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.