Torino

Torino (locally and in English called Turin) is a city of 872 thousand¹ within its own province-level officially defined metropolitan area of 2.278 million.² The urban area is smaller than the Metropolitan City and had a population of 1.726 million.³ It is located on on the left bank of the Po, where the Po is joined by the Dora Riparia (locally called the Dòira Rivaira), flowing out of an Alpine valley. Torino is in its own province-level Metropolitan City, in the Piemonte (locally called Piemont)⁴ Region of Italia.⁵

The tallest building as of early 2018 is the Regione Piemonte Tower (686 feet, topped out but not complete).⁶ Five buildings in the city and several more within the region together constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site honoring the Renaissance and Baroque royal residences of the Casa Savoia (House of Savoy). Those in the city are: the Palazzo Reale, built around a courtyard, opening onto gardens and forming the 'command center' of a complex; the Palazzo Madama; the Palazzo Carignano (with an oval rotunda on its main facade); the Castello del Valentino; and the Villa della Regina. Others within the Metropolitan City are: the Palazzina of Stupingi, a frazione of Nichelino (population 48 thousand⁷); the Reggia and the Castle of La Mandria in Venaria Reale (population 35 thousand⁸ and locally called La Venarìa); the Castle of Rivoli (population 49 thousand⁹); the Castle of Agliè; the Castle of Moncalieri (population 58 thousand¹ and locally called Moncalé); and the Castle of Racconigi.¹⁰ Sacro Monte di Belmonte, within the Metropolitan City, is one of several Italian Alpine places where there are late 16th and 17th century chapels intended for use by Christian pilgrims who could not travel to what is now ישראל (Yisra'el or Israel); together these constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site.¹¹

The urban area is served by the Torino Airport, one of the nation's busiest.¹²

The mathematician, Joseph-Louis Lagrange (né Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia) was born in Torino and did his early work here.¹³

Historical maps

External references

Skyline of Torino with the Alpi in the distance, in its province-level Metropolitan City, Piemonte, Italia

Footnotes

1. 2011 figure from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Italy, accessed February 16, 2017 and January 29, 2018.
2. 2017 metropolitan figure from the side bar of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_City_of_Turin, accessed January 31, 2018.
3. 2012 calculation in world-gazetteer.com, accessed February 13, 2013.
4. Piedmont in English.
5. Italy in English.
6. Emporis.com, accessed January 30, 2018.
7. 2017 figure from the side bar of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichelino, accessed February 16, 2017.
8. 2010 figure from the side bar of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venaria_Reale, accessed February 16, 2017.
9. 2017 figure from the side bar of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivoli,_Piedmont, accessed January 31, 2018.
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residences_of_the_Royal_House_of_Savoy, accessed January 31, 2018, and UNESCO, World Heritage Sites (Firefly Books, 2010).
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacri_Monti_of_Piedmont_and_Lombardy, accessed February 1, 2018, and UNESCO, World Heritage Sites (Firefly Books, 2010).
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Italy, accessed February 16, 2017. My criterion for inclusion: above 3 million total passengers.
13. John Stillwell, Mathematics and its History (2nd ed., Springer, 2002) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph-Louis_Lagrange, accessed January 31, 2018.