Wandering the Piedmont and Alpine towns of Italy

The regional train from Bologna to Turin (Torino) takes about 4.5 hours. About an hour before reaching Turin, the Alps become visible in the distance. The outskirts of the city reveal its recent industrial history (Turin is home to Fiat, Nutella, among other things). But the center of town has all the charm of a large, "European" city with a wealth of history and culture defining and shaping its uniqueness.
We "discovered" Turin one afternoon as we looked through guide books of Italy, trying to determine our weekend destination. Capri.. Elba... Tuscany? Then our eyes fell upon the Lonely Planet page called "off the beaten path." Turin, it suggested, was - for better or worse - still largely ignored by the touring public and should not be overlooked. Generous aperitivi offerings, we read, uncrowded tourist attractions (the Shroud of Turin), lovely views of the Alps. It sounded intriguing so we booked a hostel.

Day one of our weekend was dedicated to walking the city. Discoveries - not listed in tour books - abounded: a 2nd century AD Roman theater at the foot of the famous Duomo, modern art hanging on the sides of buildings and featured in squares, royal guards in uniform (costume-like uniform), lovely little churches with candle-lit Friday services sung in Latin. And, as touted by Lonely Planet, the aperitivi (Italy's version of tapas) were incredibly generous - overwhelmingly so. But at the end of every westward facing street loomed the snow-capped Alps.

As much as we loved Turin, the suggestion of mountains posed such an enticement that we made plans to leave the next day. See full photo album of Torino.

When we said "we want to hike" in unison, the woman in the train station's tourist office - who likened the ability of my friend and I to speak in perfect unison about our wishes for the weekend to the nephews of Donald Duck - randomly suggested Oulx. Oulx? We'd never heard of it. Sounded fun... We took the print out of B&Bs and made reservations at the first one we called.

The magic that Oulx - and the town Sauze d'Oulx, just above - nearly defies description. We took the regional train west into the mountains. The trip took about an hour and half. The higher we climbed, the more astounding the landscape. Our B&B, run by a young Italian couple, was simply a condo, which we had to ourselves, located near the center of town. A bus took us up higher into the mountains where it was suggested we look for hiking trails. The town we ended up in, Sauze, was where - we discovered that day - most of the Olympic 2006 Winter Games took place.
Being the only tourists in town, we enjoyed the full attentions and hospitality of the (mostly) British expats who worked there. The hike we did took us nearly to the top of Triplex, a mountain in the Via Lattea (Milky Way), which is renowned for its fantastic ski trails. The day ended with a large mug of hot chocolate by a fire and later a dinner at The Falcon - an excellent restaurant run by an English couple who transplanted to Sauze a couple decades ago. See full photo album of the Alpine towns.

Following the "unbeaten" paths (finding off-season tourist destinations) in Italy is the way to go. My friend and I learned, in the mountains, what it was like to truly have our breath taken away.