Turin 20th August

'Today I set off to see the Basillica Superga on the hill overlooking Turin. It was built after the Duke of Savoy used the position to observe the French forces who were besieging Turin and had prayed to the Virgin Mary in a little chapel already there that if he won the battle against the French he would build a great church in her honour. So the Supergra was conceived and built in grand Baroque style. The original statue of the Virgin Mary adorns a side chapel altar. Inside is not as lavish as expected but it is of grand proportions and has cloisters and the tombs of the kings are below the church.

 The view from the top is expansive but very hazy on this day. It is perched on the hill and from the city looks almost like an eastern Stupa. The best way to get there is to take the rack tramway built in the 1930s and still operating.

At the back of the Basilica there is a shrine to the football team killed when a plane returning from a friendly game in Lisbon crashed into the mountain killing 31 most of whom were the champion football players. The team was a premier winner but due to the Second World War it was not able to rebuild yheir championship status for many years after. It has become a shrine to football fans and sports people from Turin who make a pilgrimage every May 4 th, the anniversary of the accident.

The whole hill is dotted with walking tracks amongst the forest.