«Friedrich Nietzsche said that Turin was a little jewel and he hadn’t seen our rack», jokes Serenza Lancione, CEO of Gtt. He is in an excellent mood, because the bar at the top of the hill with the magnificent seventy-seat terrace and the hundred-seat restaurant down in Sassi, the starting point of the historic trams that go up to the Basilica, has just reopened.
His announcement comes after the resumption of service of these trains, which had been interrupted for several months due to maintenance on the engines, which the Turin Transport Group would now like to replace by purchasing new ones. «We are looking for sponsors, we need around 3 million euros», says Lancione.
Finding them would mean not having stationary vehicles, or at least having them more rarely. And allow visitors to move more frequently on the splendid Art Nouveau carriages dating back to 1934, when the line was transformed from a funicular to a centrally driven denture. Hence the name Dentera, in Piedmontese dialect, with which it is still called.
The rack today follows a route of 3,100 meters which lasts about twenty minutes in which it climbs a difference in altitude of 425 meters and offers suggestive views of the city and the Alpine chain. To make the journey more pleasant, GTT will also be offering audio guides from June onwards: «They will be multimedia, multilingual and will be able to accompany visitors in discovering the history of the rack» promises Lancione.
Gtt then started a collaboration with City Sightseeing Turin to allow tourists to reach the Sassi station and take a journey from times gone by with a single promotional ticket. The station will continue to be served by public transport on lines 15, 68 and 61, all well connected to the city centre.
The catering service will be provided by Slurp, a company that already cooks the dinners served on the historic trams. The opening hours of the premises will be those of the tramway, but from mid-May onwards it will be possible to go there after hours for both lunch and dinner. The relaunch of the service was desired by the Municipality as reiterated by the Viability Councilor Chiara Foglietta, present at the reopening of the refreshment points together with Luca Cassiani, president of Fct Holding, the city’s financial company.
«Our administration – said Foglietta – has the tourism relaunch of Turin among its priorities and on this front we are moving on several levels, focusing on major events but also on strengthening services». Upon arrival in Superga, from now on visitors, in addition to a breathtaking view of Turin and the Alps, will be able to drink a glass of Piedmontese bubbles or a coffee. And then go and visit the Basilica of Superga, a baroque masterpiece by Filippo Juvarra, and the royal tombs of the Savoy family.
