Audio Guide: Turin Introduction Walking Tour (Self Guided), Turin

Mark Twain once wrote that Turin’s streets are “extravagantly wide” and its houses stretch “as straight as an arrow”-and he was not exaggerating.

Turin's story begins with the Taurini, a Celtic tribe whose name is tied to the word for “mountain.” They lived at the foot of the Alps before the Romans arrived. In 28 BC, the Romans founded Taurinorum here, designing it in their typical grid pattern, which still shapes the city center. The Palatine Gate is the best reminder of that era, as it once served as a main entry point to the Roman city and still stands as one of the best-preserved Roman structures in northern Italy.

After the fall of Rome, Turin passed through centuries of shifting control. Lombards and Franks left their marks, but it was the House of Savoy that truly set the course of the city’s destiny. From the 13th century onward, the Savoy family used Turin as a base, and in the 16th century they elevated it to the capital of their duchy. This new status brought urban transformation. Streets were broadened, squares carved out, and architects introduced a skyline of domes and palaces. Among them, the Carignano Palace became an emblem of the period. The palace was the birthplace of King Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of unified Italy, and the eventual home to the Italian Parliament between 1861 and 1865.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Turin grew in prestige, culture, and science. The Savoys founded institutions such as the University of Turin and the Academy of Sciences, linking the city with Europe’s Enlightenment currents.

The 19th century brought dramatic change with the movement for Italian unification. Turin emerged as a hub of political debate and leadership. When the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, Turin was chosen as its first capital. The founding of Fiat in 1899 transformed it into Italy’s motor capital, reshaping its economy well into the 20th century.

The streets that impressed Mark Twain still guide Turin’s story today. Walk them and you’ll find echoes of Rome, the elegance of the Savoys, the fire of Italian unification, and the hum of an industrial powerhouse. Step onto these “extravagantly wide” avenues, and you’re walking through the very heart of Turin’s past and present.