Hotels in Turin, Italy

A little about Turin...

Turin (Italian: Torino; Piedmontese: Turin pronounced [ty?'in]) is a major industrial city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the west bank of the Po River. The population of the city of Turin is 908,000 (2004 census); its agglomeration totals about 1.7 million inhabitants, while its metropolitan area has a population of 2.2 million of inhabitants (according to the OECD . The company Fiat automobile manufacturer has its headquarters here, so Turin has been nicknamed as the Automobile Capital of Italy. It was the first capital of the unified Italy.

Main Sights: The best known building of the city is the Mole Antonelliana, whose construction began in 1863 and which today houses the National Cinema Museum.

The Palatine Towers are among the best preserved Roman remains in northern Italy.

The Cathedral of St John the Baptist houses the Shroud of Turin, an old linen cloth with an imprint of a man, which is believed by many to be the cloth that covered Jesus in his grave.

Nearby is the former royal residence: the seventeenth-century Palazzo Reale, built for Madama Reale Christine Marie of France.

The Museo Egizio has the most important collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world after the Cairo Museum.

Turin has buildings of great historical and architectural interest: the Savoy Residences. In addition to the Royal Palace (the official residence of the Savoys until 1865) there are many palaces, residences and castles in the city centre and in the surrounding towns. Turin is home to Palazzo Chiablese, the Royal Armoury, the Royal Library, Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Carignano, Villa della Regina, and the Valentino Castle.

The complex of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in Turin and in the nearby cities of Rivoli, Moncalieri, Venaria, Agliè, Racconigi, Stupinigi, Pollenzo and Govone was declared in 1997 a World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

In the hills overlooking the city is the basilica church of Superga, providing a view of Turin against a backdrop of the snow-capped Alps. The basilica holds the tombs of many of the dukes of Savoy, as well as many of the kings of Sardinia. Superga can be reached by means of the Superga Rack Railway from the suburb of Sassi.

The city was the film set of the 1969 film The Italian Job and Deep Red (1975), directed by Italian horror filmmaker Dario Argento.

Universities: University of Turin (Università degli Studi di Torino) and Politecnico di Torino