Turin – Sassi Tramway And Superga Basilica

Today, after contemplating the weather for tomorrow and whether or not it would be any better in the next few days, Patti and I decided to take a bus and the tramway to Basilica Superga. She astutely determined we had to take the 61 Bus from Vittorio Veneto over to Sassi. So around ten after eleven in the morning we made tracks for the local fermata.

The Sassi-Superga Tramway

In Sassi we purchased tickets for the cogged railway (a.k.a. rack railroad or tramway) Superga Tramway to the Basilica Superga. The tramway runs every hour on the hour from Sassi to Superga and subsequently on the half-hour on return. Tickets are purchased at the base of the railway from a vending machine, and yes the machine has an english option and roundtrip tickets cost 6 euros.

The ride is awesome and the gradient is pretty steep even though they use regular rail cars, unlike the ones that are built at an angle, like on funicular railcars we have been on.

We enjoyed the ride up and the beautiful Spring weather, temperature in the mid 60’s and the cool mountain air, yummm.

After disembarking the tramway it was time for a quick break right at the station. A quick salami and cheese panini and Campari Spritz to get re-energized. After the customary 15 minute wait after ordering at the bar we were able to eat. One has to remind oneself to slow down when traveling in Italy, time is not a constant on all parts of the Earth.

Basilica Superga

The basilica it situated on top of the Superga hill which is some 2200 feet above the city and therefore makes it a very prominent point of interest when looking to the north from the city.

After a short ten minute walk up a fairly steep hill you climb a short set of stairs and then see the Basilica all of a sudden. On a fairly clear day its structure makes it stick out of the sky.

Unfortunately, this May the Basilica was closed for renovations, so we were not able to see the actual interior. Even without a close inspection of the structure one can easily see that no one can argue with this, since there are clearly cracks and other obvious things that need repair. That required us to contribute somehow, so we decided we must visit the cupola since it was still open, regardless of cost.

After the purchase of our tickets, we had to climb the 131 steps to the cupola and see the oversight of Turin.

The oversight is pretty breathtaking, unfortunately in between rainy days, we were only able to get a semi-clear view of the mountains surrounding Turin.

The River Po can be seen above at the foot of the photograph. This is the river that cuts through Turin and has its origins in the Italian Alps.

One can actually get an almost 360 degree view of the surrounding area from the Basilica’s vantage point.

And finally a bit to the South.

The rooftop fully surveyed we also enjoyed our cramped but slow descent down the staircase to our exit.

After our little climb we were still a bit hungry, the panini having been made with a tortilla and not the traditional focaccia left our stomachs a bit wanting; we therefore decided to visit the Artis Opera at Superga Basilica and eat something else.

Though the room we had lunch in was very small with four tables in all; there were of course other rooms.  It was very comfortable and the waiter was very attentive. I had a Insalata Mista and Patti had the Risotto Piemontese.

Our return trip and ride down was just as enjoyable as the ride up.  Springtime in Piemonte I must say is just GREAT!