Events For Piedmont - Piemonte
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	'INSIDER TIPS'
	Café Society Turin café society is alive and flourishing.  Whether it's the regal, chandeliered charm of the historic Caffè Torino or the Caffè San Carlo - a famous hang-out of the philosopher-poet Nietzsche - you'll always be assured of drinking good coffee in Turin. And, for lovers of chocolate, this is the Italian capital where it was first popularised in 1678.  Slow Food The Slow Food Movement was born in Piemonte.  The manifesto urges us to 'rediscover the flavours and savours of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of fast food'.  Sample the delights at the Salone del Gusto, held every other year in October at Turin's Lingotto complex. The next one will be held in 2010. http://www.salonedelgusto.it/ Discount Card The Torino+Piemonte Card gives free entry to more than 150 museums, monuments, exhibitions, fortresses, castles and Royal Residences in Torino and Piemonte, including: Free travel on all public transport (except subway) and free travel and access on the TurismoBus Torino, panoramic lift in the Mole Antonelliana, Sassi - Superga rack tramway, boats on the river Po). Special rates on car rental in association with Avis Autonoleggio and Hertz. Rebates at ski resorts on ski lifts & ski lessons and on sport equipments rental. Reductions on guided tours, ChocoPass, theatre, concerts and opera tickets, bicycle hire and much more! Costs:  : € 18,00 (2 days)  € 20,00 (3 days) € 30,00 (5 days) € 35,00 (7 days). Valid one adult +one child under 12. http://www.turismotorino.org/

Surrounded on three sides by the Alps and sharing borders with France and Italy, Piedmont or Piemonte, takes its name from the Italian 'foot in the mountains'.  But there are also sparkling lakes, lands of plenty producing some of the country's top gastronomic delicacies and wines and a jewel of a capital that is often overlooked, but is fit for royalty.

Dramatically set against the amphitheatre of the Alps, Turin (Torino) is the capital of Piedmont and economic powerhouse of the north. Famous as the home of Fiat, it is also an understated, graceful city with splendid museums and beautiful Baroque architecture. And, as the former seat of the Royal House of Savoy, it has stately buildings, elegant boulevards, palaces and piazze built for kings and queens.

As well as boasting more than 40 museums, it is a design and contemporary art capital of Italy. And, for a slice of the dolce vita, Turin is a gourmet paradise and birthplace of the Italian cinema, long before lights first flickered in Rome's Cinecittà studios. Soaring above the rooftops is the city's icon - the spire of the Mole Antonelliana, home to the fascinating National Museum of Cinema. The city hosts the annual International Torino Film Festival - Italy's largest film festival after Venice.

Although many people associate Italy's lake district with Lombardy or the Veneto, Piedmont's share is just as beautiful. Small, but approaching perfection, Lake Orta is a shimmering, sleeping beauty with probably the most picturesque medieval village of all the Italian lakes, Orta San Giulio, at its heart. From here you cross to the tiny island, Isola di San Giulio, once the mythical domain of dragons and hideous reptiles, but now an idyll of calm set in the midst of the blue lake. Lake-lappers will also love the western half of Lake Maggiore, basking in the Piemonte region, where Stresa, surrounded by elegant villas and beautiful gardens, is the jumping-off point for the bewitching Borromean Islands.

Although Piemonte has no coastline, it is only a few kilometres from the Mediterranean and Liguria. Wedged between the Alps and Ligurian Sea are the rolling hills of Le Langhe and Il Monferrato - home of some of Italy's finest wines and precious truffles, the 'white gold' of Italy, from Alba. Nearby, Barolo, is speckled with medieval fortresses and cloaked with vineyards that produce the 'king' of Italian red wines. Neighbouring Asti is another wine town famous for its sparkling whites as well as all the other wines and aperitivi, for which this region is so famous.

You may also want to track down a bargain or two at factory outlets such as Alessi (just outside Omegna) which has some of the world's funkiest household designs, including the original Alessi coffee pot. Or Biella, known as 'Textile' or 'Cashmere Valley', the stomping ground of designer gurus and their descendants such as Ermenegildo Zegna who founded a mill here in 1910, as well as many other outlets with fabulous designer clothes and accessories at bargain prices.

Throughout the region, spectacular valleys studded with fortresses, mountain villages and pilgrimage sites give way to the majesty of the Alps. This is perfect hiking and climbing territory, including relatively easy day walks and cycling around Monte Rosa, the Alps' second highest mountain after Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) at 3,500 metres (11,500 ft). During the winter months Monterosa Ski, along with the resorts of the Via Lattea (Milky Way), become a snowy paradise. In fact, Sestriere was the first purpose-built resort in the Alps, created by the late Fiat boss, Giovanni Agnelli, in the 1930s.