Torino : Italy
In the hills above the city is the basilica church of Superga, from where there is a splendid panorama of Turin against a backdrop of the snow-capped Alps. Superga can be reached by means of the Superga Rack Railway from the suburb of Sassi.
The city is also famous for being the film set of the 1969 classic film The Italian Job starring Michael Caine. It is possible to visit all the locations on a special tour.
Universities
University of Turin (Universit degli Studi di Torino) / http://www.unito.it/
Politecnico di Torino (Turin) / http://www.polito.it/
Turin World Book Capital
After Alexandria, Madrid, New Delhi, Antwerp and Montreal, Turin has been nominated by UNESCO as World Book Capital for the year 2006 because of its activity of book and reading promotion, especially with the International Book Fair, one of the most important fairs in Europe of its kind.
From April 2006 to April 2007 Turin will host a festival called “Signs of Writing” composed of events, meetings, seminars, debates, letters, and performances.
Sport
The city is famous for its soccer teams (Juventus and Torino Calcio), and will host the 2006 Winter Olympics. One year later, in 2007 it will host the Winter Universiade. In a terrible air accident in 1949, a plane carrying the whole Torino football team (at that time one of the most important in Italy) hit the church of Superga, on the Turin hills. Among those who lost their lives was Valentino Mazzola, father of Ferruccio and Sandro Mazzola (who were also later to be football champions).
