Hiking in Turin
Usually when visiting one of Italy’s best kept secret cities, you would think that there wouldn’t be much to do for the outdoors enthusiast. But nothing could be further from the truth. Turin has a wealth of parks sprinkled throughout the city. Most are for casual pleasure, walking the dog, strolling the baby carriage or just a good jog.
However, just a short mile and a quarter walk from our apartment in Turin is the entrance to Giacomo Leopardi Park. Here one can find a real hiking adventure, if you are so inclined.
Giacomo Leopardi Park
Once accessible via car, it is now only open to the public via the pedestrian access and can be entered by casual walkers, hikers and any cyclists willing to dare its steep slopes.
The park still maintains a roadway that may be walked, but for the more adventurous, there are several hiking trails that take a more direct route upwards.
Our initial thoughts were to make the entire hike up to Mount Eremo, visiting the Parco di San Vito along the way. However, Alltrails Pro, the portable phone application we use, gives only one value, instead of a range, for the length of time it might take you to reach your goal, which of course may not fit into your body’s aerobic or fitness calculus. So you may want to add additional time to any of the ‘moderated accepted hikes’, in order to account for any stops, water or photography breaks.
The link between this park and the next one, Parco di San Vito, entails some roads and real hiking.
San Vito Park
You will find the Parco di San Vito about a third of the way up to the Colle della Maddalena, or Mount Maddalena.
One of the amazing things about Turin, and Italy in general, is there willingness to not poison everything. Unlike America, they do not run out and get a can of weed killer or herbicide when something springs up that does not look like a sanctioned type of grass. Hence, the fields at the park actually have many types of wild flowers, bees and crickets! So do not expect dead silence when hiking here, like you would in most city parks in America.
After this park, we hiked a bit further up the mountain towards a small picnic area located on the map. Our plans after two hours of hiking modified somewhat, since at this point we were only halfway to our original destination.
The trails up through this stretch of woods were a bit more undeveloped and natural, the floor of the woods covered with different flowers.
The hike through the woods continued for about another three quarters of a mile or so, and we were thinking of modifying our plans for the day.
Picnic Area Bert
After coming off the trail and turning around a bit on Quadriva Raby, you may head back and get back on the trail from Cascina Natura Pro Natura. A small picnic area on the side of the hill with a small field, some facilities if you are inclined and a picnic bench for lunch, or just a drink of water and a cliff bar.
The trail head down is located just to the left of that last picnic bench above. A marker can be found on the tree. However, if you miss this, there are signs and a map by the parking lot and buildings that are over to the right.
Bird Song and Fifteen Seconds of Calm
This is actually an amazing hike and you will find yourself stopping frequently just to enjoy the quiet and being out of the city for some respite.
Upon returning to Turin after about three and a half hours of hiking bliss, we took some shortcuts and discovered to what extreme Turin is willing to let some things go natural. Just goes to show, without humans around just how fast nature is willing to reassert itself.