# Turin recommendations

This is what I tell friends who visit me in Turin, Italy, where I live.

## Eat

### Best breakfast

**Piscitella**: A pastry shop run by a family from Campania, known for its fried croissants. My favorite is the “Bigusto”, half cream and half chocolate.

### Best focaccia

**Roberta**: A focacceria on Via San Tommaso, best reached at lunchtime before the trays sell out.

### Best pizza

**Soup&Go**: They also do great soups, but the pizza is surprisingly good, my favorite in Turin! I go for the “nduja e burrata” one.

**Crocca**: Thin and crispy, lighter than normal pizza, but not traditional.

### Best simple restaurant

**Sciamadda**: Ligurian cooking in the city centre, famous for its fried fish and pesto ravioli.

### Best 2-course restaurant

**Ballatoio**: A small bistrot near the Egyptian Museum with a seasonal Piedmontese menu. Cozy and great wine.

### Best 3-course restaurant

**Plin e Tajarin**: A small Piedmontese restaurant known for its handmade plin and tajarin pasta. I recommend the degustation menu. Booking is mandatory.

### Best elegant restaurant

**Scannabue**: Traditional Piedmontese cooking by a Japanese chef. Everything is delicious.

## Ice cream, coffee, and drinks

### Best ice cream

**La Romana**: Artisanal gelato with flavors of the month, with several shops around the city.

**Biraghi**: They only have one flavor, milk, but it feels like it came straight from the cow.

### Best coffee (specialty)

**Orso**: One of the first specialty coffee shops in Turin, the best flat white in town.

### Best coffee (relax)

**Pepe**: Where I go to read in peace during the good season, in the quietest square in Turin, full of trees.

### Best aperitivo (meat and cheese)

**Il Barotto**: Boards of Piedmontese and Aosta Valley cured meats and mountain cheeses, and great wine.

### Best sunset drinks

**Piazza Vittorio**: Turin's big riverside square, full of outdoor tables at aperitivo hour.

## Outdoors

### Best sunset

**Superga**: The hilltop basilica above the city, with views over Turin and the Alps: you need a car.

**Monte dei Cappuccini**: A small hill across the river from the centre, with a view over the whole city.

### Best park

**Parco del Valentino**: Head for the rock garden (giardino roccioso), a landscaped corner of the park along the Po.