Torino Porta Nuova railway station is the main

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

. It is the third busiest station in Italy for passenger flow after Rome Termini and Milan Central, with about 192,000 journeys per day and 70 million travellers a year and a total of about 350 trains per day. Porta Nuova is a

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

, with trains arriving perpendicularly to the facade. The station is located in Corso

Vittorio Emanuele II Victor Emmanuel II ( it, Vittorio Emanuele II; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di House of Savoy, Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was Kingdom of Sardinia, King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 Marc ...

, right in front of Piazza Carlo Felice (in the South side of the city centre). Trains between Turin and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

start or finish at the station, including services using the Turin–Milan high-speed line. A

metro station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

, which is part of

Turin Metro Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

(''Metropolitana di Torino'') ''line 1'', has been recently built under the station building.

History

Construction of the station began in 1861 under the direction of Alessandro Mazzucchetti. The original structure included a clear distinction between the departure area (near Via Nizza) and the arrival area (near Via Paolo Sacchi). The departure area consisted of a large saloon, decorated with columns, stucco work and frescoes depicting the crests of 135 Italian cities showing their distance in kilometers from Turin. This building housed the ticket office, three waiting rooms (one for each of the three classes of railway travel), the Royal Hall and a cafe restaurant. The station was first opened to the public in December 1864 - although the work was completed in 1868. There was no official opening ceremony at the time, partly because the capital of Italy had just been moved from Turin to

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. An official opening ceremony inaugurating the station was performed on 4 February 2009. The name ''Porta Nuova'' ("New Gate" in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

) refers to an old

city gate A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. It is a type of fortified gateway. Uses City gates were traditionally built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods ...

once standing nearby, right along the South side of the old city walls, at the bottom of present-day Via

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

(once called Via Nuova): after the walls were torn down at the beginning of the 19th century, the gates themselves got demolished - a singular exception was Porta Palatina - but their old names kept being used as local place names (other examples are

Porta Susa Torino Porta Susa is a railway station in Turin, northern Italy; it is the second busiest mainline station in the city, after Torino Porta Nuova. It is located in ''Corso Inghilterra''. History The station was built in 1868 during the expansi ...

and Porta Palazzo).

Enzo Ferrari Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari (; 20 February 1898 – 14 August 1988) was an Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur, the founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team, and subsequently of the Ferrari automobil ...

attended "Bar del Nord" in Porta Nuova, where he met those connected with automobiles and racing when he was working in Turin as a young man, circa 1918–1919. A station of the

(''Metropolitana di Torino'') named '' Porta Nuova'' opened under the main station on 5 October 2007.

Upgrading

Porta Nuova station, Turin, illuminated at night

The station was included in a nationwide program of upgrades to the main Italian stations, by

Grandi Stazioni ( en, Great Stations) is a member company of Italy's Ferrovie dello Stato ( en, State Railways) group. It was created to rehabilitate and manage, even commercially, the 13 biggest Italian railway stations. Stations under management The Roma ...

, a subsidiary of

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...

. In the first stage of renovations completed on February 4, 2009, 44,146 square metres of the 92,747 square meter area of the station buildings was redeveloped. The areas allocated to services for passengers, dining, shopping, culture and leisure was increased considerably. In January 2013, restoration work continued on the facade and interior, preserving historical elements from the 19th century, including its distinctive, red colour, that hadn't been seen in generations. After nearly 4 years of work, scaffolding came down and the building was unveiled to the public, featuring a new, coloured

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

lighting scheme. In December 2016, Unieuro, a large-scale

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

and domestic appliances

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

, opened a 1,400m² location within the station. Work continues in 2017 on upgrades to the track area, including the addition of more fully accessible platforms.

Structure

The station is built on several levels. An underground level is occupied by local divisions of FS and businesses. The platforms are on the ground floor, along with passenger lounges and associated services for passengers and commercial activities. On the upper floors are offices and a post office. The_Gonin_Room,_Porta_Nuova_Station

The Gonin Room

In a corridor off the central gallery of the station, a former first-class waiting room where members of the Royal Savoy family awaited their trains, is still visible today. Modest in size, at 75m², the room is well preserved, featuring original furniture consisting of armchairs, tables, and mirrors. It is not open to the general public, except on special occasions. The room's name is derived from Francesco Gonin, the artist who painted its

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

es. The paintings, still well maintained, represent the elements of nature -

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

Water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

, and

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

. The four corners of the room feature imagery depicting the four continents of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

. More impressive is the use of ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' effect by Gonin, who wanted to give visitors the impression of a ceiling open to the sky.

Train services

The station is served by the following services: *High speed services (''Frecciarossa'') ''Turin – Milan – Bologna – Florence – Rome'' *High speed services (''Frecciarossa'') ''Turin – Milan – Reggio Emilia – Bologna – Florence – Rome – Naples – Salerno'' *High speed services (''Italo'') ''Turin - Milan - Reggio Emilia - Bologna - Florence - Rome - Naples - Salerno'' *High speed services (''Frecciabianca'') ''Turin - Milan - Brescia - Verona - Vicenza - Padua - Venice - Trieste'' *High speed services (''Frecciabianca'') ''Turin - Parma - Bologna - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Brindisi - Lecce'' *High speed services (''Frecciabianca'') ''Turin - Allesandria - Genova - La Spezia - Pisa - Livorno - Rome'' *Intercity services ''Turin – Asti – Alessandria – Genoa - La Spezia - Pisa - Livorno - Rome - Naples - Salerno'' *Intercity services ''Turin – Asti – Alessandria – Bologna – Rimini – Ancona – Pescara – Foggia – Bari – Brindisi – Lecce'' *Night train (''Intercity Notte'') ''Turin - Alessandria - Bolgona - Ancona - Pescara - Foggia - Bari - Brindisi - Lecce'' *Night train (''Intercity Notte'') ''Turin - Genoa - La Spezia - Pisa - Livorno - Rome - Naples - Salerno'' *Night train (''Intercity Notte'') ''Turin - Milan - Parma - Rome - Naples - Salerno'' *Night train (''Intercity Notte'') ''Turin - Milan - Parma - Reggio Emilia - Florence - Rome - Salerno - Lamezia Terme - Reggio di Calabria'' *Express services (''Regionale Veloce'') ''Turin – Chivasso – Santhià – Vercelli – Novara – Milan'' *Express services (''Regionale Veloce'') ''Turin - Chivasso – Ivrea – Aosta'' *Regional services (''Treno regionale'') ''Turin – Asti – Alessandria – Ronco – Genoa'' *Turin Metropolitan services (''SFM3'') ''Bardonecchia - Bussoleno - Turin'' *Turin Metropolitan services (''SFM3'') ''Susa - Bussoleno - Turin''

References

External links

Official page at Grandistazioni website
* * {{Authority control Porta Nuova Railway stations opened in 1861 1861 establishments in Italy