Whilst the main city centre of Turin is mostly completely flat, the city is nearly surrounded by different hills and mountains. This past saturday, during a very hot day, I decided I wanted to hike to the top of one of the hills and see just what was up there, as well as what I’d find along the way. Here’s the story!

The Long Winding Road

I properly began my journey on the South-Eastern side of the Po after having crossed Ponte Isabella. From here I crossed the road and headed left (North) until I came to a large gate, this is the entrance to Parco Giacomo Leopardi. This park consists of a steep winding path up the hill I aim to climb today. As you climb there are signs telling you about the local wildlife, as well as about any nearby landmarks.

About halfway through il parco, I came across a small brick stable. At least that’s what I believe it to be. It’s completely open, no gates or doors, and has almost been consumed by nature and yet here it stands. I couldn’t find any signs nearby, so I’ll leave a picture of it here, if anyone has any idea what it could be be sure to let me know! For now it served as a great shelter from the sun for my lunch break 🙂

Whilst I rested here, I did some research into the park I was in and found out something interesting. Parco Giacomo Leopardi makes up one of several parks forming what’s known as the Green Ring of Turin (Anello Verde di Torino), a long circular hike on the Po’s south side. If I ever come back to Turin I would love to do the whole thing in a day (only 34 km!) but for now I think I will stick to the one I’ve got. Here’s the link to a site describing the ring for anyone interested: Anello Verde.

Eventually I made it out of the park to a small footpath heading upwards, and momentarily became confused as to what country I was hiking in. Lining the path here for a few hundred meters were rows and rows of bamboo! Whilst bamboo has now become a worldwide plant I think the photograph I took will grant me justice as to why I suddnely thought I’d been transported to a Japanese garden of some description. Simply wonderful!

I left the bamboo forest behind, and crossed the road seperating my previous park from my next: Parco di San Vito. I’ve had a few local friends say that the view from here is quite impressive and not too long of hike up. And indeed the view doesn’t disappoint!

I set my bag down below a tree and cosied myself up amongst the roots. The sky was completely clouded over but that didn’t stop me from gazing over the city sprawled out before me…

I sat here for a while, and might haved dozed off a little. Despite the clouds over the city the sun was shinning on the field in which I found myself and I was completely relaxed. I felt this situation warranted some good pictures, so enjoy the photograph and the photographer.

Eventually, once I was feeling significantly sunned, I continued on my hike out the top of the park. As I walked along the road, I noticed some plants growing at the side, finally a new plant to add to my collection…

Potentilla Indica – False Strawberry

I suppose this is one of those plants for whom the name doesn’t need much of an explanation. The False Strawberry gets it’s name due to the incredible similarity in appearance to strawberries! The flower is actually much closer to the Rose by genetics however in most parts of the world the plant is seen as a weed and an invasive species.

The berries are edible, but apparently don’t taste quite as nice as regular strawberries. Regardless they’ve been used throughout history for their medicinal properties so even though they are pretending to be something else, they’re still massively succeeding at being themselves!

The Woods

The next part of my journey will take place completely under the shelter of trees, some of my favourite things in the world! Welcome to le Colline del Po (the Hills of the Po)!

This winding trail should take me the rest of the way up the hill, but it’s also used as a cycle trail so I must make sure to be on my guard!

I paused my audiobook once I entered the forest. I’ve often found the sound of the wind in the trees and the birds chirping to be one of the best things to listen to despite how interesting my latest story is becoming. Walking along in the peace and the quiet gave me time to reflect, not just on my journey that day but on my adventure here in Italy as a whole.

Whilst yes, what I’m doing here is incredible, it can’t be understated how absolutely insane it was that I did any of this. I moved thousands of kilometres away from my nearest friend, to a country where I don’t speak the language that has very different customs to what I’m used to back home. Whilst I’ve had the best time here and learnt so much, I’ve also had my fair share of sadness too.

It’s an oddly lonely experience, I meet dozens of people everyday but there’s a huge language barrier between me and them. The work I have to do with my project is incredibly confusing and balancing all of that with my feelings is sometimes asking an impossible task. Of course I am okay, but if my posts of my adventures are in any way inspiring you to do something similar, I think it’s a realy important thing to keep in mind. Not every day is going to be amazing, and that’s okay!

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As I rounded one of the corners, I saw a large signpost in the distance. Once I got closer I saw that it was an information sheet about something in the area, something called the Cascina Bert (The Bert Farmhouse). I took a picture of the sign as you can see below and have been working on translating it, so I’ll put some quotes here too!

Bert Tower was known for a long time as the ‘Sijan Tower’…

…the Bert family lived here until 1869.

Curiously: The Bert family’s coat of arms depicted a magpie, which in the Piemontese dialect is called a Berta.

From here the path branched off, one following the Anello Verde, and another heading towards the top of the hill. My journey was almost over, but there was still a few new plants to see before I made it.

Equisetum Telmateia – Great Horsetail

This plant looks like a large bristle brush, especially because of the shocking symmetry that each of the different stems have. This plant is found across Europe so it’s pretty likely that we have them back home in the UK, although I don’t recall ever seeing them before.

Often found in open woodlands, the plants tend to grow in large colonies sometimes numbering in the hundreds of individual plants! However, in some locations it is classed as an endangered plant and is considered quite the nice rarity to come across on any hike.

The Top

Following another short path upwards, I eventually entered a large open field. From here I could tell that I had reached the peak of the hill I intended to climb. There were many a picnicker here so I was sure to be friendly to anyone I met, my final desitnation was the large radio tower found at the very tip of the hill.

This tower is visible from quite far away, including my bedroom! That’s what inspired me to take this journey in the first place and I think that’s the best way to undergo any adventure. See something cool in the distance and think I wonder if I can get to that. Below I’ve got a couple pictures of the tower itself proving my completed journey. Now I could rest in the shadow of the tower before my long journey home.

This isn’t the tallest hill in the area, in fact it’s not even close. In the distance I could see something interesting though, too far for me to travel to today but I know that if I’m ever back in the area I will be checking it out. That I believe is the Faro del Vittoria (Victoria Lighthouse), a large statue found at the peak of one of the tallest hills in the region. An adventure for future Cassie for sure!

Once I felt rested enough, I followed my journey back towards the city of Turin, back home!

Thanks for joining me once again on my adventure, I hope you found it interesting seeing a different side to Turin! I always love going for hikes so my hope is always that wherever I end up there’s plenty of nice places to walk nearby.

Just one foot in front of the other!

Cassie 🙂