Turin

Understand

Turin was the first capital of modern Italy, and was the host of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. While it's not a famous tourist destination like Florence or Rome, the setting is pleasant, with the Po River flowing through the city, the genteel hills overlooking the city and scattered with pleasant villas and surrounded by the Italian Alps off in the distance. This is why the famous architect Le Corbusier defined Turin as "the city with the most beautiful natural location in the world".

Turin is an important city of technology and industry, and the FIAT automobile company is based here. The 'T' in the name stands for Torino; F I A T = Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, which translates as: Italian Automobile (manuFactory Turin.) It was also the birthplace to many important cultural and political movements in Italy.

Turin inhabitants are well known across Italy for their understatement and composure and the city reflects this attitude.

Many people consider Torino the European capital of Baroque: many palaces and churches were built in this style during the kingdom of the Savoia. It isn't the typical Italian city, with red and yellow buildings: is a bit more French, so much that is also called "the little Paris"; wide boulevards with white buildings make the city center more similar to Paris. Around the city, a crown of churches and castles, some up on a hilltop, some lost in a park, provide plenty of interesting views. Turin also has an aristocratic atmosphere - the centre is filled with posh 19th century cafes, regal-like arcaded mansions, debonair glittering restaurants, and grand churches.

Turin is home to the famous Shroud of Turin. More recently, it has become the home of the Slow Food Movement.