Turin is a real football city which has plenty more to offer than just Juventus alone. Torino FC is and stays a giant club who produced one of the best football teams ever. That ended in a horrific tragedy, but the history of the club is still everywhere to find.
What Juventus is now, was Torino FC in de 40s of the last century, the absolute top team of Italy. After the disaster that struck the club then, Toro never - except for one Scudetto in 1976 - came back to that level. Still, Torino always remained to be a name with a magical sound, a beautiful 'granata' shirt (burgundy) and above all a giant and loyal fan base. Outside the city limits Torino might have lost some of its status, but in Turin the club is still the favorite of a substantial part of the population.
Remarkably enough Juventus played here longer than Torino itself, but since several years Toro is the only home team of this for the Winter Games of 2006 renovated stadium. Once it had place for 65.000 fans, today it's just 28.000, just enough for Torino. Despite the small capacity the stadium has three tiers, although the top tier doesn't have more than five rows. The tifosi of Torino are well-known for their fanaticism and their noise is kept alive in the stadium that is named after the giant Torino of the fourties.
Torino won league title after league title in the fourties, and made name in and outt he country. In 1949, it all ended in a giant disaster after an away game at Benfica. In the thick fog above Turin, the plane with the squad crashed against the walls of the Superga, the basilica atop a hill just outside Turin. No one survived the air crash, with 31 deaths. In one fell swoop, Il Grande Torino came to an end.
The Superga still exists and is located a couple of kilometers east of Turin. From the hill, you have a great view over the city. Just beneath the basilica, on the exact spot where the plane crashed, is an impressive monument for the squad. There hangs a cross with the names of all the victims, a team photo and single photos of every player. Still, every day people bring fresh flowers and scarfs for the team.
The biggest triumphs Torino achieved in the Stadio Filadelfia, where Toro played its home matches from 1926 and 1963. Walk from the current stadium into the Via Filadelfia to the east, and after ten minutes you'll stand at holy granata ground. After years of decay, the old stadium is turned into a modern training ground for Torino, although two corners of the old stadium have been preserved. Behind the main stand there's twelve flagpoles, each with another name who means something in the history of the club.
Behind the old Curva Sud of the Stadio Filadelfia is Sweet Toro, a real bar for Torino fans. Because of the proximity to the current stadium still a well-known spot for fans before and after games.
Torino was founded in 1906 as a fusion of an already existing amateur team and some dissidents of Juventus. The club was officially founded in Birreria Voigt, a bar on the corner of Via Pietro Micca and Via Giovanni Botero. Nowadays it's called Bar Norman, and inside there's a plaquette which marks the historical importance of the bar, with the exact date of foundation and a photo of the founding fathers.
Close to the Piazza San Carlo is at the Via Alfieri 6 the Palazzo Valperga, the former head quarter of Torino. het oude hoofdkantoor van Torino. Until 1962 the club was located in this stately building in the heart of the town. After the Superga disaster in 1949, the flag on the balcony was hung half-mast in front of many astonished fans. A plaquette next to the monumental entry remembers the old function of the palace.
Also after 1949, Torino was struck by disaster. In 1967, Gigi Meroni was the absolute crowd favorite on Torino's right wing. On the evening after a match he crossed the busy Corso Re Umberto and was hit by the Fiat of Attilio Romero, a big fan of Toro and Meroni in particular. Gigi died later that evening in the hospital, only 24 years old. Remarkably enough, decades later Attilio Romero became the club's chairman, but with Romero at the wheel the club went into bankruptcy in 2005.
On the Corso Re Umberto is at the height of nr. 46 (at the end of the tram stop) a monument for Meroni, the exact place where the accident occurred.
Right behind station Torino Porta Nuova you can find Ristorante Urbani (Via Saluzzo 3). Over decades, many Torino players came here for dinner, but also players of city rivals Juventus. According to owner Vittorio Urbani they never shared a table though.
The cycling track at the Corso Casale 144 has the name of one of the most famous cyclists ever, but the middle ground was also the decor of matches of the giant Torino, for the last time in 1944. Nowadays the cycling stadium isn't used anymore, but still a great monument.
In suburb Grugliasco lays the Museo del Grande Torino e della Leggenda Granata, a museum dedicated to the glory days of Torino. It's located in a beautiful villa at the Via Giovanni Battista de la Salle. Beautiful pieces from the fourties, but also from the more recent history of Toro, for example from the UEFA Cup Final of 1992, which Torino lost in a two legged final to Ajax.
For Torino, it's quite easy to buy tickets on the official website of the club, or at Vivaticket. That's a ticket site for lots of events in Italy, and also for several football teams like Torino. It's very handy when you're willing to visit multiple football matches or other events as well.
Although the Stadio Olimpico di Grande Torino is good accessible by car, the parking space in the immediate surroundings is not that good. We advise to leave your car at parking lot Caio Mario, from where you can take the tram (line 4 or line 10). These leave at both sides of the parking area, and bring you in just five minutes to the stadium.
Also from the city centre the tram is the best way: tram 4 passes both the central Piazza San Carlo and train station Torino Porta Nuova.
Images: Shutterstock, BSR Agency
