Turin
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(Turino; Taurinensis)
The City of Turin is the chief town of a civil province in
Piedmont
and was formerly the capital of the Duchy of
Savoy
and of the
Kingdom 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 intermediate
schools
, public and private, there are a
university
(see below), a musical lyceum, commercial and industrial
schools
. The Accademia Albertina (1652), for the
fine arts
, possesses the precious Mossi Gallery (Raphael,
Dolci
,
Caravaggio
,
Rubens
,
Van Dyck
,
Giotto
, Andrea del Sarto, Correggio,
Luca Giordano
, Guercino, and others, with cartoons of
Leonardo da Vinci
and others). There is a royal academy of the
sciences
(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 of
sciences
and arts are the military academy, the Scuola di Guerra, the practical
school
for the artillery and engineers, and eight public
libraries
, among them the National (1714). The last-named contains the precious Bobbio
manuscripts
and many Greek and
Egyptian
papyri; in 1904 it was ravaged by a fire in which valuable
manuscripts
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 throughout
Piedmont
besides one of the most complete
Egyptian
collections in existence, that made by Bernardino Drovetti, a French consul in
Egypt
. Worthy of note also are the Royal Gallery (Pinacoteca) and the zoölogical, mineralogical, geological, anatomical, and the rich
numismatical
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 the
Monte di Pietà
. The
hospitals
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 infirm
persons
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 and
educational institutions
. For the Rifugio and Oratory of St. Francis de Sales, see
Bosco
.
Churches
The
cathedral
, dedicated to
St. John the Baptist
, stands on the site of three ancient churches, and was built (1492-98) by Meo del Caprino, with an octagonal
dome
. Attached to the
cathedral
is the
chapel
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, The
Church
of Corpus Domini records a
miracle
which took place during the sack of the city in 1453, when a soldier was carrying off an
ostensorium
containing the
Blessed Sacrament
: the
ostensorium
fell to the ground, while the Host remained suspended in air. The present splendid church, erected in 1610 to replace the original
chapel
which stood on the spot, is the work of Ascanio Vittozzi. The Consolata, a sanctuary much frequented by
pilgrims
, stands on the site of the tenth-century
monastery
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 a
dome
244 feet high, the work of Juvara, built by Amedeo II
ex 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's
library
. 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 the
Middle Ages
and was repeatedly enlarged until, in 1718, it was finally prepared by Juvara for Madama Reale, as she was called, the
widow
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 a
Jesuit
College
(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. Under
Augustus
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 the
war
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 in
honour
of Attilius Agricola. In the fifth and sixth centuries the city suffered from the invasions of the
Burgundians
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 of
Frankish
counts until, in 892, it passed to the marquesses of
Ivrea
, from whom, through the marriage of Adelaide with Odo of
Savoy
(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 of
Savoy
, now of the marquesses of
Saluzzo
or of Monferrato, with whom, as also with the emperors, they were frequently at
war
. From 1280 on, it was almost constantly under the power of the House of
Savoy
, more particularly the Acaia branch (1295-1418). After 1459 it was the capital of the Duchy of
Savoy
. In 1536 it fell into the power of
Francis 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 of
Savoy
. 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 the
Kingdom of Italy
from Turin to
Florence
, in 1864, caused another, though not important, revolution (21, 22 September).
The most ancient traditions of
Christianity
at Turin are connected with the
martyrdom
of Sts. Adventor, Solutor, and Candida, who were much
venerated
in the fifth century, and were in later times included in the Theban Legion. As to the
episcopal see
, it is
certain
that in the earlier half of the fourth century Turin was subject to
Vercelli
. Perhaps, however,
St. Eusebius
,
Bishop
of
Vercelli
, on his return from exile, provided the city with a
pastor
of its own. In any case St. Maximus can hardly be considered the first
Bishop
of Turin, even though no other
bishop
is known before him. This
saint
, many of whose
homilies
are extant, died between 408 and 423. It was another Maximus who lived in 451 and 465. In 494 Victor went with
St. Epiphanius
to
France
for the ransom of
prisoners
of
war
. 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. Other
bishops
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 the
monastery
of the
holy
martyrs
Solutor, Adventor, and Candida; Landolfo (1037), who founded the Abbey of Cavour and repaired the losses inflicted on his Church by the
Saracen
incursions; Cuniberto (1046-81), to whom
St. Peter Damian
wrote a letter exhorting him to repress energetically the laxity of his
clergy
; Uguccione (1231-43), who abdicated the
bishopric
and became a
Cistercian
; Guido Canale enlarged the
cathedral
; Thomas of
Savoy
(1328). Under Gianfrancesco della Rovere (1510), Turin was detached from the
metropolitan
obedience of
Milan
and became an
archiepiscopal see
with Mondovì and
Ivrea
for suffragans, other sees being added later on. In the time of Cesare Cibo the
diocese
was infested with the
Calvinistic
heresy
, 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 of
St. Maurice
, the
martyr
.
From 1713 to 1727, owing to difficulties with the
Holy See
, the See of Turin remained
vacant
. After 1848 Cardinal Luigi Fransoni (1832-62) distinguished himself by his
courageous
opposition to the encroachments of the
Piedmontese
Government upon the
rights
of the
Church
, and in consequence was
obliged
to live in exile. Notable among his successors are Cardinal Alimonda (1883-91), a polished writer, and Cardinal Richelmy (1897), the present incumbent of the
see
. The
dioceses
suffragan to Turin are
Acqui
, Alba,
Aosta
,
Asti
,
Cuneo
,
Fossano
,
Ivrea
,
Mondovì
,
Pinerolo
,
Saluzzo
, and
Susa
. The archdiocese comprises 276
parishes
with 680,600
souls
, 1405 secular and 280
regular
priests
, 35 communities of male and 51 of
female
religious, 15
educational establishments
for boys and 27 for girls. There are two
Catholic
daily newspapers, "Momento" and "Italia Reale", two weeklies, and many other instructive and edifying periodicals.
Sources
CAPPELLETTI,
Chiese d'Italia,
XIV; SAVIO,
Gli antichi vescovi Piemonte
(Turin, 1899), 281; CIBRARIO,
Storia di Torino
(Turin, 1846); ISAIA,
Torino e dintorni
(Turin, 1909); SEMERIA,
Storia della chiesa di Torino
(Turin, 1840);
Guido Commerciale ed amministrativa di Torino
(Turin, 1911);
Cenni storico-statistici delle istituzioni publiche e private di beneficenza e di assistenza del Commune di Torino
(Turin' 1906); RONDOLINO,
I Visconti di Torino
, in
Bollettino Storico Subalpino
(Pinerolo, 1901-02).
About this page
APA citation.
Turin.
(1912).
In
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15092d.htm
MLA citation.
"Turin."
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 15.
New York: Robert Appleton Company,
1912.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15092d.htm>.
Ecclesiastical approbation.
Nihil Obstat.
October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
Imprimatur.
+John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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