Of all the examples of Roman town-planning known to us in Italy, Turin
is by far the most famous.[71] Here the streets have survived almost
intact, and excavations have confirmed the truth of the survival by
revealing both the ancient road-metalling and the ancient town-walls
and gates. Turin, Augusta Taurinorum, began about 28 B.C. as a
'colonia' planted by Augustus. Its walls enclosed an oblong of about
745 x 695 metres (127 acres).[72] The sides are represented (1) on the
north by the Via Giulio, in the western part of which the southern
edge of the street actually coincides with the line of the Roman
town-wall, while further east the Porta Palatina enshrines an ancient
gate; (2) on the west by the Via della Consolata, and the Via
Siccardi, the east side of which latter street seems to stand upon the
Roman town-wall; and (3) on the south by the Via della Cernaia and Via
Teresa, the north side of which stands over the Roman southern
town-wall. (4) The east wall agrees with no existing street but may be
represented by a line drawn through the Carignano Theatre and the
western front of the Palazzo Madama, which contains the actual towers
of the Roman east gate.[73] The north-west corner, uncovered in 1884,
is a sharp right angle. This feature recurs at Aosta and at Laibach
(pp. 90, 116), both founded, like Turin, in the Augustan age, and
seems to belong to that period; later, it gave place to the rounded
angle visible at Timgad (p. 109) and in many Roman forts of the middle
Empire.
[71] Carlo Promis, _Storia dell' antico Torino_ (Torino, 1869);
Alfredo d'Andrade, _Relazione dell' ufficio regionale per la
conservazione dei monumenti del Piemonte_, 1883-91 (Torino,
1899); Schultze, _Bonner Jahrbücher_, cxviii. 339; Barthel,
_ibid_. cxx. 105; Pianta di Torino (1-10,000), by G.B. Paravia.
[72] I take these figures from the plan of Paravia, which is said
to be the most correct plan of Turin at present available. Promis
gives smaller dimensions, 720 x 670 m., and he measured from what
is now known to be a point too far to the east (the Via Accademia
delle Scienze) instead of from the west front of the Palazzo
Madama; he has, however, been usually followed. Other maps give
other dimensions, Orlandini (1844), 758 x 780 m.; Vallardi
(1869), 680 x 740 m.; Maggi (1876), 730 x 800 m.; Ashby (Art.
'Turin' in _Encycl. Britannica_) gives 2,526 x 2,330 ft. which
must be too large. I reproduce here (fig. 15) the plan of
Orlandini, since it shows well the extent of street-survivals in
Turin before the great modern rebuildings or expansions.
[73] d'Andrade, _Relazione_, pp. 8-20; _Notizie degli Scavi_,
1885, pp. 173, 271, and 1902, p. 277.
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