IN MOST European towns it’s usually your eyes that guide you. Meandering down shadow-filled backstreets, washing drying over balconies, coming across quaint churches in a tiny, sun-filled square or poking around small, dusty bookshops with small, dusty owners.

That is certainly true of Turin, host city for the Winter Olympics, with its blend of industrial and classical baroque architecture centred on the Piazza Castello. Here, however, in perhaps Italy’s most “foodie” city, you are as likely to be drawn by your nose — past markets, cafés, restaurants and shops, with sweet and savoury smells wafting out to tempt all but the strongest-willed. The largest city in Piedmont is not a place to visit if you’re on a diet.

Turin has Europe’s largest market, the Porta Palazzo, with rows of fruit and vegetables, whole swordfish, and mountains of gorgonzola and salami. It was here at 10 Via San Tommaso that Signor Luigi Lavazza opened a coffee shop in 1885 (still going strong today) before going on to conquer the world with his brand of roasted beans. And it was in Turin that vermouth was invented and where Alessandro Martini and Luigi Rossi started production of their eponymous drink in the mid-19th century.

To the south, the town of Bra is the home of the worldwide Slow Food movement, an organisation with 70,000 members dedicated to expanding the minds, and stomachs, of those for whom a Happy Meal brings only sadness.

Indeed, the thought strikes me that perhaps the location for the Games is a dastardly Italian plot to fatten up the foreign athletes so that they can’t squeeze into their bobsleighs . . . or maybe I’ve been drinking too much coffee.

WHAT TO SEE

National Museum of Cinema (20 Via Montebello, 00 39 011 813 8560, www.museonazionaledelcinema.it) is housed in one of Turin’s landmark buildings, the Mole Antonelliana. A trip to the top of its dome is worth the few extra euros for the view over town towards the Alps.

Madonna della Consolata (Piazza della Consolata, 436 3235) dates back to the 11th century and is decorated with hundreds of childlike paintings offered in thanks to the healing powers of the Virgin Mary. If you come looking for the Turin Shroud, you will be disappointed — it is brought out only on special occasions.

Castello di Rivoli (Piazza Mafalda di Savoia, Rivoli, 956 5222, www.castellodirivoli.org), a contemporary art museum, is housed in a fortress that was started in the 11th century but finished in 1998.

WHERE TO EAT

For a mid-morning coffee go to either Baratti & Milano (27 Piazza Castello; 440 7138) or Mulassano (15 Piazza Castello; 547 990). Both are ornately decorated in a style that takes you back 200 years. Another good choice is Al Bicerin (5 Piazza della Consolata, 436 9325, www.bicerin.it), founded in 1763. For £2.50 you can sit at a marble table and drink bicerin — dark hot chocolate, espresso and cream.

San Carlo (156 Piazza San Carlo; 532 586) is ideal for lunch. Its mirrors, statues and ornate columns impress as much as the food. Choose a local speciality such as vitello tonnato: slices of cold roast veal with a whipped sauce of mayonnaise, tuna and capers.

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