Consider visiting Torino after Games

TORINO, Italy — Can't find a hotel room in Torino for the Olympics? Worried about getting stuck in traffic on the single-lane road that leads to the Games' Alpine hub? Don't want a repeat of the nightmare at the Salt Lake City airport the day after the 2002 Winter Games ended?

Visiting Torino after the Feb. 10-26 Olympics may have its advantages.

The one million people expected for the Games will be gone, making travel, hotel reservations and the city's world-class food and wines much more accessible. Post-Olympic visitors will also enjoy a completely remodeled city.

TORINO TRANSFORMED: Torino's urban overhaul was modeled on Barcelona's, the 1992 Summer Games host. While the sports venues are ready, much of the work won't be completed in time for the Olympics.

A new airport terminal is scheduled to be finished before the Games, but only a small section of a $1.16 billion subway will be ready. The rest of the system should be completed by 2008, along with a high-speed train between Torino and Milan that will cut the trip between the two cities from 90 to 40 minutes.

Virtually the entire downtown area is getting a face lift, with piazzas cleaned up and repaved.

Restoration of the old royal residences in Venaria, a 30-minute ride from Torino, should be completed by the end of 2006.

POST-OLYMPIC EVENTS: From April 2006 to April 2007, Torino and Rome will be UNESCO's world book capitals. The designation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization brings a year's worth of readings and events. Each district of the city will be named for a type of punctuation, such as the Period and Comma district or the Parentheses Piazza.

In October, the Slow Food festival will hold its biyearly extravaganza in Torino at the Lingotto, a former Fiat factory turned cultural center, with smaller offerings around the city. Created in response to American fast-food chains in Italy, Slow Food promotes gastronomic culture and traditional foods at risk of disappearing.

Annual events in Torino include a chocolate festival, March 24-April 3; a September musical festival, this year featuring Vivaldi and Mozart with the Vienna Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra; and in November, Italy's second-most important film festival after Venice.

SPORTS: If it's still sports you're after, Torino is home to Italy's most successful soccer club — Juventus.

The team has won a record 28 Italian league (Serie A) titles and is marching toward its 29th.