Turin
Turin (;
Piedmontese:
Turin) is a major industrial
city in north-western
Italy,
capital of the
Piedmont region, located mainly on the west
bank of the
Po River. The
population of the city of Turin is 908,000 (
2004 census); its metropolitan area totals about 1.7 million inhabitants. The
province is one of the largest in Italy, with 6,830 square kilometres (2,637
sq. mi), and one of the most populous, with 2,236,941 inhabitants at the
2004 census. Turin is also well-known as the home of the
Shroud of Turin and host of the
2006 Winter Olympics.
The name of Turin comes from
Tau, a
Celtic word that means
mountains. Its
Italian name,
Torino, translates as "little bull"; hence the coat of arms and the symbol of the city. The area was settled by the
Taurini in pre-
Roman times.
In the
1st century BC (probably 28 BC), the Romans created a military camp (
Castra Taurinorum), later dedicated to
Augustus (
Augusta Taurinorum). The typical Roman street grid can still be seen in the modern city. Turin reached about 5,000 inhabitants at the time, all living inside the high walls.
After the fall of the Roman empire the city was conquered by the
Lombards, then the
Franks; in 942 the
Contea di Turino ("Countship of Turin"), was founded, since 1050 held by the family of the (then)
Counts of Savoy. While the dignity of count was held by the Bishop as conte di Turino, 1092-1130 and 1136 - 1191, it was ruled as a
prince-bishopric by the Bishops. It was a lordship 1230 - 1235 under the
Marchese di Monferrato, styled Signore di Torino ('Lord')
At the end of the 13th century, when it was annexed to the
Duchy of Savoy, the city already had 20,000 inhabitants. Many of the gardens and palaces were built in the 15th century when the city was redesigned. The
University was also founded during this period.
Emanuele Filiberto (Iron Head) made Turin the capital of the
Duchy of Savoy in
1563. Piazza San Carlo, via Po and the Royal Palace (Palazzo Reale) were built in this period.
In
1706 the
French besieged the city for 117 days without conquering it (
Battle of Turin). After the subsequent
Treaty of Utrecht, the
Kingdom of Sardinia was annexed to the Duchy of Savoy and the architect
Filippo Juvarra began a major redesign of the city. Now the capital of a European kingdom, Turin had about 90,000 inhabitants at the time.
In the 19th century, after brief occupation by
Napoleon, the city began to actively pursue the
unification of Italy. In 1871, the
Fréjus Tunnel was opened, making Turin an important communication node. The city now had 250,000 inhabitants. The
Museo Egizio, the
Mole Antonelliana, the
Gran Madre church and Vittorio Veneto square were built in this period.
In
1861, Turin became the capital of the newly proclaimed United Italy. In
1865 the capital was moved to
Florence. (Since
1870 the capital has been
Rome.) Turin reacted to the loss of importance by beginning a rapid industrialisation: in
1899 FIAT was founded and
Lancia in
1906. The
Universal Exposition held in Turin in
1902 is often considered the pinnacle of
Art Nouveau design, and the city hosted the Exposition again in
1911. By this time, Turin had grown to 430,000 inhabitants.
After
World War I conflicts between workers and industrialists began. The first strikes took place and in
1920 the
Lingotto factory was occupied.
After
World War II Turin was rapidly rebuilt and its industries greatly developed, which caused waves of immigration, largely from the southern regions of Italy. The population reached 1 million in
1960 and peaked at 1.5 million in
1975. In the 1980s the first industrial crisis hit the city and its population began to decline (and continues to, while the metropolitan area grows). The
2005 population is 908,000.
Turin also has one of the worlds largest football clubs that is supported by a large number of Italians.
Juventus F.C have always had a fierce rivalry with the
Milan football club who is another massively supported team in the Serie A.
The mayor of Turin is directly elected every 5 years.
Sergio Chiamparino, the current mayor, belongs to the center-left coalition.
See also:
List of mayors of Turin |
Astronaut photo of Turin. |
Turin is located in northwest Italy.It is surrounded on the western and northern front by the
Alps and on the southern front by the hills of
Monferrato.Four major rivers pass through the city: the
Po and two of its tributaries, the
Dora Riparia (from the
Celtic duria meaning "water," later changed to "Duria Minor" by the Romans), the
Stura di Lanzo, and the
Sangone.
Turin grew by 0.88% during the last 3 years, which was attributed to a somewhat low birth rate, contributing to an aging population. Around 16.4% of the population are under 14 years over age, while those in retirement age number 18.8%. The city has seen a rise in immigrants, including the
suburban areas. The population remains overwhelmingly
Italian (96.1%), but there are groups like
Romanian: 2.3%,
Moroccans: 1.5%,
Peruvians: 0.5%,
Albanian: 0.4%, and others.
Today the city is a major industrial center, known particularly as home to the headquarters and main production lines of the
car company Fiat. The city is home to the famous
Lingotto building, which was at one time the largest car factory in the
world, and is now a
convention centre,
concert hall, art gallery, shopping centre and
hotel. Other companies founded in Turin are
Invicta, founded 1821,
Lavazza,
Martini,
Kappa and the chocolate factory
Caffarel.
It is also a center for aerospace industry, with
Alenia. Some major elements of the
International Space Station, such as the
Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules, were produced in Turin. The future European launcher projects beyond
Ariane 5 will also be managed from Turin, by the new
NGL company, a subsidiary of
EADS (70%) and
Finmeccanica (30%).
Turin is also the birthplace of major aspects of the Italian economy, such as telecommunications
Telecom Italia, television (, National TV channel) and cinema. Most of these industries have moved to other parts of
Italy, but Turin still hosts the National Museum of Cinema.
Transportation infrastructure
The town currently has a large number of rail and road work sites. Although this activity has increased as a result of the
2006 Winter Olympics, parts of it had long been planned. Some of the work sites deal with general roadworks to improve traffic flow, such as underpasses and flyovers, but two projects are of major importance and will change the shape of the town radically.
One is the 'Spina' ('spine') which includes the doubling of a major railroad crossing the town. The railroad previously ran in a trench, which will now be covered by a major boulevard. The town rail station on this line will become the main station of Turin ('Porta Susa').
The other major project is the construction of a subway line based on the
VAL system, known as
Metrotorino. This project is expected to continue for years and to cover a larger part of the town, but its first phase was finished in time for the Olympic Games (inaugurated on 4 February
2006 and opened to the public the day after). This first leg of the subway system links the nearby town of
Collegno with the
Porta Susa station in Turin's town centre; the next leg extending the service to the 'Porta Nuova' railway station is expected by June
2007. This underground transportation project has historical importance for Turin, as the town has dreamed of an underground line for decades, the first project dating as far back as the twenties. In fact, the main street in the town centre ('Via Roma') runs atop a tunnel built during the fascist era (when 'Via Roma' was built). The tunnel was supposed to host the underground line but is now used as an underground car park. A project to build an underground system was ready in the seventies, with government funding for it and for similar projects in
Milan and
Rome; whilst the other two cities went ahead with the projects, Turin local government led by mayor
Diego Novelli shelved the proposal as it believed it to be too costly and unnecessary, but that only meant more funding for Rome and Milan.
For a complete list of Turin's landmarks, see: Buildings and structures in TurinOne of its main symbols is the Mole Antonelliana, which hosts the National Cinema Museum of Italy.
The main symbol of the Roman city are the Palatine Towers.
The Cathedral of St John the Baptist houses the Shroud of Turin, an old linen cloth with an imprint of a man, which is believed by many to be the cloth that covered Jesus in his grave.
The Museo Egizio has the most important collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world after the Cairo Museum.
Turin offers a circuit of great historical and architectural interest: the Savoy Residences. In addition to the Royal Palace, the official residence of the Savoys until 1865, the circuit includes palaces, residences and castles in the city centre and in the surrounding towns. Turin is home to Palazzo Chiablese, the Royal Armoury, the Royal Library, Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Carignano, Villa della Regina, and the Valentino Castle. In the area around the city, the castles of Rivoli, Moncalieri, Venaria, Agliè, Racconigi, and Govone can be visited. The Hunting Lodge by Juvarra can be admired in Stupinigi and there is also the royal estate in Pollenzo. Some of these (first and foremost Rivoli, the location of the Museum of the same name) host events, exhibitions and cultural initiatives not only of local interest. In 1997, this complex of historical buildings was recognised as a World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
In the hills above the city is the basilica church of Superga, from where there is a splendid panorama of Turin against a backdrop of the snow-capped Alps. The basilica holds the tombs of many of the dukes of Savoy, as well as many of the kings of Sardania. Superga can be reached by means of the Superga Rack Railway from the suburb of Sassi.
The city is also famous for being the film set of the 1969 classic film The Italian Job starring Michael Caine - it is possible to visit all the locations on a special tour - and Deep Red'' (
1975), directed by Italian horror filmmaker
Dario Argento.
*
University of Turin (
Università degli Studi di Torino)
*
Politecnico di Torino *
Istituto Europeo di DesignAfter
Alexandria,
Madrid,
New Delhi,
Antwerp and
Montreal, Turin has been chosen by
UNESCO as
World Book Capital for the year
2006 because of its activity of book and reading promotion, especially with the
International Book Fair, one of the most important fairs in Europe of its kind.
From April 2006 to April 2007 Turin will host a festival called "Signs of Writing" composed of events, meetings, seminars, debates, letters, and performances.
The city is famous for two very successful
football teams,
Torino F.C. and
Juventus F.C., and was the host of the
2006 Winter Olympics. Turin has also hosted two summer
Universiade: the first in 1959 and the second in 1970. In 2006 it will also host the
chess olympics and the
fencing World Championships. In
2007, Turin will host its first Winter
Universiade and, in 2009, the Indoor Athletics European Championships. In a terrible air accident in
1949, a plane carrying the whole
Torino F.C. team (at that time the most important in Europe and aka
Grande Torino)
hit the church of Superga, on the Turin hills. Among those who died was
Valentino Mazzola (one of the best Italian players ever), father of Ferruccio and
Sandro Mazzola (who were also later to be football champions).
Turin was also the city where the
FISA (international rowing federation) was born in 1892.
Turin is the birth place of solid chocolate. It was in Turin that
Doret invented at the end of the 18th century a revolutionary machine that could make solid chocolate as we eat it now. Turin produces a typical
chocolate, named
Gianduiotto after
Gianduja, a local
Commedia dell'arte mask, and many other kinds of chocolate in a host of confectioneries all around the city.Every year the town organizes cioccolaTO', a two week chocolate festival with the main piedmontese chocolate factories and producers and some international ones like
Lindt & Sprüngli.
Turin is surrounded by several smaller cities in the Province of Turin such as Grugliasco,
Rivoli,
Chivasso,
Venaria,
Settimo Torinese,
Orbassano,
Moncalieri,
Avigliana,
Buttigliera Alta,
Gassino Torinese,
Nichelino,
Collegno and others, that make up one of Italy's primary metropolitan areas.
*
Giovanni Agnelli (1866-1945) - Founder of
FIAT*
Gianni Agnelli (1921-2003) - Chairman director of
FIAT and very influential Italian
*
Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856) - Physicist
*
Alessandro Baricco (1958) - writer
*
Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti (1719-1789) - Critic
*
Camillo Benso, count of Cavour - Politician (
Italian unification)
*
Norberto Bobbio (1909-2004) - Historian and philosopher
*
Carla Bruni (1968) - Supermodel
*
Pierre Paul Caffarel (1795-1850) - Founder of the first
chocolate factory in the world
*
Antonio Benedetto Carpano (1764-1815) - Inventor of
vermouth and
apéritif*
Gigi D'Agostino (1967) - DJ
*
Robert Fano (1917-2004) - Engineer
*
Galileo Ferraris (1847-1897) - Physicist and electrical engineer
*
Sonia Gandhi (1946) - Politician
*
Piero Gobetti (1901-1926) - Intellectual
*
Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736-1813) - Mathematician
*
Vincenzo Lancia (1881-1937) - Sportsman and businessman, founder of
Lancia*
Luigi Lavazza (1859-1949) - Inventor and businessman of
coffee*
Carlo Levi (1902-1975) - Painter
*
Primo Levi (1919-1987) - Philosopher and writer
*
Salvador Edward Luria (1912-1991) - Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine
*
Alessandro Martini (1812-1905) Businessman in
vermouth industry
*
Carlo Mollino (1905-1973) Architect and Designer
*
Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909) Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine
*
Adriano Olivetti (1901-1960) Businessman
*
Giuseppe Peano (1858-1932) Mathematician
*
Aurelio Peccei (1908-1984) Founder of the
Club of Rome*
Tullio Regge (1931) Physicist
*
Piero Sraffa (1898-1983) Influential economist
*
Massimo Taparelli, marquis d'Azeglio (1798-1866) - Statesman, novelist and painter
*
Umberto Tozzi (1952) - Singer
*
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (1820-1878) - King of
Piedmont and the first King of the united Italy
*
Edmondo de Amicis*
St. John Bosco*
Francesco Faà di Bruno*
Italo Calvino*
Gaspare Campari*
Francesco Cirio*
Renato Dulbecco*
Umberto Eco*
Luigi Einaudi*
Erasmus*
Guido Fubini*
Natalia Ginzburg*
Antonio Gramsci*
Cesare Lombroso*
Tulse Luper*
Joseph de Maistre*
Giulio Natta*
Friedrich Nietzsche*
Vilfredo Pareto*
Cesare Pavese*
Jean-Jacques Rousseau*
Emilio Salgari*
Ascanio Sobrero*
Germain Sommeiller*
Elio Vittorini*
Cologne,
Germany*
*
The official institutional site â€" website version is in
Italian - Also some pages in
English,
German,
Spanish,
French,
Romanian,
Arabic, and
Albanian*
Experimental interactive maps â€" website version is in
Italian.
*
A brief visitor's guide â€" what to see in Turin in 36 hours (
English).
*
Photo Gallery Piedmont and Turin.
*
Torino 2006 Olympic Games â€"
English,
Italian and
French. Website version is in
Italian.
*
CityMayors article.
*
Winter Universiade Torino 2007 â€"
English,
Italian and
French. Website Version is
Italian.
*
Guide to Turin city â€" information and useful link.
*
ItalianVisits.com.
*
International Book Fair.
*
National Cinema Museum of Italy.
*
Postcards from Turin.
*
WorldStatesmen- Italy*
Photos of Torino*
English language tourst guide to Turin
