The Museum Of Fruit

Brilliant. It's the ripe time to get fruity in Turin. Never rind the rotting puns.

It only takes one man with a wild obsession to turn a hobby into a museum. That man is Francesco Garnier Valletti. He did confectionary work and fake flowers before turning to fruit in the mid 1800s. Gardens and botany were all the rage then and Valletti was tasked/obsessed with modeling as many fruit varieties as possible. The endless cases at the museum bear this, ahem, fruit.

One of several packed room as the museum, filled with inedible and impressive fruit.

Method to the madness. Or, at least, a couple of room re-creations, a lab, and an office.

Jars of supplies, looking a little horror movie set. "It's just apples!"

Modeling details. Valletti devised a a new material to use, more permanent than the wax used at that time.

No bad apples. The detail is impressive, definitely not an assembly line of the same fruit with similar skin. Crispy!

Wandering Around Turin

Good stuff around most every corner.

Fantastical condo complex, putting green building into overdrive.

Fun cars at the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile. Robot on an asembly line, finishing a car with lots of little cars. Super meta. Opening it up. A car, modified to be a giant sardine can.

Bronze death bed plaque at the Alessandro Ferrero statue. "Can I get a drink of water?"

Fiat headquarters turned into a nifty art museum. Test track garden and modern building. Tire art, consisting of a zillion photos of the factory.

Standing tall at the WWI memorial.

Finding Religion Around Turin

Signs of Roman Catholicism are everywhere in Turin. No surprise, beautiful churches, art, icons cover Italy. Time to see divine bliss.

The Shroud is out for a visit and prayer.

Ouch. A gold finished platter featuring St. John the Baptist's head. At the Palazzo Madama Palace museum. Not beheaded, just a cute angel, stuck in an elaborate picture frame. At Museum Reali.

Revered figures in clear boxes are big. Here's St. Felix the Martyr at the church of Saint Michael Archangel.

More folks, all boxed up. Priests Giuseppe Cafasso and S Valerico Abbate tucked in their cases. At the Baroque church, Sanctuary of Our Lady of Consolation.

Never miss a replay. Closed circuit TV monitor, also at Our Lady of Consolation.

Details Of Liguria, Italy

What's going on, Liguria? Time to focus on the small stuff of Northern Italy.

Fun flora in a diorama at the Museo Archeologico del Finale.

It's always warm and sunny in the postcards. At Pietra Ligure. Fire! Fake Fire! Another diorama detail at Museo Archeologico del Finale.

Why one goes to Italy, real tomatoes. And some local news. In Finalborgo.

Quiet Catholicism. An altar in a family mausoleum and a tiny painted door on a church altar.

Getting clichéd. Hey, it was all set up. Fantastical bicycle with flowers along a lane in Finalborgo.

Signs Of Christianity In Northern Italy

Italy is a country of Roman Catholics and one can't go a kilometer without running into a church, cemetery, wine bar. OK, maybe the wine bar isn't purely Roman Catholic.

Humble. Time for Good Friday mass at a tiny, stone, hilltop church in Borgio Verezzi.

Inside the church, the statues, icons are covered for Easter. At a church in Pietra Ligure, an impressive grotto for the Virgin Mary to nest.

Wow. The nave and ceiling of San Giovanni Battista in Finalmarina. Big town, small town, there's always an impressive church with overwhelming craftsmanship, paintings, everything.

Back at Pietra Ligure, Pope John Paul II is honored. A step up from Madame Tussauds. For a church ceiling, gotta go for the gold. The wonderful, domed, double barrel design of the Basilica di San Biago in Finalborgo.

Back to the Earth. Rural cemetery in Borgio Verezzi.

Old Stuff At Museo Archeologico del Finale In Finaborgo

The small town of Finalborgo in the Liguria area of Northern Italy has a nice archeological museum. It turns out, stone age, cave wo/man types were all over. Let's dig in.

Museum entrance, tucked into an old courtyard complex.

Humble beginnings. A display carbon dates the museum's establishment to the year AD 1931. Ancient. Boning up. A skeleton fossil. Maybe they fainted while waiting in line for Cicero tickets.

Diorama of a typical hilltop settlement. 8th century, the Village of Souls. BC, Before Costco.

Re-creating the hard life of labor. Grinding wheat into flour and smelting ore into metal. Hard and heavy.

It turns out that bears are also old. So much learned. Presenting the legendary Cave Bear! Nice bone collection.

Checking Out Medieval Finalborgo

Finalborgo is a small town in the Liguria area of Northern Italy. It's got all the classic touches of a Medieval hangout. Time to stroll and soak.

One of the little piazzas. Keeps the kids busy.

The famous Porta Testa city gate. Open today! Like most old settlements, geographic features steered where to put the town. For Finalborgo, a hilltop and a stream.

Typical, cramped streets. How did they not foresee big SUVs? And getting the stink eye from a woman of a certain age. Timeless.

The town's church has a re-donk marble sculpture of angels stretching some lace. Ethereal. About that hill. A great place for a fort, Forte San Giovanni.

One timeless feature of a fort is good views. From a rampart, looking up the valley on a rainy day.

Soaking Up The Ligurian Coast In Italy

Ahh, the Italian riviera. Sun drenched, beach strolls, fresh seafood, the good life. Sometimes.

Surf's up. Windy day at the beach in Finale Marina.

The stroll is on! And so is the beach bench parking and gawking. A full house.

Not all days get sun. A raw day in March at the beach in Pietra Ligure. "No, you're not playing video games today, we're going to the beach!"

Memorial statue to lost sailors. Hunky. On the promenade, let the colorful games begin.

Another Pietra Ligure view. The sun will come out tomorrow.