Metropolitan City of Turin

Not to be confused with Turin metropolitan area.
Metropolitan City of Turin
Metropolitan City

Palazzo Cisterna in Turin, the provincial seat.

Coat of arms

Location of the Metropolitan City of Turin
Country  Italy
Region Piedmont
Established 1 January 2015
Capital(s) Turin
Comuni 316
Government
 • Mayor Chiara Appendino (M5S)
Area
 • Total 6,827 km2 (2,636 sq mi)
Population (30 September 2015)
 • Total 2,283,749
 • Density 330/km2 (870/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISTAT 001
Website www.cittametropolitana.torino.it/cms/

The Metropolitan City of Turin (Italian: Città metropolitana di Torino) is a metropolitan city in the Piedmont region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin. It replaced the Province of Turin and comprises the city of Turin and 315 other municipalities (comuni). It was first created by the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990) and then established by the Law 56/2014. It has been officially operative since 1 January 2015.

The Metropolitan City of Turin is headed by the metropolitan mayor (sindaco metropolitano) and by the metropolitan council (consiglio metropolitano). Since 1 January 2015 Piero Fassino, as mayor of the capital city, has been the first mayor of the metropolitan city.

Metropolitan area

It has an area of 6,830 km2 (2,640 sq mi),[1] and a total population of 2,306,676.[2] There are 315 comuni in the metropolitan area[3] – the most of any province or metropolitan city in Italy. The second province with the highest number of comuni is that of Cuneo, with 250.[4]

Geography

The territory consists of a mountainous area to the west and north along the border with France and with the Valle d'Aosta,[5] and part flat or hilly in the south and east. The mountainous part is home to part of the Hautes Alpes, the Graian Alps and, in a much lesser extent, in the Pennine Alps. The highest point in the Metropolitan City of Turin is the Roc (4,026 m), located in the Gran Paradiso massif on the border with Valle d'Aosta. Several wildlife reserves are located in the province, including the Sacro Monte Natural Reserve in Belmonte and the Gran Paradiso National Park. The Residences of the House of Savoy, located in Turin and several other towns in the province, as well as the Sacro Monte of Belmonte are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.[5]

Transport

The Metropolitan City currently has a large number of rail and road work sites. Although this activity has increased as a result of the 2006 Winter Olympics, parts of it had long been planned. Some of the work sites deal with general roadworks to improve traffic flow, such as underpasses and flyovers, but two projects are of major importance and will radically change the shape of the city of Turin.

One is the Spina Centrale ("Central Spine") project which includes the doubling of a major railway crossing the city, the Turin-Milan railway locally known as Passante Ferroviario di Torino ("Turin Railway Bypass"). The railroad previously ran in a trench, which will now be covered by a major boulevard running from North to South of Turin, in a central position along the city. Porta Susa, on this section, will become Turin's main station to substitute the terminus of Porta Nuova with a through station. Other important stations are Stura, Rebaudengo, Lingotto and Madonna di Campagna railway stations, though not all of them belong to the layout of the Spina Centrale.

The other major project is the construction of a subway line based on the VAL system, known as Metrotorino. This project is expected to continue for years and to cover a larger part of the city, but its first phase was finished in time for the 2006 Olympic Games, inaugurated on 4 February 2006 and opened to the public the day after. The first leg of the subway system linked the nearby town of Collegno with Porta Susa in Turin's city centre. On 4 October 2007 the line was extended to Porta Nuova and then, in March 2011, to Lingotto. A new extension of the so-called Linea 1 ("Line 1") is expected in the near future, reaching both Rivoli (up to Cascine Vica hamlet) in the Western belt of Turin and Piazza Bengasi in the Southeast side of the city. Furthermore, an alleged Linea 2 is in the pipeline and it is supposed to cross Turin from North to South.

The area has an international airport known as Caselle International Airport Sandro Pertini (TRN), located in Caselle Torinese, about 13 km (8 mi) from the centre of Turin and connected to the city by a railway service (from Dora Station) and a bus service (from Porta Nuova and Porta Susa railway stations).

As of 2010 also a bicycle sharing system, the ToBike, is operational.

The metropolitan area is served by Turin metropolitan railway service.

A view of Turin.

Metropolitan Council

The new Metro municipalities, giving large urban areas the administrative powers of a province, are conceived for improving the performance of local administrations and to slash local spending by better coordinating the municipalities in providing basic services (including transport, school and social programs) and environment protection.[6] In this policy framework, the Mayor of Turin is designated to exercise the functions of Metropolitan mayor, presiding over a Metropolitan Council formed by 18 mayors of municipalities within the Metro municipality.

The first Metropolitan Council of the City was elected on 12 October 2014:

Group Seats
PD
13 / 18
M5S
2 / 18
FI
1 / 18
NCD
1 / 18
Others
1 / 18

See also

References

  1. ↑ "ISTAT - Superficie dei comuni, province e regioni al Censimento 2011". ISTAT (in Italian). Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "Dato ISTAT al 31 dicembre 2013". ISTAT (in Italian). Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "Comunis in Turin" (in Italian). Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Province of Turin". Energeia. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Turin - Piedmont". ITALIA. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  6. ↑ Vittorio Ferri (2009). "Metropolitan cities in Italy. An institution of federalism" (PDF). University of Milan-Bicocca. Retrieved 23 May 2011.

Coordinates: 45°04′00″N 7°42′00″E / 45.0667°N 7.7000°E / 45.0667; 7.7000

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