Turin may offer more after the Olympics

By ANDREW DAMPF

updated 6:25 p.m. ET Jan. 12, 2006

TURIN, Italy - Can't find a hotel room in Turin for the Olympics? Worried about getting stuck in traffic on the single-lane road that leads to the games' Alpine hub? Don't want a repeat of the nightmare at the Salt Lake City airport the day after the 2002 Winter Games ended?

Visiting Turin after the Feb. 10-26 Olympics may have its advantages.

The 1 million people expected for the games will be gone, making travel, hotel reservations and the city's world-class food and wines much more accessible. Post-Olympic visitors will also enjoy a completely remodeled city.

TURIN TRANSFORMED: Turin's urban overhaul was modeled on Barcelona's, the 1992 Summer Games host. While the sports venues are ready, much of the work won't be completed in time for the Olympics.

A new airport terminal is scheduled to be finished before the games, but only a small section of a $1.16 billion subway will be ready. The rest of the system should be completed by 2008, along with a high-speed train between Turin and Milan that will cut the trip between the two cities from 90 to 40 minutes.

Virtually the entire downtown area is getting a facelift, with piazzas cleaned up and repaved.

Restoration of the old royal residences in Venaria, a 30-minute ride from Turin, should be completed by the end of 2006.

POST-OLYMPIC EVENTS: From April 2006 to April 2007, Turin and Rome will be UNESCO's world book capitals. The designation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization brings a year's worth of readings and events. Each district of the city will be named for a type of punctuation, such as the Period and Comma district or the Parentheses Piazza.

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In October, the Slow Food festival will hold its extravaganza in Turin at the Lingotto, a former Fiat factory turned cultural center, with smaller offerings around the city. Created in response to American fast-food chains in Italy, Slow Food promotes gastronomic culture and traditional foods at risk of disappearing.

Annual events in Turin include a chocolate festival, March 24-April 3; a September musical festival, this year featuring Vivaldi and Mozart with the Vienna Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra; and in November, Italy's second-most important film festival, after Venice.

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