo . There's
also a free monthly bilingual publication available in hotels
and bars, Un Ospite a/A guest in Torino , which has a list of
events and exhibitions as well as suggestions for itineraries;
the Web site address is www.ospite.it . Failing that you can get
information on events, exhibitions, festivals and the like from
either the Informacitt?office, on Piazza Palazzo di Citt?(Mon-Fri
8.30am-4pm; tel 011.442.3602), or the Vetrina per Torino office,
Piazza San Carlo 159 (Mon 3-7pm, Tues-Sat 9am-1pm; tel
011.442.4740); the latter also sells tickets for most events.
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