Every town and city in Italy has its own saint day, which is basically another excuse for a day off. Turin's is San Giovanni, on the 24th. Normally it's a holiday and the comune puts on events around Turin, and the main one is in Piazza Vittorio.
Our shop sits right on that piazza, so instead of closing we opened all day for the second wave of summer dresses. One good thing about it: Ricco had Ichnusa on tap for €5.
Now for the bad. I was in the piazza taking photos for social, and a few people stopped to ask what happened to the concert. I jokingly said probably run out of money. Last year at the same time the piazza was packed.
This year they had some guys playing records from the balconies, music for the 14-24 year olds, and being Italian DJs, talking all over the records anyway. The music was bad enough, and with more portable toilets in the piazza than people, we decided to leave and return later for the fireworks.
Here's where it gets stupid. We couldn't leave. They wouldn't let us cross the piazza, or any road. Sorry to the stewards for the swearing, but how is it possible you can't cross a road to go home?
So we found the long way out. Down to the next bridge, across, then an argument with the Carabinieri on Corso Casale (no photos, sadly, of Marika taking on 5 of them, they'd closed that road too), then up the hill, along, and back down to Gran Madre. An extra hour and a half, because nobody would let us cross a fucking road.
I've been to V Festivals, Reading festivals, Superbikes at Brands Hatch with 140,000 people, concerts in other Italian cities, and I've never had this. Stopped at Paddock on the way home and everyone there was complaining about the organisation. Even by Turin standards this was another level, and I doubt this much disorganisation comes cheap.
Next year we're closing and going to the beach, like everyone else.
Even the fireworks were shit. Read more: Torino Today — Fuochi d'artificio San Giovanni 2026 flop
