Torino

I'll be living in Torino while studying abroad. Torino, as you can see to the left, is located in the northern part of Italy. Torino sits along the banks of the Po River. Historians place the "founding of Torino" at around 28 BCE, as a military camp for the Roman Army. As the Roman Empire did in many of its cities, they laid out a grid pattern which still exists today. Torino quickly grew and hit a peak of 5000 people within its walls. However, being in northern Italy wasn't as awesome as it is today. When the Holy Roman Empire collapsed, Torino quickly fell into the hands of the Lombards (hence the name Lombardy for the nearby region) then the Franks.



The Savoy Family, through a series of marriages, gained control of the city in 1092 and remained a major part of the fabric of Torino and Italy for almost 900 years. The University of Torino was established in 1404 and ran until 1536, when it was closed. It was re-established in 1566 and has been going ever since. I think its interesting that the University has been going  for 445 years and the US has been around for 255 years. The Savoy had lost and gained power in torino several times but Emmanuel Philibert officially annexed Torino into the Duchy of Savoy in 1563. He expanded the city walls and added a plaza and a major street that still exist today, which i hope to bring pictures here shortly to show you.

Hall of the Rectorate at the University of Torino

In 1706, the French tried extremely hard to annex Torino and much of the surrounding area (remember, this is during a period of foreign occupation and as a result, it was like Germany and France and whatever other players wanted to join fought each other over Italy). The French engaged in the Battle of Torino where they besieged the city for almost 4 months, only to come up empty handed, which lead to the treaty of Utrecht, which re-annexed Torino into the Duchy of Savoy.
Finally, in 1802, Torino, along with the rest of Piedmont (the region that Torino is in) was officially annexed by the French. It was an important place for Napoleon and his army but was one of the first places for Napoleon to lose in 1814. In 1814 is also when the heads of the region began to call for unification. during the remainder of the 19th century, many of the important sites and locations in Torino were build, like the Egyptian Museum and the Mole Antonelliana, were build. I intend on visiting these sites in the future so i wont dive too far into them today.

Today, Torino is still the home to the headquarters of Fiat and thus is very important in Italian politics. It was home to the 2006 Winter Olympics and did a great job of parlaying the games into further success. I look forward to living here for 6 months. Do you have any suggestions or thoughts on where I should visit near Torino?