Turin is the capital of Piedmont. Turin offers an extraordinary
variety of attractions and entertainment opportunities. It is also
located a short distance from the mountains and important ski
resorts, just as it is easy to reach the Ligurian Riviera and
Western Europe from here via France or Switzerland. It is an elegant
and aristocratic city, the fourth largest Italian municipality after
Rome, Milan and Naples and, together with the Lombard capital and
Genoa, forms the so-called Italian industrial triangle. Rich in
baroque-style palaces, large avenues, parks, art galleries, Savoy
residences, castles, important museums and attractions, Turin is a
city that has not yet been overrun by mass tourism and this has
allowed it to still keep intact some of its characteristic features.
In 2015 the city was the European Capital of Sport and hosted the
Exhibition of the Shroud.
The institutional tourist reception
activity is managed by Turismo Torino. There is a civic volunteering
group in Turin made up of about 100 people called "Torino&You" which
despite the enormous difficulties in which the volunteers operate
(dilapidated structures, lack of suitable means to provide
information, etc.) covers the structural staff shortages of the
manager of the tourist reception system Turismo Torino. In fact, the
group manages an information point and co-manages another, as well
as offering surveillance, assistance and accompaniment services for
groups visiting art exhibitions (eg "Leonardo's drawings").
Geographic hints
Turin is bordered by two rivers: to the north,
by the Stura di Lanzo; to the south, by the Sangone. Two other, more
imposing rivers characterize the city: the Po, which runs along its
entire eastern flank flowing from south to north, and the Dora
Riparia, which crosses it from west to east until it flows into the
Po itself. Turin rises between hills and plains (about 200 meters
above sea level) and is located a few kilometers from some important
valleys, such as the Val di Susa, and peaks of the Alpine chain,
including Monviso and Monte Rosa.
Center
Via Garibaldi corresponds to the decumanus maximus of the
Roman era. Since the 1980s, it has been entirely converted into a
pedestrian area and connects Piazza Castello with Piazza Statuto.
Piazza Castello is the most famous city square. Palazzo Reale and
Palazzo Madama overlook it.
Piazza Statuto is surrounded by
porticoed buildings from the second half of the 19th century, in an
eclectic late-neoclassical style. At the center of the square we find
the Fountain of the Frejus Tunnel.
Corso Vittorio Emanuele II
runs from east to west in the south area of the centre. At the height of
Piazza Carlo Felice are the entrances to the Porta Nuova railway
station, the most important in Turin.
The center is bordered to
the north by the very long Corso Regina Margherita which starts from the
homonymous bridge over the Po and ends after 9 km at the junction
corresponding to the "A55".
On the left of Corso Regina
Margherita (back to the river) there are the Royal Gardens and in Via
Montebello the Mole Antonelliana, symbol of Turin. A little further on
is Piazza della Repubblica, home to a large open-air market. Every
Saturday morning in the streets adjacent to Piazza della Repubblica (Via
Borgo Dora – Via Lanino – Via Mameli – Via Canale Molassi) the historic
flea market, known as Balôn, is held.
Among the streets that run
in a south-north direction, the most important is Via Roma which starts
from the Porta Nuova station and ends in Piazza Castello. About halfway
along the way, it forms Piazza San Carlo, the most spectacular in Turin,
closed on its south side by the two twin churches, in Baroque style, of
Santa Cristina built in 1639 and San Carlo built in 1619, and on the
east and west sides from buildings with porches. At the center of the
square we find the equestrian statue of Emanuele Filiberto.
Palazzo Carignano is one of the most important buildings in Turin and is
also part of the Savoy residences, a UNESCO heritage site, one of the
most beautiful examples of Italian Baroque, in 1848, Palazzo Carignano
became the seat of the Chamber of Deputies of the Subalpine Parliament.
Other neighborhoods
Aurora district - North of the centre, beyond
Corso Regina Margherita and Piazza della Repubblica, the Aurora district
extends on both banks of the Dora Riparia, which began to develop in the
17th century, a time when tanners and silk artisans settled there .
Today the Aurora neighborhood is a multi-ethnic neighborhood. In the
early 2000s it had a bad reputation, which fortunately the current
redevelopment is reducing.
San Salvario — Extending south of the
centre, beyond Corso Vittorio Emanuele II to Corso Bramante, the San
Salvario district is separated from the left bank of the Po by the
famous Parco del Valentino, which surrounds the castle of the same name
whose shapes resemble those of castles French banks of the Loire and
hosts the Medieval Village, a late 19th century reproduction of
Piedmontese or Valle d'Aosta medieval villages. Today San Salvario is,
like the Aurora district, a multi-ethnic district. In recent years it
has become one of the places of Turin's nightlife with many clubs
located between Corso Marconi and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.
Nizza
Millefonti - Also called Molinette, the neighborhood extends south of
San Salvario, along the riverfront. There is the former Fiat Lingotto
factory transformed following an intervention by Renzo Piano into a
congress center with a large Auditorium. It houses the Giovanni and
Marella Agnelli Art Gallery and the Automobile Museum.
By plane
Turin-Caselle Airport (IATA: TRN), located 16 km from the
city center, can be reached in about 40 minutes by bus with departures
every 30 minutes. The Terravision airport transfer service is also
available, which connects the airport to the Lingotto railway station
with intermediate stops in via Botticelli, Corso Casale, Torino
Esposizioni and via Giordano Bruno. Tickets for Terravision buses can be
purchased online, at the airport and at bus stops. The railway
connection is managed by the Gtt, line A of the Metropolitan Railway
Service (SFM), with the end of the journey in the Dora GTT station, in
the Aurora district of Turin. The airlines operating domestic and
international flights as of 2012 were as follows:
Airfrance - From
Paris.
Ita Airways - From Alghero, Amsterdam, Bari, Lamezia Terme,
Moscow, Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria, Rome-Fiumicino.
Blue
Panorama - From Rome-Fiumicino and Lampedusa.
British Airways - From
London Gatwick.
Brussels Airlines - From Brussels.
Iberia - From
Madrid.
Lufthansa - From Munich, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf.
Lux Air -
From Luxembourg.
Ryanair - From Madrid, Paris Beauvais, Brussels
Charleroi, London Stantsed, Barcelona Girona, Bari, Brindisi, Trapani,
Ibiza, Malta.
Tap Portugal - From Lisbon.
Turkish Airlines - From
Istanbul.
Cuneo-Levaldigi Airport (IATA: CUF), where flights to
Cagliari, Casablanca, Bari, Munich,
Rome-Fiumicino and Palermo currently
operate, is connected by buses on the "Turin - Airport" line managed by
BMC (cost the ticket is €8 - INFOPOINT: Tel: ☎ , for more info see here)
and the "Turin Lingotto - Savigliano - Airport" line managed by Mano
Giuseppe (for information cell. ☎ ).
By car
Turin is easily
reachable via the following highways:
A4 from Trieste -
Venice - Milan
A5 from Geneva - Bern -
Aosta
A21 from Brescia - Piacenza
A6 from Savona
T4 from France continuing on the A32 from Bardonecchia
To get to Turin economically, you can use the Carpooling Turin
service.
On boat
Currently, on the river Po, in the Murazzi -
Moncalieri section, navigation by tourist boats is not available. Since
the flood of 2016 the boats Valentino and Valentina have sunk. The
Municipality has foreseen the replacement of the boats with a hybrid
(electric and diesel) catamaran, but the project is still in the
pipeline and will have to wait a few more years.
On the train
Turin has several railway stations. There are 3 main access routes to
the city:
Turin Porta Nuova station. Main station in Turin from which
international high-speed and long-distance trains depart. It is served
by Metro line 1.
Turin Porta Susa station. Second in importance, it
is an underground station, completed in 2014. It is located west of the
centre, just south of Piazza dello Statuto and adjacent to Piazza XVIII
December. It is the main station of the Metropolitan Railway Service
(SFM) and is served by underground line 1.
Turin Lingotto station.
Third in importance it is located south of the city. The station is
served by the lines of the SFM.
By bus
Most of the suburban
buses terminate at the Bus Terminal Bus Station in C.so Vittorio
Emanuele 131/H, near Piazza Adriano. The Eurolines and Sadem bus lines
operate there
By public transport
In Turin it is possible to move around by
underground, with the tram and bus network.
The automatic metro,
inaugurated in 2006 on the occasion of the XX Winter Olympics, runs for
15.1 km and has 23 stations. The two terminus are Fermi and Bengasi. The
subway passes through the Porta Nuova and Porta Susa railway stations.
By car
In Turin it is quite simple to get around by car due
to the basically quadrangular plan of the city and the large avenues it
has, although sometimes the system of avenues and side roads creates
confusion. Some streets in the center (suitably also signaled with LED
panels) are closed to private traffic at pre-established times and, if
it is a street reserved for public transport, for all 24 hours.
It is advisable to pay particular attention in the area north of Piazza
della Repubblica in the direction of the motorway entrance (Corso Giulio
Cesare, Corso Vercelli...) as pedestrian collisions occur with a higher
incidence than in the rest of the city.
Royal Palace (Piazza Castello). Tue-Sun 8:30-19:30. We visit the
royal apartments sumptuously furnished with furniture, clocks, porcelain
and silver dating back to a period between the 16th and 19th centuries.
With the same ticket it is possible to visit the Royal Armoury, the
Savoy Gallery and the Museum of Antiquities.
Royal Armory, Piazza
Castello 191.
Palazzo Madama (Piazza Castello). The facade of Palazzo
Madama was built by Filippo Juvarra between 1718 and 1721. Today it
houses the Museum of Ancient Art.
Museum of Antiquities, Via XX
Settembre 88/c.
Duomo (Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista), Via XX
Settembre 87. The only example of Renaissance architecture in Turin, the
cathedral was built between 1495 and 1502 on commission from Cardinal
Domenico della Rovere who entrusted the work to the Tuscan architect Meo
del Goat. In the basement it is possible to visit the Diocesan Museum of
Sacred Art.
Mole Antonelliana, Via Montebello 20. €8 for the
panoramic lift or €15 if purchased together with the ticket for the
national cinema museum (November 2018). Sun-Mon, Wed-Fri 9am-8pm, Sat
9am-11pm. Symbol of Turin, the construction of the Mole Antonelliana was
started in 1862 by Alessandro Antonelli. It was originally intended as a
Jewish temple. After a ten-year interruption due to lack of funds,
Antonelli was able to resume work following an agreement whereby the
Jewish community ceded the building to the Turin municipality, receiving
in exchange another building land. The building changed its destination
and was dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele II. It was completed by Costanzo
Antonelli, son of Alessandro who had died in the meantime. The mole
boasts the record for the tallest building in the world among those
built in masonry without the aid of reinforced concrete.
National
Cinema Museum, Via Montebello 20 - Turin, ☎ +39 011 8138 563,
info@museocinema.it. €11 full price or €15 if purchased together with
the ticket for the panoramic lift; €9 reduced. Sun-Mon, Wed-Fri
9:00-20:00; Sat 9am-11pm. It houses pre-cinematographic optical
machines, ancient and modern cinematographic equipment, objects from the
sets of some Italian films and other international memorabilia.
In
the central hall there is a series of rooms dedicated to different film
genres.
Inside the museum there is also a panoramic lift, with
transparent glass walls, which reaches a height of 85 meters from which
you can see the city.
Shroud Museum, Via San Domenico 28, ☎ +39 011
4365832, museo@sindone.org. Full price €5. Mon - Fri. 15:00-18:00.
National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento, Via Accademia delle Scienze
5 (the entrance is from Piazza Carlo Alberto 8, two minutes from Piazza
Castello), ☎ +39 011 5621147, fax: +39 011 5624695,
info@museorisorgimentotorino.it. Full €10 - Reduced €8. Palazzo
Carignano is home to the National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento,
the largest exhibition space of Italian national history, the oldest and
most important museum dedicated to the Italian Risorgimento due to the
richness and representativeness of its collections, and the only one
that has officially the title of "national". It is dedicated to the
Risorgimento era, during which the political unification of Italy took
place. The exhibits on display in the museum, which can be attributed to
a wider historical period, can be dated between 1706 (the year of the
siege of Turin) and 1946 (the birth of the Italian Republic) with
particular attention, as already mentioned, to the relics of the
Risorgimento, which instead are linked to a period of time between the
end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the First World War.
The collections are kept on the main floor of the building.
Egyptian
Museum, Via Accademia delle Scienze, 6 (Near Piazza San Carlo), ☎ +39
011 44 06 903, info@museitorino.it. Mon 9:00-14:00; Tue-Sun 8:30-19:30.
"The road to Memphis and Thebes passes through Turin" is how the
Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion said about the Egyptian museum in
Turin, second in importance only to the one in Cairo. Many of the
exhibits were collected by Bernardino Drovetti (1776 - 1852), at the
time when he was French consul in Egypt. In 1824 Carlo Felice bought the
diplomat's entire collection and placed it in the Guarini palace (also
known as the Palazzo dell'Accademia delle Scienze), which still houses
the museum today. The highlights are the monumental statues of the
pharaohs Amenhotep II, Ramses II, Sethi II and Thutmose III displayed in
the rooms on the ground floor while funeral steles and papyri are
arranged on the first floor. In the hypogeum it is possible to retrace
the history of Egyptian civilization and see the tombs of unknown
persons. On the ground floor there are the most famous tombs (of Kha and
Merit) and the imposing statues of emperors and deities. The museum is
partially under restoration until 2015: consult the museum website to
find out which sections are not accessible.
Valentino Park (Parch dël
Valentin). always open. Famous public park of Turin, located along the
banks of the Po. Inside the Valentino Castle (seat of the Faculty of
Architecture of the Turin Polytechnic) protected by UNESCO, the museum
of the medieval village and fortress of Turin, the botanical garden of
the University of Turin and the Fountain of the Months.
Galleria
Sabauda, Piazzetta Reale 1. Since 2014, the Galleria Sabauda has been
located in the Manica Nuova of the Royal Palace and exhibits paintings
that belonged to the Savoys. The original collection had 365 paintings
assigned to the Royal Gallery in 1832 by the will of King Carlo Alberto.
The current location is spread over 4 levels with about 500 works on
display. You can admire works by Beato Angelico, Piero del Pollaiolo and
Filippino Lippi, Mantegna and Paolo Veronese. In the section dedicated
to Flemish paintings, a canvas by Jan van Eyck stands out.
Pietro
Micca Museum, Via Guicciardini 7/a, ☎ +39 011 0116 7580,
info@museopietromicca.it. Full €3 Reduced €2.
Civic Gallery of Modern
and Contemporary Art (GAM), Via Magenta 31 (Metro station - Vinzaglio
stop), ☏ +39 0114429518, gam@fondazionetorinomusei.it. Full €10 -
Reduced €8. About 40,000 works (paintings, sculptures, decorative arts,
photographs) are exhibited in the Gallery. It also hosts temporary
exhibitions.
Cesare Lombroso Museum of Criminal Anthropology, Via
Pietro Giuria 15, ☎ +39 0116708195, museo.lombroso@unito.it. Full price:
€5, reduced price: €3, free: Wednesday and for holders of the Torino
Piemonte Museum Subscription or Torino+Piemonte Card. Mon-Sat
10:00-18:00 (May 2022). The museum brings together the private
collection of Cesare Lombroso, founder of criminal anthropology. Finds
such as anatomical preparations, drawings, photographs, evidence of the
crime and handcrafted creations of prisoners in prisons and criminal
asylums are collected. These objects, coming from different parts of the
world thanks to the shipments of Lombroso's pupils and admirers, were
studied in order to confirm the theory of criminal atavism, which later
proved to be unfounded.
Luigi Rolando Museum of Human Anatomy, Corso
Massimo d'Azeglio 52, ☎ +39 011 6707797. Full price: €5, reduced price:
€3, free: Wednesday and for holders of the Abbonamento Musei Torino
Piemonte or Torino+Piemonte Card. Mon -Sat 10am-6pm.
Fruit Museum,
Via Pietro Giuria 15, ☎ +39 011 6708195,
info-museodellafrutta@comune.torino.it. The Museum houses about 1000
plastic artificial fruits, made in the smallest details.
Museum of
Savings, Via S. Francesco d'Assisi, 8A, ☎ +39 800167619,
info@museodelrisparmio.it. Mon-Fri 10am-7pm.
Widespread Museum of the
Resistance, Deportation, War, Rights and Freedom, Corso Valdocco 4/A
(Metro 1 Stop XVIII December,), ☎ +39 011 01120780,
info@museodiffusotorino.it. Full €5 Reduced €3.
Palazzo Barolo, Via
delle Orfane, 7, ☎ +39 011 26 36 111, info@palazzobarolo.it. Full €5
Reduced €3. Tue. - Fri. 10:00 - 12:30, 15:00 - 17:30; Sat. and Sun.:
15:00 - 18:30. Palazzo Barolo is an ancient Baroque residence where the
Marquises of Barolo lived. In addition to visiting the halls of the
Palace, it is possible to visit the School and Children's Book Museum
(MUSLI) located inside.
Museum of Oriental Art (MAO), Via San
Domenico, 11. Full price €10 Reduced price €8. Wed. - Thurs. 11am - 7pm,
Fri 11am - 8pm. The museum houses around 2,300 works from the Neolithic
to the early 1900s from Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Islamic
countries.
Palazzo Cisterna (Palazzo dal Pozzo della Cisterna), via
Maria Vittoria, 12. Palace of Turin, in Baroque style.
Martinetto
Shrine, Corso Svizzera. It is located in Turin in Corso Svizzera at the
corner with Corso Appio Claudio and is the only surviving part of the
city's shooting range. It stands on the site where, between September
1943 and April 1945, many death sentences of partisans and political
opponents were carried out.
In 1950 Franco Antonicelli, Andrea
Guglielminetti and Pier Luigi Passoni obtained that the place was
recognized as being of national interest and placed under restrictions.
The current arrangement dates back to 1967, when the execution enclosure
was preserved, where there is a memorial stone, the plaque with the
names of the executed and a case containing the remains of one of the
chairs used for the executions. The shrine is surrounded by a garden,
while new buildings intended for civilian homes were built on the area
where the previous structure was developed.
The place is the main
city monument of the Resistance, the site of a civic commemoration that
takes place every year on April 5, the anniversary of the execution of
the eight members of the first Piedmontese military committee. It can be
visited on that date and around April 25 each year.
National Automobile Museum (MAUTO), Corso Unità d'Italia, 40, ☎ +39
011 677666, fax: +39 011 6647148. Full price €12 - Reduced price €10.
Mon 10am - 2pm Tue-Sun 10am - 7pm. The Museum houses about 200 original
cars of 80 brands from all over the world.
Giovanni e Marella Agnelli
Art Gallery, Via Nizza, 230 (Metro 1 - Lingotto stop. The entrance and
ticket office of the Art Gallery are located inside the "8 Gallery"
shopping center), ☏ +39 011 0925019, segreteria@pinacoteca-agnelli .it.
Full: €12 - Reduced €10. Thurs. - Sun. 10:00 - 19:00. The structure that
houses the Art Gallery is located on the roof of the Lingotto (former
site of the homonymous Fiat factory). The Pinacoteca inaugurated in 2002
houses, among other works, a collection of seven canvases by Matisse,
some works by Modigliani, Tiepolo, Severini, Picasso, Renoir, Manet and
two plaster statues by Antonio Canova.
National Mountain Museum,
Piazzale Monte dei Cappuccini 7, ☎ +39 011 6604104, fax: +39 011
6604622, posta@museomontagna.org. Full: €10, reduced: €7.
Basilica of
Superga, Strada Basilica di Superga 73, ☎ +39 011 8997456, fax: +39 011
8903833, reservations@basilicadisuperga.com. Basilica: free entry; Royal
Tombs: full price €5, reduced price €4; Royal Apartments: full price €5,
reduced price €4; ascent to the Dome: full price €3, reduced price €2.
You can visit the Basilica, the Royal Tombs, the Royal Apartments and
climb to the top of the Juvarriana Dome.
Villa La Tesoriera, Corso
Francia, 192 (Metro 1 Montegrappa stop). The Villa Sartariana commonly
known as Villa La Tesoriera is located within the Parco della Tesoriera.
It houses the "Andrea Della Corte" Civic Music Library.
Villa della
Regina, Strada Comunale Santa Margherita, 79,
drm-pie.villadellaregina@beniculturali.it. Full: Villa + Park €7 - Full:
Villa only €5 - Reduced: €2.
A come Ambiente Museum (MACA), Corso
Umbria 90, ☎ +39 011 0702535, info@acomeambiente.org. Museum entirely
dedicated to environmental issues.
"Le Nuove" Prison Museum, Via
Paolo Borsellino, 3, ☎ +39 011 760 4881, segreteria@museolenuove.it.
Full: €6, reduced: €4.
Lavazza Museum, Via Bologna, 32, ☎ +39 011 217
9621. full price €10, reduced price €8. Museum dedicated to the history
of the Lavazza company and the coffee supply chain.
Museolab of the
Fantastic and Science Fiction (MUFANT), Piazza Riccardo Valla n.5, ☎ +39
349 8171960, info@mufant.it. Full €8 Reduced €7. Tues. to Fri. 15:30
-19:00. The Museum houses rooms dedicated to science fiction (Star Trek,
Star Wars, Doctor Who), robots (Goldrake, Ufo Robot and many others),
anime (Dragon Ball and many others) and the "Gaf" Fantastic Art Gallery.
To access free admissions or reduced ticket prices in some museums,
it is possible to purchase the Torino+Piemonte Card at the Tourist
Offices and some museums. It is also possible to insert multi-day
tickets for Turin's public transport on the card.
Rai Radio and
Television Museum, Via Giuseppe Verdi, 16, ☎ +39 011 8104360,
museoradiotv@rai.it. Mon. - Fri. 09:00 - 19:00.
CioccolaTò, ☎ +39 075 5025880, fax: +39 075 5025889,
info@cioccola-to.it. In November. Chocolate party.
Turin Comics,
Lingotto Fiere - Via Nizza 280, info@torinocomics.com. spring - 12-13-14
April 2019. Exhibition and trade fair for comics.
International Book
Fair. In May. Exposure in the publishing sector.
Turin Hills
Festival. June. Theatrical performances in historical and unpublished
places in Turin.
VIEW Fest. In October. Digital Film Festival.
Alpha MITO club to club. In November. International music and art
festival.
Turin Film Festival. November December.
Artist lights.
Christmas time. several light installations by contemporary artists in
the main places of Turin.
A trip to the Basilica of Superga with the funicular from Sassi to
enjoy the splendid view of Turin from the top of the hill. Sassi can be
reached by tram 15. If you are sporty you can go to the back of the
Basilica where there is a plaque commemorating the Grande Torino plane
crash. It is an established tradition that any team playing in the city
against Turin first pays tribute to you; it is also very common among
visiting supporters to leave a scarf of their team in homage to the
fallen.
A walk on Via Roma from the Porta Nuova station to Piazza
Castello passing through Piazza San Carlo in order to fully grasp the
elegance of the city.
A walk from Piazza Castello to Piazza Vittorio
Veneto, walking under the arcades of Via Po. Continue on the Vittorio
Emanuele I bridge and stop in the middle of the bridge to admire the
view of the Po. Continuing we find the church of the Gran Madre di Dio.
Treat yourself to a moment of relaxation in one of the historic bars
near Piazza Castello, such as Mulassano or Baratti & Milano (founded in
1873, famous for its chocolate).
Play hit ball, a sport born in Turin
in 1986 and today considered a true specialty of the city. Many
associations offer free trials.
Turin Night Run, Monumental Arch,
Valentino Park, torinonightrun@gmail.com. free. Tuesday, 8.15pm. TORINO
NIGHT RUN is a community of runners who share a passion for running and
for their city. They offer collective workouts, open to practitioners of
all levels, every Tuesday evening, meeting at 8.15 pm in front of the
Monumental Arch of the Valentino Park.
Turin is not the most famous Italian city for shopping. In the city
there are numerous high-level shops and small shops. Also very common
are the shops with typical products such as wine. Bookshops are also
very popular in Turin, and there are many along the via Po.
Zona
Quadrilatero Romano - Fashionable neighborhood north of Piazza Castello
in the oldest part of the city, once disreputable, now redeveloped.
Today, many independent shops, many restaurants and bars are located
here.
Via Garibaldi area — Turinese claim this is the longest
pedestrianized shopping street in Europe; on it there are bars, clothing
and shoe shops.
Nike Store, Piazza Castello, 139, corner of Via
Garibaldi, ☎ +39 0342 571 73 15. Offers the range of sports shoes,
clothing and accessories from the Nike brand. edit
Via Giuseppe Luigi
Lagrange area — Pedestrian area with the Lagrange shopping centre.
La
Rinascente, Lagrange shopping centre, Via Giuseppe Luigi Lagrange 15
(near Via Roma), ☎ +39 011 517 00 75, fax: +39 011 517 14 63. Branch of
the chain of clothing and accessories stores of the same name.
Via
Pietro Micca area - Among the various multi-storey shops on this street,
one of the three Turin branches of Frav should be mentioned, a clothing
store.
Frav, Via Pietro Micca, 12 c. Branch of the homonymous chain
of clothing and accessories stores.
Via Po area — A street with
somewhat alternative shops under the arcades from Piazza Castello to
Piazza Vittorio Veneto.
Via Roma area — Along this street, from
Piazza Castello to the main railway station, you can find shops of the
most famous and expensive brands such as Hermes and Dolce & Gabbana, but
also chains with more affordable prices such as H&M, United Colors of
Benetton and Zara. In Piazza CLN, behind Piazza San Carlo, there is a
large La Feltrinelli shop. There is also an Apple Store on this street.
Shopping centers in the city
8 Gallery Shopping Center, Via
Nizza, 230 (Metro 1 - Lingotto stop; Lingotto FS railway station, or
Galimberti bus stop (connected by the Olympic Footbridge): lines № 1,
17, 18, 35). Mon-Thu 10am-9pm, Fri-Sun 10am-10pm. Long pedestrian
corridor with shops that shares the building with a department of the
Polytechnic University of Turin. Refurbished by Renzo Piano. Near 8
Gallery is Eataly. This mall has around 100 shops, 1 movie theater and
10 restaurants. It has a 4,000-space car park.
Millecity Center
Shopping Mall, Via Giordano Bruno, 142 (Stop 516 - PHILADELPHIA: lines №
14, 63), ☎ +39 011 3049146. This mall has 15 shops.
Parco Dora
Shopping Centre, Via Livorno, 51 (Stop 1765 - TREVISO: Lines № 52, 60,
60a, 67, 72, 72/), ☎ +39 011 437 27 57.
Shopping centers in the
suburbs
Auchan Shopping Center (Xstore Auchan), Corso Romania, 460,
Famolenta (Stop 516 - PHILADELPHIA), ☎ +39 011 2 22 13 11. Mon-Sat
8am-9pm, Sun 9am-8pm. Shopping Center in the Famolenta Suburb.
Le
Gru, Grugliasco (Easily accessible from the center with buses № 17 and
the less frequent № 66, but more convenient for returning to the
center.). Shopping center in Grugliasco, just outside Turin.
45°
North (45 North Entertainment Center), Via Postiglione (At the gates of
southern Turin, under the municipality of Moncalieri, in the direction
of Trofarello/Villastellone). A multifunctional commercial complex built
around 2003 and so called because the geographical parallel at latitude
45° North passes through it (although the latter cuts through the center
of Moncalieri, a few km further north).
Bookstores
Luxembourg
International Bookshop, Via Cesare Battisti, 7 (corner of Piazza
Carignano), ☎ +39 011 561 3896. From Monday to Saturday all day 9.00 -
19.00. Sunday 10.00 - 13.00 / 15.00 - 19.00. is the best-stocked library
in the field of books, newspapers and publications in a foreign
language.
Markets
Porta Palazzo, Piazza della Republica (north
of the Quadrilatero). Mon-Fri 06:00-13:00, Sat 06:00-19:00. One of the
largest open-air markets in Europe. Surely visiting it can be very
interesting.
Organic and natural shops
«NaturaSì» organic
supermarket, Corso Moncalieri 194 (stop 2027 - SICILY: Line № 66), ☏ +39
011 661 37 79, fax: +39 045 891 86 19 (central), info@naturasi.it.
Mon-Fri 09:00-13:00/15:30-19:50, Sat 09:00-19:50. Branch of NaturaSì
Italia Bio chain of department stores. Sale of organic food, dietetic
and macrobiotic food. Underground parking available for customers.
«NaturaSì» organic supermarket, Corso Orbassano 248 (bus stop 309 -
OMERO: lines № 5, 5B, 5V, 11, 58, 74, 94 or stop 136 - PITAGORA SUD:
line № 2), ☎ +39 011 309 77 46 , fax: +39 045 891 86 19 (central),
info@naturasi.it. Mon-Fri 09:00-13:00/15:30-19:50, Sat 09:00-19:50.
Branch of NaturaSì Italia Bio chain of department stores. Sale of
organic food, dietetic and macrobiotic food. Underground parking
available for customers.
Many nightclubs are concentrated on the riverfront known as Murazzi
del Po, especially in the stretch facing Ponte Vittorio Emanuele I, and
in the area around the Gran Madre church beyond the Po river. The
arcades of Piazza Vittorio Veneto and the districts of San Salvario and
the Quatrilatero Romano they are full of aperitif bars, restaurants and
nightclubs.
1 Vinicola Al Sorij, Via Matteo Pescatore 10c (Near
Piazza Vittorio), ☎ +39 011 884143. Wine and snacks.
2 Caffe Rossini,
Corso Regina Margherita, 80 (at the corner to Via Gioacchino), ☎ +39 011
521 4105. Caffe Rossini is a nice place with music frequented by young
locals.
3 Lab, Piazza Vittorio Veneto, 13/E, ☎ +39 011 8170669.
Modern bar with lots of young people and good music. A place to go
during the week when the city sleeps.
4 Caffe al Bicerin, Piazza
della Consolata, 5, ☎ +39 011 436 9325. Offers the classic Turin drink,
the Bicerin. A mix of coffee, hot chocolate and cream, it's a wonderful
treat on a frigid winter day. Located in the small but scenic Piazza
della Consolata, across the square is the baroque Consolata church.
5
Turin Brewery, Via Parma, 30, ☎ +39 011 2876562. 8pm-2am. There are four
beers produced on the premises of this brewery. Good menu with paired
recommended beers. It can be very crowded.
6 Caffè dell'Orologio, Via
Morgari 16/a (Zona San Salvario), ☎ +39 011 579 4274. The place is large
and beautiful. Remained with the original imprint and affects those who
enter for the first time.
7 Basso 30, via Sant'Agostino 30/a, ☎ +39
011 578 8288. Two ways to drink, eat and laze around until late.
Turin, after Rome with its "big noses", is probably the city with the
largest number of public fountains in the world where you can drink
water for free. These fountains called "Torèt" are bottle green in color
and have a bull's head where the water comes out. There are 813
fountains, from the center to the periphery and they are connected to
the Turin water network.
Modest prices
1 Lobelix, Piazza
Savoia 4, ☎ +39 011 436 7206. Aperitif €11. Mon. Sun. 18:30 - 02:00. In
this bar you can go for an aperitif, which means that with the purchase
of a drink, you receive unlimited access to a buffet of food. During the
aperitif all drinks, from water to cocktails, cost the same price. It
starts around 6pm and ends when the food runs out, usually around 9pm.
2 Gennaro Esposito, Via Giuseppe Luigi Passalacqua 1/g (Near Piazza
Statuto), ☎ +39 011 535 905. Pizza around €15. To sit at one of the few
tables in one of the best pizzas in Turin.
3 Fratelli La Cozza, Corso
Regio Parco 39, ☎ +39 011 859 900. Outside the city centre, this large
and popular pizzeria, brilliantly decorated, is perfect for large groups
of people. If you go as a couple, ask for a seat on the balcony to get a
better view!
Exki, Two locations in the center of Turin: Via XX
Settembre 12 and Via Pietro Micca, near Piazza Castello, ☎ +39 011 560
4108. The healthiest fast-food you can find in Turin, Exki serves fresh
salads, soups, savory pies and healthy appetizers at low prices. You
will also find a selection of fresh juices, organic beers and organic
coffees.
4 Tre Galli, Via Sant'Agostino 25, ☎ +39 011 5216027. Pretty
wine bar in the aperitif area. The service is good and the atmosphere is
young and relaxed, not too trendy. Here you can eat or just drink.
Typical dishes of Turin reinvented for the occasion.
5 Sfashion Cafè,
Via Cesare Battisti 13, ☎ +39 011 5160085. The owner and the decorations
are the same as Fratelli La Cozza: a fun kitsch. In fact, the owner is
Piero Chiambretti, an Italian actor. Good pizza and southern Italian
dishes. Perfectly located on the beautiful pedestrian piazza Carlo
Alberto.
6 Pizzeria Gonzales, Corso Francia 307, ☎ +39 011 779 0348.
Simple but good local pizzas.
Average prices
7 Giusti Mauro,
Via Maria Vittoria 21 (4 blocks east of via Roma), ☏ +39 349 151 3068.
Tues - Sun 12:00-14:00 - 19:20-22:00 Closed on Mondays. Frequented by
almost exclusively Italian diners, because it only accepts cash. The
menu does not vary between lunch and dinner. Good basic regional cuisine
at reasonable prices.
8 Arcadia, Galleria Subalpina (Piazza Castello
29), ☎ +39 011 56 13 898, info@ristorantearcadia.com. Italian restaurant
and sushi bar in a room located inside the Galleria Subalpina with a
hall with exposed stone columns. The Arcadia is part of Piero
Chiambretti's premises.
9 Trattoria Ala, Via Santa Giulia 24, ☎ +39
011 81 74 778, info@trattoria-ala.it. Meal with wine about €25.
Definitely try the cantucci with vinsanto for dessert. Beware that they
cook Tuscan food, so if you're looking for local food, maybe you're in
the wrong place.
10 La Spada Reale, Via Principe Amedeo 53 (near
Piazza Vittorio Veneto), ☏ +39 011 8173509. menu at €28. Classic
restaurant with typical Piedmontese dishes but also with a selection of
Tuscan dishes. edit
11 Trattoria Decoratori & Painters, via Francesco
Lanfranchi 28 (near the Gran Madre), ☎ +39 011 819 0672. Fixed menu €24
with drinks not included.
12 A Livella, Corso Belgio 50/A, ☎ +39 011
86 00 173. Elegant restaurant in the Vanchiglia district with moderate
prices.
13 Trattoria San Domenico, Strada della Pronda, 15/B, ☎ +39
011 701674, l.corona@libero.it. Tue.-Sat. 10:00-15:00 19:00-23:00 Closed
Sunday and Monday. Restaurant with Sardinian and Piedmontese cuisine.
14 Le Due Torri Restaurant Pizzeria, Corso Peschiera 309, ☎ +39 011
722486, pizzerialeduetorri@gmail.com. Pizza cooked in a wood oven and
pasta dishes are very good. Friendly efficient staff.
15 Il Povero
Felice, Via Fidia, 28 (near Piazza Massaua), ☏ +39 011 728928,
ilpoverofelice@virgilio.it. Good Italian restaurant.
16 L'Agrifoglio
Restaurant, Via Andrea Provana 7/E (Borgo Vecchio area), ☎ +39 011
8136837, fax: +39 011 8146227, info@lagrifoglioristorante.com. €35-40.
Wed-Sun 12:30-14:30 Tue-Sun 19:30-22:30. Piedmontese cuisine, seats 55
and is dog friendly; Visa, Mastercard and American Express credit cards
are accepted.
Ciccio Paranza, Via Bellezia, 29, ☎ +39 342 8441911.
€20/30. Tue-Sun 12:00-15:00 and 19:00-23:00. Street food style seafood
restaurant. Informal and friendly atmosphere. Excellent value for money.
Seaside tavern style, cheerful and even a little funny. Pans of mussels,
fried, grilled, catch of the day and delicious cakes.
High prices
17 Ristorante Del Cambio, Piazza Carignano, 2, ☎ +39 011 546690. A very
elegant and exclusive bar and restaurant. Located in the beautiful
Piazza Carignano, Del Cambio serves all the traditional Piedmontese
delicacies. He was supposedly the favorite of the famous Italian
politician Camillo Benso di Cavour.
18 Mare Nostrum, Via Matteo
Pescatore, 16, ☎ +39 011 839 4543. Excellent southern Italian fish
dishes. The antipasto misto is a must (the only one available on the
menu), consisting of a series of small dishes of the day.
19 'L
Birichin, Via Vincenzo Monti 16/a, ☎ +39 011 65 74 57,
batavia@birichin.it. Mon. Sat. 12:00-15:00 19:00-23:00. Il Birichin is
an elegant restaurant with its Chef Nicola Batavi. It offers various
types of complete menus with prices from €67 to €85.
Modest prices
1 Hotel Due Mondi, Via Saluzzo, 3 (Savoyard City).
Singles, doubles and suites. Breakfast included.
2 Casa Romar Bed &
Breakfasts, Corso Chieti, 5, ☎ +39 349 1804814, info@casaromar.it. room
per night €50/€70. edit
3 Hotel Nizza-Turin, Via Nizza, 9, ☎ +39 011
669 0516, reception@hotelnizza.to.it.
4 Hotel Bologna, Corso Vittorio
Emanuele II, 60 (opposite Porta Nuova station), ☎ +39 011 562 0193,
info@hotelbolognasrl.it. Single €50. Exquisite staff.
5 Doria, Via
Accademia Albertina, 42 - 2nd floor (Near Porta Nuova station), ☎ +39
011 8390601, hoteldoria8@gmail.com. Single €30, double €40. TV and
bathroom in the room, with very friendly staff.
Average prices
6 Holiday Inn Turin - Corso Francia, Piazza Massaua, 21 (opposite side
of the Piazza Massaua Metro Station), ☎ +39 011 740187, fax: +39 011
7727429, reservations@hiturin.it. 4-star hotel, modern and well
furnished. Reasonable breakfast buffet. Wifi available but slow.
Underground parking.
7 Hotel Artua'&Solferino, via Angelo Brofferio,
3 (near Piazza Solferino), ☎ +39 388 7537662, artuasolferino@tiscali.it.
50/200€. Rooms for 1/4 people. Wifi and parking are available.
8 Bed
and Breakfast Villa Rosa, Via Caraglio 127/6, ☎ +39 333 4289843, fax:
+393334289843, bbvillarosatorino@gmail.com. €50/€75. Check-in: 12:00,
check-out: 12:00. Located in a detached house with a private courtyard.
9 Hotel Concord, Via Lagrange 47 (Near Porta Nuova), ☎ +39 011 5176756,
booking@hotelconcordtorino.com. €80/€150. Check-in: 2.00pm, check-out:
12.00pm. Finely furnished and quiet 4-star hotel. Spacious rooms.
Excellent breakfast buffet. Wifi available.
High prices
10 Le
Petit Hotel, Via San Francesco d'Assisi, 21, ☎ +39 011 561 2626.
11
NH Torino Lingotto Congress, Via Nizza 262, ☎ +39 011 6642000,
nhlingotto@nh-hotels.com. From €100. Check-in: 3.00pm, check-out:
12.00pm. 4-star business hotel in a former Fiat Lingotto factory. Large
rooms with high ceilings. For those staying there is free admission to
the Giovanni and Marella Agnelli Art Gallery. On the roof of the
structure is the jogging area with free access.
12 Hotel Diplomatic,
Via Cernaia 42, ☎ +39 011 561 2444, info@hotel-diplomatic.it. The 4-star
hotel located in a historic building on Via Cernaia has 125 rooms. Wi-Fi
available throughout the property.
13 Hotel Victoria, Via Nino Costa,
4 (three blocks from Piazza San Carlo), ☎ +39 011 561 1909,
info@hotelvictoria-torino.com. €130/€250. Hotel 4 Stars. Junior suites
have two-person whirlpool tubs. Free wireless connection in most rooms
and in the lobby. Breakfast always included. Reception with
accommodation for dogs and cats. The hotel also offers its own bicycles
for visiting the city.
14 NH Santo Stefano, Via Porta Palatina, 19, ☎
+39 011 522 3311, nhsantostefano@nh-hotels.com. Check-in: 3.00pm,
check-out: 12.00pm. 4-star hotel located in the heart of the historic
center of Turin, this hotel also has a beautiful spa. A few steps from
the nightlife of the Roman Quadrilateral.
15 The Grand Hotel Sitea,
Via Carlo Alberto 35 (A few steps from Piazza San Carlo), ☎ +39 011 517
0171, fax: + 39 011 54 80 90, info@grandhotelsitea.it. Check-in: 15:00 -
21:30, check-out: 07:00 - 12:00. Decent restaurant, unfailingly friendly
and helpful staff. The rooms are well furnished and well maintained. The
hotel is located in the ZTL area.
16 Golden Palace, Via
dell'Arcivescovado, 18 (Near Via Roma and Piazza Solferino), ☎ +39 011
551 2727, receptiongolden@allegroitalia.it. A 5-star luxury hotel
featuring impressive rooms and halls.
17 AC Hotel Torino, Via
Bisalta, 11 (Next to Eataly Lingotto), ☎ +39 011 639 5091. This 5-star
hotel offers great prices for quality accommodation.
18 Boston Art
Hotel, Via Andrea Massena, 70 (Near the train station), ☎ +39 011
500359. Exclusive 4-star design hotel in the historic center of Turin.
19 Principi di Piemonte, Via Piero Gobetti, 15 (Round the corner of the
commercial and pedestrian area of Via Lagrange), ☏ +39 011 55151.
Check-in: From 2.00pm, check-out: 7.00am - 12pm: 00. Very elegant and
prestigious 5-star hotel located in the historic center between Via Roma
and Via Lagrange.
Turin can generally be considered a safe city. Be aware that the
Porta Nuova train station area can be quite dangerous on the eastern
side, not just at night; beware of pickpockets! This is especially true
in the part of the San Salvario district between Corso Vittorio Emanuele
II and Corso Marconi, the Valentino Park in the area adjacent to Corso
Vittorio Emanuele II, it is also advisable not to walk in the Park in
the evening after dark.
The areas near Porta Palazzo (Piazza
della Repubblica) can also be dangerous, especially in the smaller
streets.
Turin is home to two football clubs, Juventus and
Torino, who play in Serie A. Juventus play at the Juventus Stadium in
the north of the city, while Torino play at the Stadio Olimpico Grande
Torino which was renovated for the 2006 Winter Games. The rivalry
between the two clubs is intense, but nevertheless the coexistence
between the Turin fans of the two teams is peaceful. However, caution
should be observed in the vicinity of the derby, which is particularly
felt, and where riots can break out in the vicinity of the stadium
hosting the match. It will be noted that many Torino fans (the team with
the highest number of fans in the city) also tend to wear various types
of gadgets that identify them in ordinary life; however, this should not
be traced back to people who are violent or looking for trouble.
However, it is advisable to avoid wearing clothing whose colors and
motifs are attributable to one of the two teams when the other has a
match scheduled: black and white stripes for Juventus, and garnet red
for Turin. As a precaution, it would also be advisable to avoid the
colors of some other teams when they come to Turin to play against
Juventus, especially those of Milan (red and black stripes), Inter
(black and blue stripes) and Fiorentina (purple). Similarly, the shirts
of Atalanta (black and blue stripes) and Sampdoria (Blue with circled
crest) should be avoided when Torino is playing at home. The jerseys of
foreign teams are seen with indifference except those of Benfica
(Portugal) and River Plate (Argentina) due to the long partnership with
the Turin fans. The Liverpool (England) shirt is to be avoided due to
the memory of the Heysel stadium massacre.
Post
Poste Italiane, via Maria Vittoria 24 (Turin 1 post office),
☎ +39 011 8125667, fax: +39 011 8121752.
Poste Italiane, via San
Francesco da Paola 40 (Turin post office 20), ☎ +39 011 8126543, fax:
+39 011 835433.
Poste Italiane, Corso Giulio Cesare 7 (Turin Post
Office 22), ☎ +39 011 5211973, fax: +39 011 4360661.
Poste Italiane,
via Montebello 25 (Turin post office 23), ☎ +39 011 835416, fax: +39 011
837262.
Poste Italiane, Lungodora 71/A (Turin Post Office 70), ☎ +39
011 284241, fax: +39 011 284865.
Ancient age
There is little information, referring to one or more
villages, which would have arisen in the area of the current city,
starting from the 3rd century BC; settlements referable to populations
of Celtic-Ligurian lineage, known by the name of Taurini, often
confused, already in ancient times, with the Taurisci, who also occupied
the nearby valleys of Susa and Lanzo. Still according to ancient
historical sources, one of these settlements, called Taurasia or
Taurinia, was destroyed in 218 BC by the Carthaginian leader Hannibal,
after a strenuous resistance put up by its inhabitants.
On the
remains of the village, the Roman officers of Julius Caesar, in 58 BC,
first installed a military garrison: Iulia Taurinorum, then a real
castrum, with the aim of better supporting the Gallic wars [citation
needed]. In 28 BC. the castrum was erected as a colony, with the name of
Julia Augusta Taurinorum or, more simply, Augusta Taurinorum. In Roman
times the territory of Turin was the terminus of an important Roman
road, the via Gallica. In 312 AD, in its surroundings, the Battle of
Turin took place, for the succession to the imperial throne, between the
troops of Maxentius and those of Constantine I, who emerged victorious.
Medieval age
For most of the period between the 5th century and
the 15th century, Turin did not particularly distinguish itself from the
context of northwestern Italy, remaining a city of rather modest
dimensions. The city underwent, rather, a progressive growth which led
it, only at the end of the medieval era, to stand out: its political and
cultural importance was, in fact, definitively sanctioned with the
assignment of the title of capital of the surrounding territories and
with the foundation of the city university.
After the fall of the
Western Roman Empire Turin passed under the control of the Ostrogoths,
of the Eastern Romans. In 596 the city was occupied by the Lombards,
becoming the capital of their important duchy. the appointment of the
Duke of Turin, Agilulf as king of the Lombards, increased the prestige
of the city. Turin remained under the reign of the Lombards until the
descent of the Franks of Charlemagne in 773: the duchy was converted
into a committee (county) keeping Turin as the capital. In 888 the
county was absorbed by the march of Ivrea and Turin lost the title of
capital until 940, the date of the foundation of the March of Turin, a
large territory that included a large part of south-western Piedmont and
western Liguria. At the head of this march was the so-called "Arduin
dynasty" which, through the marriage between Adelaide of Susa and
Oddone, son of Umberto I Biancamano (founder of the House of Savoy),
brought the city under the influence of the Savoy dynasty. The city
experienced a period of great economic development, thanks to its
strategic position along the trade routes that connected Italy to France
and Switzerland. With the death of Adelaide, the brand fell apart and
Turin became a free municipality, undergoing various dominations. During
this period, Turin increased its religious prestige, with the
construction of numerous churches and the arrival of important monastic
orders, including the Benedictines and the Cistercians. In 1280 William
VII of Monferrato ceded Turin to Thomas III of Savoy, sanctioning the
definitive belonging of the city to the Savoy family. In 1295, with the
settlement in power of his son Philip I, progenitor of the cadet branch
of the Acaia, the capital of the county was moved to Pinerolo, where it
remained until the death of the last member of the Savoy-Acaia, Ludovico
di Savoia-Acaia , which took place in 1418. The territory returned under
the direct dominion of the main branch of the Savoy, in the person of
Amedeo VIII, who incorporated it into his state, the Duchy of Savoy. The
increased importance of Turin due, among other things, to the presence
of the Studium, established in 1404, led the duke to elect the city as
the seat of the Cismontano ducal council, the seat of the itinerant
administrative government of the duchy.
Modern age
In 1563,
after the peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559), by order of Duke Emanuele
Filiberto di Savoia, the city became the capital of the duchy of Savoy,
which had previously gravitated to Chambéry, and was equipped with
modern walls and a pentagonal citadel .
The seventeenth century
saw the city and the duchy grow with the acquisition by the latter of
Asti of Monferrato and an outlet to the sea, while the city went beyond
the perimeter of the Roman walls.
In 1706 Turin was besieged by
Franco-Spanish troops as part of the War of the Spanish Succession. The
city and the Savoy army resisted for one hundred and seventeen days and
thus repulsed the violent French counter-offensive.
In 1713 the
dukes of Savoy obtained the title of king, first of Sicily and then, in
exchange for Sicily, of Sardinia. In both cases, however, the two
kingdoms remained separated by the Duchy of Savoy, and therefore from
Turin, finding themselves only in personal union under the House of
Savoy. The Sicilian parenthesis actually lasted very little (seven
years), while the union with Sardinia remained so until 1847, when Carlo
Alberto di Savoia granted the so-called perfect fusion between his
domains and therefore Turin, even formally, became the capital city of
the Kingdom of Sardinia, even if in fact all the most important
decisions were already taken in Turin, also as regards Sardinia.
Contemporary age
On 26 June 1800, Turin had a brief visit from the
winner of the second Italian campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte, and shortly
afterwards preparations began for the annexation of Piedmont to France.
General Dupont, the extraordinary French minister for Piedmont, took
office in Turin and appointed a government commission made up of seven
members, later replaced on 4 August by Dupont's successor, general
Jourdan. On 19 April 1801 Jourdan suppressed all government institutions
and became General Administrator of Piedmont, assisted by a Council of
six Piedmontese members and finally, after the abdication of Charles
Emmanuel IV of Savoy, on 21 September 1802 the six departments in which
he had been Piedmont was divided (Turin belonged to the Po department
and, moreover, one of the three districts into which the department was
divided headed) were grouped into a French region called Au delà des
Alpes, of which Turin became the capital and remained so until to the
Restoration. During the French occupation, several works of art made
their way to France due to Napoleonic looting. According to the catalog
published in the Bulletin de la Société de l'art français of 1936 of the
66 works of art coming from Turin and sent to France in 1799, only 46
returned to Italy after the Congress of Vienna.
The Congress of
Vienna and the Restoration gave Piedmont the territory of Liguria
(previously the maritime republics of Genoa and Noli) thus laying, even
if unintentionally, the foundations of the process that will lead to the
unification of Italy in just over fifty years. Turin was the first
capital of the new unitary state from 1861 to 1865, after which the
capital became Florence and, from 1871, Rome.
The end of the 19th
century and the beginning of the 20th century saw Turin develop as an
industrial city: in 1899 Giovanni Agnelli, together with other partners,
founded FIAT, in 1906 Vincenzo Lancia the car factory that bore his
name, and together with them numerous other productive realities arose.
Italy's entry into the war in the First World War (1915-18) heavily
marked the population. In 1919-20 social conflicts worsened (the
so-called Red Biennium), driven by a sharp increase in prices. Many
factories, above all FIAT, were occupied by workers who in some cases
continued production independently. In 1922, with the march on Rome,
fascism conquered power. This period was marked by numerous squad
attacks against the opponents. In the city, the best known is known as
the Turin massacre: it began on 18 December 1922 (hence the square of
the same name) and caused the death of 11 anti-fascists and the fire of
the Chamber of Labor of the city, by the fascists led by Piero
Brandimarte.
After Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940, Turin,
a fundamental industrial center, was repeatedly bombed by the Allies:
the first attack took place on 11 June 1940, the last in 1945 (the
maximum intensity was reached in 1943) . In 1943 the wave of strikes in
large industry began in Turin which involved almost all of northern
Italy and marked the resumption of the anti-fascist movement. After 8
September Turin was occupied by Nazi and Republican troops who committed
numerous massacres, such as that of Pian del Lot, executions and
deportations.
The partisan formations of the Groups (GAP) and the
Patriotic Action Squads (SAP) were also active in the city. On 25 April
1945 the National Liberation Committee, which had its regional
headquarters at the Fiorio tannery, proclaimed the general insurrection
order and with it the Partisans took control of the city, putting an end
to the Nazi-fascist occupation. A few days later, on May 3, the first
allied troops also arrived.
After the Second World War Turin was
the symbol of Italy's economic growth, so much so that it managed to
attract hundreds of thousands of emigrants from the South of Italy and
from the Veneto due to the requests for manpower in the car factories
(about half a million in the twenty years 1951- 1971). In 1974, the city
reached 1.2 million inhabitants. The number of immigrants was so large
that the mayor Diego Novelli (1975-1985) defined Turin as "the third
largest southern city in Italy by population after Naples and Palermo".
Turin is located in the plain bordered by the rivers Stura di
Lanzo, Sangone and Po (the latter crosses the city from south to
north), facing the mouth of some alpine valleys: Val di Susa, which
connects the city with neighboring France through the the Frejus
tunnel, Valli di Lanzo, Val Sangone. Turin is called "the city of
the four rivers" because the Dora Riparia cuts it from west to east,
flowing next to the historic center.
The Po river accentuates
the division between the hilly and the almost flat part of the city,
located between 220 and 280 meters above sea level; the highest
point in the municipal area is Colle della Maddalena, at 715 m
a.s.l., near the Faro della Vittoria.
The city is at the
center of a mountainous amphitheater that encompasses some of the
most beautiful alpine peaks, the Monviso, the mountain on which the
Po, the Rocciamelone, and the massifs of Gran Paradiso, Mont Blanc,
and Monte Rosa, without forgetting the Matterhorn. , legendary
mountain for mountaineers.
Turin is 57 km from Asti, 79 km
from Vercelli, 84 km from Biella, 93 km from Alessandria, 96 km from
Novara, 98 km from Cuneo, 155 km from Verbania. The French border is
about 70 km near Colle del Moncenisio, while 206 kilometers separate
Piazza Castello from Chambery, 222 from Nice, 250 from Geneva and
314 from Lyon.
On 19 March 2016, UNESCO recognized the Po
park and the Turin hills as a biosphere reserve, while in 2020 the
FAO and the Arbor Day Foundation awarded the city of Turin the
recognition of Tree City of the World 2019.
According to the Köppen climate classification, Turin belongs to
the Cf range: humid temperate climate of mid-latitudes with hot
summer (on average 30 ° C is reached and exceeded 15 days a year in
Turin, and the average in July is around 23 ° C). From the nineties
onwards, the Turin summer has undergone a warming. Winters are
moderately cold, dry and often sunny. If we take into consideration
the climatic reference period 1971-2000, the average snowfall in the
hydrological year is 24.5 cm per year.
The absolute
temperature record, 37.1 ° C, was recorded at the Turin Caselle
weather station on 11 August 2003, due to an almost continuous
persistence of subtropical air masses. The years between 2000 and
2010 recorded many summers that were decidedly warmer than the
historical climatological average.
During the winter season,
the Turin area, as well as a large part of western Piedmont in the
plains, and southern Piedmont, is affected by the formation of the
so-called "cold buffer", following the influx of continental air
masses; thanks to the particular orographic conformation of the
western Po basin, called "cushion" can tenaciously resist the mild
winds that flow at medium-high altitudes, such as the sirocco,
occasionally causing snowfalls called "softening", due to the
gradual rise in temperature. The situation is very different in the
numerous hilly and pre-alpine areas, often several degrees warmer
than the plains and almost always free from cold stagnations. Taking
into consideration the data collected by the Hydrographic Office of
the Po (near Porta Susa), in the period 1961-1990, it can be seen
that, in the city, the average annual temperature was 12.3 ° C, with
the minimum, at January, 0.9 ° C.
The wettest periods are the
quarter from April to June, and the month of October; the most
pronounced and long-lasting minimum of precipitation is located in
winter, and is followed by the secondary minimum in July-August. The
rainfall in late summer, which on paper seems to represent a further
secondary minimum, is highly variable depending on the year.
Thunderstorms, on average about 20 per year, of which 2 with hail,
occur almost exclusively in the months from April to October,
causing precipitation of shorter duration, but of greater intensity.
On 1 July 1987, 60 mm of rain fell in an hour. On September 13,
2008, the Meteorological Observatory of Caselle Torinese, 14 km
north-west of Turin, recorded a thunderstorm rain of 220 mm in six
hours, an unprecedented amount known in the Turin plain. The amount
of annual rainfall, 833 mm., Has remained substantially unchanged
from the mid-nineteenth century to today.
Road network
Unlike the vast majority of Italian cities, which
have a concentric road structure, with a development of radial arteries
culminating in the city center, the site of the main public activities,
the road network of the city of Turin draws a checkerboard plan, its
streets they develop in a straight line crossing each other at 90° with
an orientation similar to that of the Roman castrum: a cardo maximus
(north-south direction) and a decumanus maximus (east-west direction),
crossing each other in the center of the castrum, and parallel to which
they develop all the other ways inside the castrum. This arrangement was
partly lost during the Middle Ages as in many other cities (and in fact
the modern Roman quadrilateral includes many non-perpendicular streets).
The checkerboard plan of today's city, however, derives mainly from the
expansion that took place at the beginning of the seventeenth century by
Carlo di Castellamonte. The checkerboard layout was not based on Roman
origins, but on the principles of the order of the Renaissance and was
intended to represent the new order and ducal power of Turin, the new
capital of the dukes of Savoy. Subsequent checkerboard expansions were
carried out by his son Amedeo di Castellamonte and continued for the
rest of the city's history.
It considerably facilitates
orientation and, thanks also to the large tree-lined avenues (which
naturally follow the guidelines of the other streets), also makes
mechanized traffic flow more smoothly, both for public and private
transport.
Avenues and courses
The tree-lined avenues of Turin
represent a distinctive element of the urban fabric of the city. They
are often compared, for history and characteristics, to the boulevards
of Paris. The street arboreal heritage of Turin develops along 320 km of
avenues, present in particular in the central area, and is made up of
about 60,000 specimens; the most represented species are plane tree,
lime tree, hackberry, maple and horse chestnut. The boulevards of Turin
are divided into two or three different carriageways: usually the oldest
ones, such as Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Corso Francia and Corso Regina
Margherita, have a central carriageway with at least two lanes in each
direction, divided by trees from the other two lateral carriageways,
called counter-vials.
The first plantings of trees in the city
streets date back to the 17th century: initially, the trees were planted
to delimit the avenues outside the city (but today incorporated into the
urban fabric) which connected the suburban residences with the city; the
most famous was the Allea Oscura, now disappeared, which connected the
Porta Nuova with the Castello del Valentino. The first urban avenue
proper dates back to the end of the 18th century, when a public
promenade was built between the military Arsenal and the citadel. With
the Napoleonic occupation of the early nineteenth century, the city
system, especially the military one, was completely revolutionized
according to the Enlightenment urban planning canons: in 1808 the
building council, together with the then mayor Giovanni Negro, drew up a
general urban planning project. The part concerning the avenues was
effectively begun starting from 1814, with some slight alterations,
mainly carried out by the architect Lorenzo Lombardi. The works
continued throughout the nineteenth century and, among the authors of
this increase, there was also the architect Jean-Pierre
Barillet-Deschamps who was director of the "Turin Gardens and Parks
Division" from 1858 to 1891. In the following years , the attention for
the tree-lined avenues grew, and with it the awareness of the importance
of these elements for the well-being of the city and its inhabitants.
During the twentieth century, numerous initiatives were promoted by the
municipal administrations for the development of tree-lined avenues,
also thanks to the collaboration of important architects and urban
planners, including Marcello Piacentini.