Thousands of years of history
Like every important European capital, Torino is founded on a stratification of cultures, populations and civilizations. The city is dotted with evidence of its past that tells a story that began over two thousand years ago. The oldest documents mention a small village at the foot of the Alps called Taurasia, which was destroyed by Hannibal in 218 B.C. On these ruins, in 28 A.D, the Romans built Augusta Taurinorum: a colony with a grid pattern of streets, the ancient origins of today’s urban traffic layout with streets that are parallel and perpendicular to each other.
In 1280 the Savoys conquered the city (which in the intervening thousand years had become an important Municipality, a center of production and exchange) and in 1563 they transferred their capital from Chambéry to Torino. The city was beautified thanks to the efforts of great architects of the time: Ascanio Vitozzi, Carlo and Amedeo di Castellamonte, Guarino Guarini, Filippo Juvarra and Benedetto Alfieri.
But it was the Risorgimento, with the accession to the throne of King Carlo Alberto - followed by his son Vittorio Emanuele II - and the diplomatic talents of Camillo Benso, the Count of Cavour, that gave the city its leading role in history, guiding the process that led to the Unity of Italy.
In 1861 Torino became the first Capital of the Kingdom of Italy; and the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Unity of Italy will take place here in 2011. At the end of the 19th century, the pulsing heart of the city passed from politics to industry: in 1899 – ten years after the inauguration of the Mole Antonelliana – 33-year-old Giovanni Agnelli founded Fiat, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino. World War II took a heavy toll on the city, but it emerged with a new spirit and attracted new inhabitants from all over Italy.
This new spirit and these new inhabitants are the distinctive traits of today’s Torino as well, for the city has become a fulcrum of exchange, comparison and innovation.
