The know-how to change in order to continue to grow. Torino is today a city undergoing full-scale transformation, as anyone crossing it will see: major building sites, from those that are reclaiming space until recently occupied by the railway to those for the underground rail system, from facilities for the 2006 Olympic Games to the planned new Civic Library. But the transformation goes beyond what is visible. A city that for over one hundred years was the automotive capital and the industrial capital in the Italian and European scenario is now asserting itself in the field of new technologies and is to all effects already a centre of international importance in the ICT sector. As mayor, I am proud of the fact that Torino has been chosen in recent years by major telecommunications groups to locate their management centres and new activities. The people and companies that arrive in our city or are founded here find a special welcome, made up of culture, traditions, museums and monuments, but also with a capacity to learn and change that is part of the city's DNA. It is no chance that here we have experiences of training that are unique in the world, and it is no chance that we have a European public school that hosts children of many different nationalities. We want to continue to learn, to learn to do things well, to learn to teach others, because we feel that we are capable of growing further and reaching new goals. The 2006 Games are one of these: this is a great challenge that will put us in the limelight, forcing us to overcome the traditional discretion that is part of our make-up. We are working on it.

Torino is part of the most densely populated and economically active regions of the continent: a backbone that runs from London to Torino through Benelux, Germany and Switzerland. A region which has been the main stage for the history of Europe. From Roman Britain to Flanders, from Franche Comté to Burgundy, from Switzerland to the western provinces of the Empire, the cities in this belt are the original urban heartland of Europe. But Torino is also strategically projected towards new markets and new trading partners - along the "Latin axis", that runs from Madrid and Barcelona to the Midi in France, through the Po Valley and on to the south and east. Torino's historical and economic links with Europe are confirmed by its efficient infrastructure network. Torino is served by an ultra-modern airport: Caselle, thanks to the extension inaugurated in December 1993, it has a capacity of over three million passengers a year. Intercontinental links are provided by Malpensa 2000, one of Europe's largest hubs with its 17 million passengers a year. Five railway stations, two of them international, guarantee easy access from all of Italy and bordering countries: four pairs of high-speed trains travel between Torino and Paris in little more than five hours. In themeantime, work has begun to transform the Torino-Milano line into a high-speed rail link, wich in just a few years will make it possible to travel between the two cities in less than one hour. Six dierent motorways connect Torino to major European cities: Milan in 60 minutes, Genoa in 90, Nice and Geneva in two and a half hours, Lyon in three hours and Zurich in four. New projects will further improve road links with Switzerland (completion of the Sempione motorway) and France (the new Mercantour and Colle di Tenda tunnels).

Torino is a city that looks towards the future, confident of its historic legacy of material and cultural resources. The need to periodically reinvent itself has been Torino's fate - and perhaps at the root of its constantly renewed modernity. First an ancient Roman city, Torino was reborn with Emanuele Filiberto, who in 1563 made it the capital of the Duchy of Savoy. When it was raised to the rank of duchy, it was a town of 20,000 inhabitants. Rapid development soon followed, leading to the founding of the university. In the second half of the 17th century, the architects Vitozzi and Castellamonte defined the urban lay-out, characterised by a very harmonious centre and broad, regular streets. Torino thus became Europe's first mainly Baroque capital. This cohesive fabric was the framework for Guarini and Juvarra's major works. Its urban appearance is still characterised by the continuity of houses along its streets and the uniform regularity of dierent period buildings. Even after the Baroque period, Torino continued its far-sighted expansion - today we might call it a "holistic vision". This is especially true for the expansions between 1700 and the early 1800s, which respected the image of the old city and repeated it in new districts. The capital of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1864, Torino's industrial development began in the second half of the 19th century. Industry was the key feature in the city's development throughout the 20th century. Today, Torino is a city with a thousand faces: a centre of finance and industry, international trade and a meeting point - but at the same time a city pleasant to live in and one with a unique and unmistakable atmosphere. Seen from the air, Torino shows all its rationality: straight roads crossing at right angles, long tree-lined avenues, great squares and luminous internal courtyards. But it also reveals the imposing presence of nature: four rivers, the hills, parks and gardens that make it one of the greenest cities in Europe.

The quality of city space is an increasingly important development factor. Amongst the great changes underway in Torino, the most radical work is the construction of the "crossrail" system, which will quadruple the amount of track and lay 15 kilometres of lines underground. This is a project of major importance, both for the resources involved and the consequences on the organisation of urban space. In addition to improving the efficiensy of public transport. (separating national and international traffic from regional and metropolitan lines), the crossrail will make valuable space available to the city. The avenue created above the railway line - the so-called "royal backbone" - will become the main north/south trunk route, and putting the lines underground will provide new road links between various areas of the city. Several hundred hectares previously used by the railways, steelworks and engineering industries, located along the railway in the late 19th century, will be recovered for social and business use, offering the opportunity for overall radical improvement of parts of the city that are now central and highly accessible. The project "The Gate, Living not Leaving" is very important for the rebirth of the district of PortaPalazzo/Borgo Dora. Action has been taken to improve roads (the underpass of Corso Regina Margherita), property (the refurbishment of façades) and to promote the area (such as the relaunch of the Balôn, the traditional flea market). Alongside the redesign of urban spaces and the regeneration of the historical and architectural heritage, environmental and social steps have been taken to improve daily life in the district through the participation in the project of everyone who lives and works there. To improve the urban environment, a unified appearance must be given back to both the centre and suburbs. This is being done in Torino through building rehabilitation and the clean -up of run-down areas - but also and more importantly by redesigning spaces, bringing out the specific features of each area and re-creating their urban identity. The "Special Suburbs Projects", an initiative launched by the City in 1997, pursues the model of a multi-centred Torino, where each district is capable of making the most of its human, economic and cultural resources; many small, dierent but complementary, towns, which together represent the wealth of the urban system.