From chocolates to breadsticks, from the celebrated pasta dishes to the venerated high-quality "DOC" wines that are exported throughout the world: Turin is a city of gourmets. It is surely no secret that Turin is one of the world's undisputed capital when it comes to the pleasure of the table. The city has always boasted a food and wine tradition that has earned it a world-wide reputation based on both the excellence of its often unique ingredients, like its truffles, and the skills (almost an art) of its chefs, its pastry cooks and its chocolate-makers. A triumph of quality that has not been diminished by the move into industrial production. The chocolate lover can certainly feel completely at home in Turin. here after all is where chocolate-making began, under a royal decree issued in 1678 which authorised its production, much of it for export.

The "gianduiotto", the city's most celebrated chocolate sweet, made of a coca-hazelnut paste, dates back to the 19th century. Since then an infinite assortment of soft-centred, liqueur-flavoured, praline-enhanced varieties have become equally traditional and continue to give the addict an agonising choice.

In Turin, chocolate is also for drinking, and in more ways than one. Besides a cup of hot chocolate (with or without whipped cream) that is so deliciously reviving on a winter afternoon, there is also the "bicerin", a blend of chocolate, coffe and milk, that was already fashionable in the 18th century, and the more modern "marocchino", a cappuccino in a small cup with a milky froth and a final flourish of chocolate on top.

Another world famous delicacy was invented by Turin's pastry cooks: the "Zabaglione" -in local dialect "sambajoun" - a cream of egg yolk, sugar and marsala that takes its name from a Spanish friar San Pasquale Bayon, an illustrious cook and the parish priest of Turin's San Tommaso church in the 16th century. Zabaglione is also used to fill another local delicacy, the "bignole" (iced choux pastries), a special triumph of Turin's pastry making, characterised by their "mignon"(tiny) form and by the fantasy of an almost infinite variety of fillings. Toffees, boiled sweets, fruit-flavoured jellies and nougats complete a production that transforms any sojourn spent in Turin into a real temptation: a gourmets paradise.

Wine, the pride of the entire Region, is not a subject that can be covered in a few lines. Confining ourselves to the true peaks of excellence, and strting with pre-lunch drinks, it must be remembered that Turin is the vermouth capital of the world. The aperitif, invented in 1786 by Antonio Benedetto Carpano, was the result of steeping thirteen ingredients in wine. The most traditional version is "Punt e Més" wich means "point and a half" in Piedmontese dialect, one part bitter to half a part sweet. At the dinner Table there are wines to enchant the most refined of palates. Barolo and Barbaresco are known to wine lovers everywhere, belonging as they do to the exclusive ranks of wines with an international reputation. In recent years however, a new generation of wine growers has devoted passionate attention to the selection and improvement of various grapewines, guaranteeing an exceptional "DOC" production, both red (Barbera, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Grignolino) and white (Gavi, Arneis, Favorita, Moscato). Here you can take a trip into wine and wineries.

The great wines, that can also be tasted in the many small taverns "piole", wine-bars and shops, make the ideal artner for dinner, whose high points are, apart from the local "bagna càoda" (pieces of vegetables dipped in a hot garlic, anchovy and olive oil sauce), the fresh pasta dishes, meats and cheeses.

The best known pasta dishes are the "Tajarin", the "Agnolotti" and "Cappelletti", which can also be bought hand-made from specialised shops. The meat dishes, boiled ("buji") or braised in wine, are another classic in Turin cuisine, while the selection of cheeses would embarass any food lover because of the quality and wide range of chioce - from the freshest "tomini" and "robiole", to the "tume" that come in a variety of strenghts and flavours: a production that challanges for first place with nearby France.

Finally the famous "grissini" (breadsticks) of Turin must not be forgotten. As long ago as 1663, a French dictionary quoted the "pain long du Piémont" (long bread of Piedmont). The fame of the fragrant and tasty breadsticks, known as "stirà", goes back to the time when, according to legend, they were served to tempt the appetite of the sickly boy-king Vittorio Amedeo II. Today, it is possible to buy the "stirà", together with the robatà", a thicker version with less yeast, a more solid texture and a rougher surface.

With courtesy of Eating out www. comune.torino.it