It’s Christmas day in Torino, Italy. Nothing is open, not even the little coffee shop where we get a shot of caffeine every morning. Luckily, the woman we are renting the apartment from has made us breakfast. Juice, pastry, fruit, espresso. We load up because it could be a while before we have any more sustenance.
Strolling around town, we window shop at all the closed stores, the proprietors and clerks at home enjoying Christmas morning with their families, and undoubtedly, a glass of prosecco.
After attending Christmas Mass at Santuario della Consolata (I make it through about half the service), we walk a mile to the Museo Nazionale del Cinema (National Film Museum). It’s supposedly closed, but we see people milling around and discover it will open at 11am. Perfect. We have to leave tomorrow so this is our last chance to see it. Even better, Eataly, the famous foodie playground that now has locations in the U.S., has a restaurant in the museum.
After being seated, the waiter brings us two glasses of prosecco and some tiny Italian pastries. Merry Christmas! We order wine and pasta and more dessert and have a glorious time savoring a top-flight meal. Not bad considering we were expecting to eat chips out of a vending machine all day.
Brent Petersen is the Editor-in-Chief of Destination Eat Drink. He currently resides in Setubal, Portugal. Brent has written the novel “Truffle Hunt” (Eckhartz Press) and the short story collection “That Bird.” He’s also written dozens of foodie travel guides to cities around the world on Destination Eat Drink, including in-depth eating and drinking guides to Lisbon, Porto, Sintra, Monsaraz, and Evora in Portugal. Brent’s podcast, also called Destination Eat Drink, is available on all major podcasting platforms and is distributed by the Radio Misfits Podcast Network.
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