In the northwest corner of Italy, not far from both Switzerland and France, there's this town, well really she's more of a city.
Located on the Po River, this place is known for a few things:
the headquarters of FIAT is there (along with Lancia and Alfa Romeo),
they have a famous "shroud" there,
the place is known as the "Cradle of Italian Liberty" because she's produced many people who contributed to the Unification of Italy.
Oh, and not too long ago they hosted the Winter Olympics there.
Yes, I'm talking about Turin - "Torino" to the non-Anglo.
Last month, Tamás Fehér was in Torino, visiting a famous place, with some famous things, and he happened upon some familiar crescent-shaped boats along the perimeter of a waterway.
He wrote:
There is a 50x200 meter large "fish pool" in the garden of the Venaria, which has recently been used to offer 15 minute Venetian-style gondola rides to the visitors. According to the Venaria's website the service was to commence on 30th March, but the boats were still out of the water on 1st of April, as seen in the attached pictures. A garden ward said there are some problems with the natural water supply, that comes from streams in the nearby alpine mountains.
Looking at the boats, and considering the proximity to La Serenissima, I'm betting that these are the real deal, and they appear to be in pretty good condition.
Those striped poles are mighty impressive too.
By now these beauties are probably back on the water and cruising.If they're not, I'll bet the guys who row them are anxious to get them launched - I know I would be.
1 comment:
Very pretty boats, and very nice pictures too, Greg.
With views like that I can understand why you feel tempted to row those gondolas
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