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Turin, which is the capital of the Piedmont
region and the fourth largest city in Italy, is located at the
foot of the Alps where the Po and the Dora Riparia rivers meet
in north western Italy. The city itself was originally founded
in pre-Roman times by the Taurini and was initially called
Taurisia. During the Roman period it was made a military camp
and renamed Augusta Taurinorum. It
wasn’t until the 1500s that Turin started to emerge as an
important city in Italy and even the world. It was during this
time that the Savoy family moved to Turin and made it the
official residence of the Savoy’s. During the middle of the 16th
century Duke Emanuele Filiberto won back his lands by defeating
the French at the Battle of San Quintino and in 1563 he made
Turin the official capital of the Savoy dynasty.
During the Risorgimento in the 19th
century Italy finally became a unified nation and on March 17,
1861 the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed and Turin was named the
capital of the newly unified Italy. In 1865 the capital of Italy
was moved to Florence for a brief time until 1871 when it was
transferred to Rome.
It didn’t take Turin long to restore its
prominence. In 1899 Fiat (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino)
was founded and Turin slowly transformed itself into an
industrial center and it remains Italy’s car manufacturing
capital.
There are many interesting facts about
Turin that make it an attractive place to visit. Some of the
more notable ones include that it is considered by many as the
Baroque capital of the world. This is due in part to the many
Royal residences, church domes and architectural masterpieces
created during the 17th and 18th centuries by architects like,
Guarino Guarini and Filippo Juvarra.
In 1786 the aperitif was born in Turin
when Antonio Benedetto Carpano took white wine and added herbs
and spices to it to create vermouth. Many people may not realize
this, but Turin has a long tradition for making chocolate. One
of the famous drinks in the area is called a bicerin. This was
created in the 19th century and it consists of melted chocolate,
coffee and milk.
If you are looking for chocolate to eat
then you will want to try the famous gianduja (gianduia), which
is a blend of cocoa, sugar and hazelnuts. Turin was also the
birthplace of Italian cinema when Giovanni Pastrone made his
groundbreaking feature Cabiria in 1914. |
