Turin

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

(Turino; Taurinensis)

The City of Turin is the chief town of a civil province inPiedmont and was formerly the capital of the Duchy ofSavoy and of theKingdom of Sardinia. It is situated on the left bank of the Po and on right of the Dora Riparia, which flows into the Po not far off. The surrounding flat country is fertile in grain, pasturage, hemp, and herbs available for use in the industries, while on the hills a delicious fungus, a species of truffle is found. The district is also rich in minerals (a species of gneiss and granite), and there are five mineral springs. The population is 270,000.

Besides the numerous elementary and intermediateschools, public and private, there are auniversity (see below), a musical lyceum, commercial and industrialschools. The Accademia Albertina (1652), for thefine arts, possesses the precious Mossi Gallery (Raphael,Dolci,Caravaggio,Rubens,Van Dyck,Giotto, Andrea del Sarto, Correggio,Luca Giordano, Guercino, and others, with cartoons ofLeonardo da Vinci and others). There is a royal academy of thesciences (1757) and a royal commission on studies in Italian history. The documents of the general archives go back as far as the year 934. Other institutions ofsciences and arts are the military academy, the Scuola di Guerra, the practicalschool for the artillery and engineers, and eight publiclibraries, among them the National (1714). The last-named contains the precious Bobbiomanuscripts and many Greek andEgyptian papyri; in 1904 it was ravaged by a fire in which valuablemanuscripts perished, among them some which had not yet been thoroughly studied. The Museum of Antiquities is of great importance, containing a number of marbles collected throughoutPiedmont besides one of the most completeEgyptian collections in existence, that made by Bernardino Drovetti, a French consul inEgypt. Worthy of note also are the Royal Gallery (Pinacoteca) and the zoölogical, mineralogical, geological, anatomical, and the richnumismatical museum (the king's medallion). Benevolent institutions are the Opera Pia di S. Paolo, which includes the Pious Institute (ufficio pio) of Alms for the poor and dowries for young girls, and theMonte di Pietà. Thehospitals are those of S. Giovanni (fourteenth century), of the Order of Sts. Maurice and Lazarus, the Opera Pia di S. Luigi (1792), the Ophthalmic Hospital, the Cottolengo (Piccola Casa della Divina Providenza, founded in 1827 for every kind of human misery, in which about 7000 sick, aged, and infirmpersons have found shelter), the Royal General Charity Hospice, the asylum of the Infanzia Abbandonata, the Reale Albergo di Virtù (1580). The Opera Pia Barolo has under its direction various charitable andeducational institutions. For the Rifugio and Oratory of St. Francis de Sales, seeBosco.

Churches

Thecathedral, dedicated toSt. John the Baptist, stands on the site of three ancient churches, and was built (1492-98) by Meo del Caprino, with an octagonaldome. Attached to thecathedral is thechapel of the Santissimo Sudario, built by Guarini (1694), where is preserved in a casket a cloth believed to be the shroud in which the Body of Christ was wrapped when it was taken down from the Cross, TheChurch of Corpus Domini records amiracle which took place during the sack of the city in 1453, when a soldier was carrying off anostensorium containing theBlessed Sacrament: theostensorium fell to the ground, while the Host remained suspended in air. The present splendid church, erected in 1610 to replace the originalchapel which stood on the spot, is the work of Ascanio Vittozzi. The Consolata, a sanctuary much frequented bypilgrims, stands on the site of the tenth-centurymonastery of S. Andrea, and is the work of Guarini. It was sumptuously restored in 1903. Outside the city, are: S. Maria Ausiliatrice, erected by Don Bosco; the Gran Madre di Dio, erected in 1818 on occasion of the return of King Victor Emanuel I; S. Maria del Monte (1583) on the Monte dei Cappucini; the Basilica of Superga, with adome 244 feet high, the work of Juvara, built by Amedeo IIex voto for the deliverance of Turin (1706), and which has served since 1772 as a royal mausoleum.

Profane edifices

The Royal Palace (1646-58) contains various splendidly decorated halls and an extremely rich collection of arms of all periods and all peoples, as well as the king'slibrary. Under the palace the remains of a Roman theatre were discovered. The Palazzo Madama stands on the site of the old decuman gate, which became a castle in theMiddle Ages and was repeatedly enlarged until, in 1718, it was finally prepared by Juvara for Madama Reale, as she was called, thewidow of Charles Emanuel II. It is now occupied by the state archives and the observatory. The Palazzo Carignano (1680), a work of Guarini, is the residence of the younger branch of Savovy-Carignano, now the reigning house. This palace was occupied by the Parliament from 1848 to 1864, and now shelters the Museum of Natural History. The Academy of the Sciences, formerly aJesuitCollege (1679), houses the Museum of Antiquities and the Pinaceoteca. The Palazzo di Città or City Hall (1669), the work of Lanfranchi, contains the Biblioteca Civica. There is also a Museo Civico di Belle Arti; and the Mole Antenelliana, 580 feet high, contains the Museo di Risorgimento (1863). The city itself is laid out on a very regular plan.

History

Before the Roman conquest of the Graian and Cottian Alps, Taurasia was already an important city of the Taurini, a Ligurian people. In 218 B.C. Hannibal destroyed it. UnderAugustus the conquest was completed, and the city was named Augusta Taurinorum; it probably continued, however, to form part of the dominions of Cottius, King of Secusio (the modern Susa). In thewar between Otho and Vitellius, it was almost entirely burned down. None of the Roman monuments have survived except the Porta Palatina, commonly known as the Towers, near which are the remains of a monument erected early in the second century inhonour of Attilius Agricola. In the fifth and sixth centuries the city suffered from the invasions of theBurgundians and of Odoacer, and in the Gothic War. After the Lombard invasion it became the capital of a duchy, and four of its dukes — Agilulfus (589), Arioaldus (590), Garibaldus (661), Ragimbertus (701) — became kings of the Lombards. When the Lombard kingdom fell, Turin became a residence ofFrankish counts until, in 892, it passed to the marquesses ofIvrea, from whom, through the marriage of Adelaide with Odo ofSavoy (1046), it passed into the possession of the latter house. In 1130 the city was constituted a commune, still remaining, however, under the influence now of the counts ofSavoy, now of the marquesses ofSaluzzo or of Monferrato, with whom, as also with the emperors, they were frequently atwar. From 1280 on, it was almost constantly under the power of the House ofSavoy, more particularly the Acaia branch (1295-1418). After 1459 it was the capital of the Duchy ofSavoy. In 1536 it fell into the power ofFrancis I of France, who established a parliament there; in 1562 Emanuel Philibert reconquered it. In 1638, during the quarrel of the regency, the city was besieged by the French and defended by Prince Thomas ofSavoy. Still more memorable the siege of Turin in 1706, again at the hands of the French, from which it was relieved by Prince Eugene and by the sacrifice of Pietro Micca. During the French occupation it was the capital of the Department of the Po (1798-1814), though it was in the hands of the Austro-Russian forces from May, 1799 until June 1800. In 1821 the revolution against Charles Emanuel broke out, and a provisional government was set up, the king abdicating in favor of his brother Charles Felix. After that, Turin was the centre of all Italian movements for the union of the Peninsula, whether monarchical or republican. The transfer of the capital of theKingdom of Italy from Turin toFlorence, in 1864, caused another, though not important, revolution (21, 22 September).

The most ancient traditions ofChristianity at Turin are connected with themartyrdom of Sts. Adventor, Solutor, and Candida, who were muchvenerated in the fifth century, and were in later times included in the Theban Legion. As to theepiscopal see, it iscertain that in the earlier half of the fourth century Turin was subject toVercelli. Perhaps, however,St. Eusebius,Bishop ofVercelli, on his return from exile, provided the city with apastor of its own. In any case St. Maximus can hardly be considered the firstBishop of Turin, even though no otherbishop is known before him. Thissaint, many of whosehomilies are extant, died between 408 and 423. It was another Maximus who lived in 451 and 465. In 494 Victor went withSt. Epiphanius toFrance for the ransom ofprisoners ofwar. St. Ursicinus (569-609) suffered much from the depredations of the French. It was then that the Diocese of Moriana (Maurienne) was detached from that of Turin. Otherbishops were Rusticus (d. 691); Claudius (818-27), a copious, though not original, writer, famous for his opposition to the veneration of images; Regimirus (of uncertain date, in the ninth century), who established a rule of common life among his canons; Amolone (880-98), who incurred the ill-will of the Turinese and was driven out by them; Gezone (1000), who founded themonastery of theholymartyrs Solutor, Adventor, and Candida; Landolfo (1037), who founded the Abbey of Cavour and repaired the losses inflicted on his Church by theSaracen incursions; Cuniberto (1046-81), to whomSt. Peter Damian wrote a letter exhorting him to repress energetically the laxity of hisclergy; Uguccione (1231-43), who abdicated thebishopric and became aCistercian; Guido Canale enlarged thecathedral; Thomas ofSavoy (1328). Under Gianfrancesco della Rovere (1510), Turin was detached from themetropolitan obedience ofMilan and became anarchiepiscopal see with Mondovì andIvrea for suffragans, other sees being added later on. In the time of Cesare Cibo thediocese was infested with theCalvinisticheresy, and his successors were also called upon to combat it. Cardinal Gerolamo della Rovere, in 1564, brought to Turin the Holy Shroud and the body ofSt. Maurice, themartyr.

From 1713 to 1727, owing to difficulties with theHoly See, the See of Turin remainedvacant. After 1848 Cardinal Luigi Fransoni (1832-62) distinguished himself by hiscourageous opposition to the encroachments of thePiedmontese Government upon therights of theChurch, and in consequence wasobliged to live in exile. Notable among his successors are Cardinal Alimonda (1883-91), a polished writer, and Cardinal Richelmy (1897), the present incumbent of thesee. Thedioceses suffragan to Turin areAcqui, Alba,Aosta,Asti,Cuneo,Fossano,Ivrea,Mondovì,Pinerolo,Saluzzo, andSusa. The archdiocese comprises 276parishes with 680,600souls, 1405 secular and 280regularpriests, 35 communities of male and 51 offemale religious, 15educational establishments for boys and 27 for girls. There are twoCatholic daily newspapers, "Momento" and "Italia Reale", two weeklies, and many other instructive and edifying periodicals.

CONTACT US |ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT