For a long time, Torino was the capital of the kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, and the city has thus prestigious and ancient ties with the Savoia dynasty.

However, Torino is mostly known today as a major industrial city, seat of FIAT among others, constituting one of the vertices of the Italian "industrial triangle" along Milan and Genoa. This transformation turned one of the most aristocratic cities of Italy into a largely working class urban area, with all the social and economic changes that implies.