Terri B.
Yelp
Torino is a wonderful yet strange city filled with a hybrid mix of the grandeur of Baroque mansions with the sober modesty of 1950s warehouses and the graceful elegance of Art Nouveau palazzos with the marble Fascist monuments. In between this miss-mash is hidden thousands of cafes - many of which have existed for hundreds and hundreds of years.
You are truly transported into another world when in Torino. The Australians have their pub crawls (or so they use to before those hideous lockout laws which shut down the city at midnight); the Germans I would presume have their sausage crawls and the Torinites (is that what we call them) have their cafe crawls. Yes, you heard me right, a cafe crawl...going from one cafe to the next tasting their drinks and getting high/drunk on caffeine and sugar.
Caffe Mulassano is tiny but full of history and atmosphere. Drinking here transported me back into a moment in time that i had only read in books. There are wooden panels and antique mirrors lining the walls, the wait staff are old school and friendly. The crowd here is an eccentric group of tourists, regulars and locals.
This place is a very discreet ancient bars. Blink and you may miss it as it is hidden away beneath some arcades that surround the royal palaces.
This place is good. It is really good. No visit to Torino is complete without an order of the local drink called Bicerin. Just try it. Don't even ask. When in Torino...
Yes this place can be a little pricey, but you people watch, you eat and sip at your own leisure and you soak up the atmosphere of days gone by.