In Italy, Carnevale is the last celebration before lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Lent has historically been the time before Easter when many Catholics deprive themselves of something they enjoy. The thought is to party until you drop and spend the period of Lent recovering.

Celebrations are held all over Italy from Venice and Milan down to the villages and towns of Sicily. The celebration of Carnevale is the Italian version of Mardi Gras in New Orleans with oranges instead of beads.

This year the celebration lasts from February 12 to March 5 with many of the biggest celebrations on Martedi Grasso or Fat Tuesday.

Carnevale came to the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics during the closing ceremonies. Clowns pranced around to the song "The Games People Play", acrobats tumbled and once again people on the field pantomimed along with "YMCA".

The closing ceremonies are always less somber than the opening ceremonies and the Italians took full advantage of the opportunity to end with a big party.

The athletes started their final parade behind women once again wearing dresses with tiny Italian alpine villages sculpted into the bottom. Rather than playing American pop songs from the 1970's athletes paraded out to the old Italian standards "Volare" and "That's Amore"

Torino, Italy has great wine, delicious chocolate and a coffee drink that is guaranteed to warm your soul on a cold winter night. The Bicerin is a heavenly combination of hot cocoa, espresso and cream layered in a small glass. The coffee is sipped through the cream creating a rich experience.

Bicerin (pronounced bee-cheh-REEN) is dialect for little glass. This coffee drink is a staple of Torino, Italy's centuries old coffee culture. The Bicerin gained popularity in the mid-1800's and counted Alexander Dumas, the author of the Three Muskateers among its fans.

Although you can order a Bicerin in almost any cafè in Torino, Italy many believe that the best is served at Al Bicerin a shop that dates from 1763 in the Piazza della Consolata. Up to 300 cups may be served in a single day.

Torino, Italy and its surrounding area is known for the three B's of wine - Barbaresco, Barolo, and Barbera. There are a few other letters that should be added here, like A for Asti which produces a sparkling spumanti and the twin G’s, Gattinaras and Ghemmes.

The Piedmont (the region of Torino) is regarded by many as the finest wine producing region in Italy. This is apparent when you walk through Torino, Italy and see wine shops compete with cafés and chocolatiers for space.

In fact there are two wine museums in the area: The Martini & Rossi Museum at Pessione, Torino and the Bersano Museum at Nizza Monferrato.

The Piedmont region has 75,000 hectares of vineyards and produces 7,000,000 quintals of white and black grapes. Just what is a quintal? A quintal is equal to 100 kilograms which is equal to just over 220 pounds. In other words they produce a lot of grapes.

Ingredients

2 slices of prosciutto
2 tbsp Gorgonzola cheese
2 slices of Mozzarella (may use part-skim)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 small clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
 
Cooking instructions
 
1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Lightly oil a baking dish. Mince garlic and then sauté in frying pan with 1/2 tbsp of butter until light brown. Cut a slit in each chicken breast and fill with 1 slice of prosciutto (or ham) and 1 tbsp of Gorgonzola cheese and sautéed garlic.
 
 2.  In a frying pan, brown chicken in remaining 1/2 tbsp of butter for about 2 minutes on each side.  
 
3. Move chicken to baking dish and add 1 slice of Mozzarella cheese to the top of each chicken breast and bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked through (juices should be clear when pierced with a fork).
 
4. Serve hot with pasta and garlic bread
 
5. Don't forget a great glass of wine!

In a country where it is difficult to find a bad meal, Torino, Italy is known for its culinary excellence. Perhaps their success lies in the heavy use of eggs, cream, butter and fresh ingredients. Or maybe it is their sheer enjoyment in the preparation and consumption of a meal. After all Torino, Italy is not far from Bra, Italy the home of the slow food movement.

Fresh ingredients are the key to success in cooking a good meal, and that is particularly true in Torino, Italy. Herbs are picked from window boxes, vegetables are dug up in backyard gardens and local produce is purchased at fresh food markets.

As in the rest of Italy, anchovies are used in many dishes. The flavor is subtle, so even if you are not normally a fan of anchovies give them a try. Most likely you will be pleasantly surprised.

Not only does Torino, Italy have truffles, great wines and hundred's of cafés where you can enjoy all types of coffees it is also the birthplace of solid chocolate! There are more chocolatiers in Torino, Italy than in France and Belgium combined.

Torino, Italy takes its chocolate seriously and producing chocolate is big business in the city. There are hundred of chocolatiers in Torino from large producers that export their products to small family run business that have been around for hundreds of years.

Torino has had a love affair with chocolate for over 300 years when the Turinese (the people of Torino) began producing solid chocolate. Prior to the production of solid chocolate, chocolate had been consumed as a beverage. In 1678 the queen of the Savoy State granted the first chocolate license to Giò Antonio Ari a Turinese chocolate maker. With this license Ari could sell chocolate as a drink to the public.

The Torino 2006 Olympics got underway with a spectacular opening ceremony February 10. It was a very Italian event with everyone from Dante, Fellini and Botticelli playing a part at the gala. The XX Olympic Winter Games will go from Friday, February 10 through Sunday, February 26.

These are the third Olympic Games to be held in Italy. The first were the 1956 Winter Games held in Cortina d’Ampezzo and the second were the 1960 summer games held in Rome.

Torino, Italy is the largest city ever to host the Olympic Winter Games with around 900,000 residents in the city and over 2.2 million in the surrounding area. The second largest host city was Salt Lake City in 2002.

This article was contributed by Susan Spalt. Susan lived in Italy as a teenager and has traveled extensively in Italy and Europe.

Watching the skiers zoom down the mountain slopes of Sestriere, Italy has been bringing back a lot of memories - of a time, about 1960,  when I  did not exactly zoom down the slopes—but I did get down them. Sestriere, Italy, then, as now, was a beautiful ski resort.

Then, however, as opposed to now, being fitted for skis meant standing on your tip toes and holding your hands over your head. Your skis were about that height. And they were very hard to steer! And getting up to the slopes did not involve a chair lift or heated gondola, but rather a poma lift. A long poma lift. Where it was imperative to hold on and not fall because the terrain was pretty rugged and rescue would not have been easy.

Benvenuto in Italia! With a hearty welcome to Italy the Torino 2006 Olympics are underway.  The Torino 2006 Olympic theme of “Passion Lives Here” was clear from start to finish at the opening ceremonies.

From Carla Bruni wearing a crystal dress while delivering the Italian flag to Luciano Pavarotti singing to close out the night this was a decidedly Italian event.

A spinning red Ferrari completed a series of doughnuts and drove off in a plume of smoke. Rollerbladers flew around the stadium with fire shooting out of the back of their helmets. Trees danced and cow bells rang out. An Italian model portrayed Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Sophia Loren was one of eight distinguished women representing various parts of the world who carried the Olympic flag into the stadium.

The 2006 Olympic Torch has arrived in Torino, Italy for the start of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. The torch has seen Italy from the toe of the boot in the south to the Alps on the northern boarder.

Before arriving in Torino the 2006 Olympic Torch toured most of the Olympic venues including Pinerolo, Sestriere, Cesana, Sauze d’Oulx, Claviere, Torre Pellice and Bardonecchia. The torch has also made side trips to six countries: Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and France. While in France the 2006 Olympic Torch visited three host cities from past Winter Olympic Games: Grenoble (1968), Albertville (1992) and Chamonix (1924).

By visiting Rome, Florence, Sienna, Naples, Palermo and many towns in between the torch has made a journey through history. The torch has traveled back in time to the Etruscans and Romans, to the bleakness of the middle ages and through the enlightenment of the Renaissance. The torch has crossed rivers and lakes, visited the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas as well as the Dolomites, Alps and the rolling hills of Tuscany.

The eyes of the world will turn to Torino, Italy this Friday for the opening of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. Knowing a few facts about the host city will make your viewing or visiting more meaningful.

So what do you need to know about Torino? Here are 18 interesting facts about Torino:

Torino sits in the northwest corner of Italy on the river Po in the Piemonte region of Italy with the Alps to the west and north. At this point the river Po flows north

Torino, Italy is the largest city to host the winter Olympic Games with around 900,000 residents. The city and surrounding area has a population of around 1.5 million inhabitants

Many guidebooks talk about what the city of Torino, Italy does not have. It does not have the beautiful views of Cinque Terre, the ancient ruins of Rome, the art of Florence, the weather of Sicily or the tourist appeal of Sienna. People are more likely to talk about the economy of Torino, rather than its beauty and history.

As tourists visiting Torino, Italy for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games will discover there is both beauty and history to be found in Torino, not to mention great food and wine. 

Torino is a city that is full of parks, palaces, arcades, cafés and colleges. The city has been the seat of a university since the Middle Ages.

The 2006 Olympic Torch is making progress after unexpected weather delays. After worrying about having a snowless winter Olympics the weather has finally cooperated and dumped mountains of snow on northern Italy.

Last week heavy snow and bitter cold weather made running the torch impossible. Many roads were made inaccessible which also made driving the torch difficult. Organizers were forced to let carriers of the torch run shorter legs than had been planned.

The 2006 Olympic Torch finally emerged from the heavy snow and made its way into Milan for an evening of fashion shows and music. The torch spent the evening in the Piazza of the sandcastle like Duomo.