Text and Photo by CRI Reporter Zhao Pengcheng

For non-Italians, la dolce vita, or "the sweet life", is always associated with the glamour of 1960s Rome from the famed Fellini film. However, la dolce vita is not only for the big brothers of Italy. Tucked in the northwest corner of Italy is a small but fantastic city of 900,000 known as Turin, home to Fiat automobiles and the controversial burial shroud of Jesus Christ.

Romans, however, always joke about Turin, saying "Don't spend time in Turin; it is an out-of-date city." And actually, Turin's being out of fashion stems from its position as the headquarters of Fiat. For about 60 years, Fiat dominated the local economy. But after the 1990's, the car manufacturer's fortune began to falter due to poor management and inexplicable bad luck. At one time 60,000 people worked for Fiat; today the number has dropped to only 10,000. The huge Fiat factory lays nearly empty. Car-loving Italians make fun of the name, calling it a "Failure In Advanced Technology". To prove their point, they point out the fact that Juventus, the leading football team of the city, "doesn't even want to bear the name of Turin on their shirts".

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Turin has done pretty well
Nice city and kind people
The places you must see
If you go
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Turin has done pretty well

I still vividly remember my first land's eye view of Turin last January. The bus took me through bleak industrial suburbs near the headquarters of the organizing committee for the Turin Olympics; it was less than impressive. There was much negative news and complaints related to poor management and weak fund-raising for the Olympics here, reminding me of the frantic scramble to get Athens ready for the 2004 Summer Olympics. Would sports fans taste another typical Mediterranean-style Olympics experience?

Recently, I went to Turin again to find accommodation for my colleagues who will come here to cover the Olympic events. I was surprised to find that the Italians have done quite well. The IOC coordination commission headed by legendary French skier Jean Claude Killy issued an upbeat report after making its last pre-Games inspection: In and around Turin, great preparation work has been accomplished.

As far as I know, many infrastructure projects are almost complete, including newly constructed arenas for ice hockey, figure skating, and speed skating and the main stadium where the opening ceremony will be held. Indeed, this could be an unprecedented success for the Italians. As Cesare Vaciago, the head of the Winter Games organizing committee (TOROC), pointed out, the Games will be a catalyst for a thorough process of reinventing the city.

What has happened? It seems that Turin has overnight upgraded its Mediterranean style to a more efficient, modern way of operating. The masters of event organization, the French, will proudly tell you: the influence of French culture can explain why Turin has done so well. It seems to make sense, because Turin is surprisingly close to France, only 35 kilometers from the French border. Sometimes, the French would like to call Turin the "Paris of Italy", but in my view, Turin still has an Italian heart. It is not difficult to find Turin's style to be a mixture of two sides—the cool-headedness of France and the warm heart of Italy. I think that could help to explain why Turin has been able to prepare well for the events even despite a rough start.

Cioccolato.	Headquarters of TOROC.