Turin (redirected from Augusta Taurinorum)

Turin (tr`ĭn, tyr`–, tyrĭn`), Ital. Torino, city (1991 pop. 962,507), capital of Piedmont and of Turin prov., NW Italy, at the confluence of the Po and Dora Riparia rivers. It is a major transportation hub and Italy's most important industrial center. Manufactures include motor vehicles, tires, textiles, clothing, machinery, electronic equipment, leather goods, furniture, chemicals, and vermouth. It is an international fashion center.

The most important Roman town of the W Po valley, Turin was later a Lombard duchy and then a Frankish county. In spite of the claims of the house of Savoy, it remained a free commune in the 12th and 13th cent. It passed c.1280 to the house of Savoy (see Savoy, house of). Occupied (1536–62) by the French, it was restored to the dukes of Savoy and became their capital. From 1720 to 1861 it was the capital of the kingdom of Sardinia. During the War of the Spanish Succession it suffered a long siege, which ended with the victory of Eugene of Savoy over the French. In 1798, Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy was obliged by the French to abdicate and to abandon Turin, but Victor Emmanuel I returned in 1814, and the city became the center of Italian national aspirations. From 1861 to 1865 it was the capital of the new Italian kingdom.

Because of its industrial importance, Turin suffered heavy damage in World War II; most of the important remaining buildings date from the 17th–19th cent. Of note are the Palace of the Marquesses of Caraglio e Senantes (17th cent.); the Palazzo Madama (begun late 13th cent.); the royal palace (17th cent.), which houses a fine collection of arms and armor; the Academy of Science, which contains the rich Egyptian Museum; and the Car Museum. The Cathedral of San Giovanni (late 15th cent.) has a casket containing a shroud in which some believe Jesus was buried. Carbon-14 dating (1988) suggested that it is a medieval forgery, but the testing may have been done on a sample from a repaired area. Analysis of pollen grains and plant images on the shroud (1999) indicated a date prior to the 8th cent., and other tests have suggested the shroud is pre-medieval. On a hill overlooking the city is the basilica of Superga (1717–31), containing the tombs of many of the dukes of Savoy and kings of Sardinia. Turin has a university and a well-known polytechnic institute (1859).

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Turin

 Italian Torino

City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 857,433), Piedmont region, northwestern Italy. Located on the Po River, it was founded by the Taurini. It was partly destroyed by Hannibal in 218 BC. It was made a Roman military colony under Emperor Augustus. A part of the Lombard duchy in the 6th century AD, it became the seat of government under Charlemagne (742–814). It passed to the house of Savoy in 1046. The capital of the kingdom of Sardinia in 1720, Turin was occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars. The political and intellectual centre of the Risorgimento movement, it served as the first capital of united Italy (1861–65). During World War II Turin sustained heavy damage from Allied air raids but was rebuilt. It is the focus of Italy's automotive industry and an international fashion centre. The Shroud of Turin has been housed in the 15th-century cathedral there since the 16th century.

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Turin

a city in NW Italy, capital of Piedmont region, on the River Po: became capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1720; first capital (1861--65) of united Italy; university (1405); a major industrial centre, producing most of Italy's cars. Pop.: 865 263 (2001)

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Turin 

(Torino), a city in northwestern Italy; principal city of the region of Piedmont and capital of Turin Province.

Turin is the fourth largest city in Italy, after Rome, Milan, and Naples, with a population of 1.2 million (1974). The city is located at the influx of the Dora Riparia into the Po River in the Po-Venetian Plain and lies in the foothills of the Western Alps on the approaches to the Alpine passes. Turin’s geographic location has enabled it to become an important transportation junction and the second largest industrial center in Italy (after Milan), as well as a trade and financial center.

Heavy industry predominates in the city and adjacent suburbs, such as Mirafiori. The enterprises of the Fiat concern lead Turin’s heavy industry: about one-half of the city’s indusrial workers are employed by Fiat. The nucleus of the entire complex consists of the automotive plants, which account for 80 percent of Italy’s total production of motor vehicles. Fiat also owns metallurgical, aviation, railroad-car, and tractor plants and produces marine engines. The second largest industrial complex in Turin is the Riv firm, which produces ball bearings and ball-bearing manufacturing equipment. Turin also has many machine-building plants belonging to other firms, enterprises producing rubber and cable, a chemical industry that produces sulfuric acid, dyes, and chemical fibers, and a pharmaceutical industry. Older sectors of Turin’s industry still remain important, including textiles, garment making, printing, and food processing, which includes the wine-growing and confectionery industries. Turin is the site of a university founded in the 15th century.

In antiquity, Turin was a settlement of the Taurini. Under the emperor Augustus, it was the Roman colony of Augusta Tauri-norum. In the sixth and seventh centuries it was the center of a duchy of Langobardia. At the end of the eighth century Turin became part of the Carolingian state; it was the principal city of a county and then of a marquessate. A commune was established in the 12th century. Along with other Lombard states struggling for independence, Turin joined the Lombard League in 1226. In the 13th century the city became part of Savoy. Turin was occupied by French troops from 1536 to 1562, and in 1563 it became the capital of the duchy of Savoy.

From 1720 to 1860 Turin was, with interruptions, the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia; from 1861 to 1865 it was the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Turin was one of the centers of the bourgeois-democratic and national liberation movements during the bourgeois revolutions of 1821 and 1848–49. The rapid economic growth of Turin began in the 19th century. The city became an important center of the workers’ movement and was the site of an antiwar strike in 1915, the Uprising of Turin in 1917, and other protests. In 1919 the Marxist group Ordine Nuovo was formed in Turin; it played a major role in founding the Italian Communist Party in 1921. During the Nazi occupation from 1943 to 1945, Turin was a center of the resistance movement. The city was liberated by Italian partisans in April 1945.

N. K. KISOVSKAIA

Turin’s rectilinear street plan is based on the layout of an ancient Roman military camp. The city’s architectural monuments include an ancient Roman theater and the Palatine Gate. Turin’s Renaissance cathedral, which was designed by Meo del Caprino, G. Guarini, and F. Juvarra, was begun in 1490 and completed in the 18th century. The baroque structures of G. Guarini, full of dynamic tension, include the churches of San Lorenzo (1668–87) and San Filippo Neri (begun 1675) and the Palazzo Carignano (begun 1679). Many piazzas and wide boulevards were built from the 17th to the 20th century, giving the center of Turin a particularly imposing appearance. These include Piazza San Carlo (1638), designed by C. da Castellamonte, and the rebuilt main street, Via Roma (1931–37), designed by M. Piacentini and others.

Noteworthy contemporary buildings include the Fiat plant (1926; engineer, M. Trueco) and structures designed by P. L. Nervi, including the new halls of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni and the “Italia ‘61” exhibition complex, which features the Palace of Labor (1961; co-designer, A. Nervi). In the 1950’s, new housing developments were built—La Falchora (G. Astengo, S. Molli-Boffa, and others) and Le Valette (N. Renacco and others). Two baroque structures designed by F. Juvarra are located near Turin—the church of Superga (1715–31) and the hunting palace of Stupinigi (1729–34). Turin’s museums include the Museum of Antiquities, the Albertine Academy of Fine Arts, the Egyptian Museum, and the Gallería Sabauda.

REFERENCES

Bernardi, M. Torino e isuoi dintorni, 2nd ed. [Rome, 1957.] Passanti, M. Lo sviluppo urbanístico di Torino dalla fondazioneall’unità d’ïtalia. Turin, 1969.