5 Minute Guide

10 Things to Know About Turin

1 FIAT
The city is home to Italy's biggest car manufacturer, whose name is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (literally, Italian Automobile Factory in Turin). Alfa Romeo and Lancia, both Fiat subsidiaries, are also based here.

2 THE MOLE ANTONELLIANA
Built to be a synagogue but now a film museum ( Italy's movie industry began in Turin), the nearly 550-foot-tall domed edifice, topped by a spire, towers above the city and is the official symbol of these Olympics.

3 THE SHROUD OF TURIN
Believed by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus, it is stored in the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista.

4 HANNIBAL
In 218 B.C. the Carthaginian general (and his 37 elephants) marched over the Alps near the Olympic downhill venue in Sestriere and destroyed what is now Turin.

5 JUVENTUS
The Turin soccer club, known for its black-and-white-striped uniforms, is the most successful in Italian history, with 28 national titles.

6 PIAZZAS
The city has 163 of these open squares, whose look was incorporated in Olympic venue design.

7 LAVAZZA
You like coffee? This brand is manufactured in Turin.

8 PO
Italy's longest river runs along the city's eastern edge.

9 POLITICS
Left-leaning; Italy's Communist party was founded by a Turin native in 1921.