The northern Italian city of Torino, or Turin to many English speakers, hosted the 2006 Olympic Winter Games and is still enjoying the afterglow from the attention. Since winning the rights to host the games, this formerly industrial city has become a cosmopolitan center of food and design.
“Twenty years ago, Turin was still just a one-company town,” said Alessandro Bertin, a city spokesman. “But in the last few years, the city is being reinvented by young industrial design studios and high-end food.” Bertin was recently quoted in the New York Times.
Known as the home to Fiat and the soccer club Juventus, owned by the family that long controlled the car company, the city is now a hotbed of modern design and innovation. There are new fashion boutiques, modern restaurants and food markets that host some of the freshest and trendiest foods in Europe. The Quadrilatero Romano is a neighborhood that has been transformed in the past few years from a seedy and run-down district to a popular shopping destination full of boutique shops and nightclubs.
The old Fiat plant has been transformed by architect Renzo Piano into the architectural symbol of the new Turin. The old plant is now home to the Giovanni and Marella Agnelli Art Gallery, a glass orb conference center with its own helipad and the Le Meridien Art+ Tech Hotel. With all of its newfound trendiness, Torino has become a hot destination in Italy and is a great place to visit or find a home.
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