Riverside Dora Turin – Urban countryside

Parco Dora is well known for its industrial architecture, great skateboard open air gym and graffiti spot.

It’s also setting of electronic-dance music festivals, the End of Ramadan celebration, flash mobs and urban walking & cycling tours.

But I’m an humble person. I’m not an expert in cycling, I don’t know how to do graffitis and If I step on a skateboard I have a great chance of writing an article about the Orthopaedics ward of some Turin hospital.

I’m a wanderer, and wandering I found myself in the middle of the countryside, just a 10-minute walk away from my house.

I was surprised to see great neat meadows, modern walking routes (a lot of them), a great number of runners of every age, an enclosed play yard for children and a lot of benches to just sit and relax in a nice public garden.

I say surprised because the neighborhood is quite one-of-a-kind. A few years ago this big, great space was separated from the Aurora zone block of flats by the railway tracks. The city council decided to create an underground tunnel to “bury” the train passage and enrich the area with quietness, silence and, hopefully, regain security by dissuading crime and making public spaces great.

The concept, combined with the creation of a shopping center, The Environment Museum and gardens, has definitely worked.

And I’m pleased to be surprised and delighted by just having a stroll or a morning run.