SISTAN

SISTEMA STATISTICO
NAZIONALE

Citt di Torino
Divisione Servizi Civici
Ufficio di statistica

I quaderni dellOsservatorio Socioeconomico Torinese

n. 1 gennaio 2006

FAR FROM WHERE?

Tools and data for mapping the distribution and
stratification of the geographical origins of the
population of Torino

Sindaco di Torino
Sergio CHIAMPARINO
Assessore alla statistica
Gavino OLMEO
Direttore Divisione Funzioni istituzionali
Giuliano NOZZOLI
Direttore Servizi civici
Enzo BRAIDA
Dirigente del Settore statistica ed Emergenze metropolitane
Francesca TOMASSETTI
Data processing and statistics inventories
Massimo OMEDE
Patrizia PASETTI
Maura POCHETTINO
Maria PROCOPIO
Realisation and Editorial Staff
Massimo OMEDE
Maria PROCOPIO
I quaderni dellOsservatorio Socioeconomico Torinese
n. 1 gennaio 2006
Citt di Torino
Ufficio di Statistica
Osservatorio Socioeconomico Torinese
Via Frejus 21 - 10139 Torino
Tel. 011/442.06.40
Fax 011/442.06.70
e-mail pubblicazioni@comune.torino.it

Use of data and texts are allowed provided i

that authors and sources are clearly
mentioned

Cover:
graphical elaboration by Massimo Omed

We can interpret and reconstruct the history of a city through documents, first-hand reports, its
urban layout, monuments and buildings. Another method consists of analysing the demographic
stratifications of its population.
Torino has always been a destination city for migratory flows.
When the dukes of Savoy moved their dynastys capital to Torino in the second half of the 16th
century, the provincial nobility, the ducal entourage of officials, soldiers who enlisted with the army
and thousands of people who lived in the shadow (or at the expense) of the absolutist court all
came with them.
This situation continued until the 19th century, during which the Savoy capital became the centre
of the Risorgimento movement and then, in 1861, the capital of the new united nation. With this
status came the reorganisation and expansion of the political and administrative system of the
newly established Kingdom of Italy.
Torino was only the capital of Italy for a brief period.
The people of Torino were angered when the capital was transferred, but they soon found a way of
moving on from this period of stagnation, creating a new role for their city: that of leading the
modernisation and transformation of the countrys financial and manufacturing systems.
Thus within a few decades Torino became the driving force of a period of industrialisation, a
process that required a huge workforce. This resource was available in abundance in Piedmonts
rural areas. The peasants and inhabitants of the valleys were no longer forced to emigrate to
France or Argentina (obligatory destinations for those seeking their fortune prior to
industrialisation) and began to pour into the citys suburbs, gradually changing the appearance and
fabric of the urban environment.
The area around Torino, once crossed by footpaths and small canals and dotted with farmhouses
and holiday retreats for the Savoy nobles, underwent a profound transformation. Fields and
meadows quickly made way for new districts, factories, areas dedicated to urban social relations.
In the Middle Ages there was a saying, City air brings freedom. It referred to the huge gap
separating the serfs from the economic and social freedom offered by urban centres. However, the
early years of industrialisation were also characterised by profound social tensions, as people
began to find out that work in the factories was not always synonymous with freedom and social
advancement.
As industry recovered after the First World War, workers began to flock to Torino from other parts
of Italy, especially from Veneto and other regions in the north-east. The Second World War was
followed by another even greater period of economic recovery during which the city beckoned to
hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mainly from the south of Italy, a region that was still paying
the social price of underdevelopment that was also, if not mainly due to the short-sightedness of
politicians across the board.
With the advent of mass motorisation, Torino already equipped to accommodate a Fordist
production model became the capital of the Italian automobile industry.
The economic miracle lasted until the early 1970s when, with over 1.2 million inhabitants, Torino
reached its maximum population. Over the last thirty years economic crises and recessions, and
demographic trends characterised by zero growth and the gradual ageing of the population a
situation common to all Western societies have reduced Torinos population by some 350,000
people, the equivalent of a small city like Venice or Bari.
In the last fifteen to twenty years another phenomenon has become apparent: the globalisation of
population flows. Huge numbers of migrants are leaving their countries of origin (due to famine,
war or political unrest, or simply to seek new prospects and a brighter future, just like our fathers
and grandfathers) attracted by what are often just pipe-dreams of the Western model, a society
based on consumerism and waste.
In little more than a century Torinos contemporary history has been characterised by the arrival of
different groups of people from different origins, who have settled in the city. The purpose of this
study is to investigate the pattern of these flows over the years and see whether, among the folds
of the present-day population, it is still possible to interpret this incredible mosaic of origins that
has made Torino a complex, multiple and happily hybrid city.
Gavino Olmeo
Torino City Councillor
responsible for statistics

South-West quarters
of Torino in a old map
of XIX century (up ) and in a
recent air photograph (right )

Part one
TORINO: A CITY OF IMMIGRATION.
MIGRATORY FLOWS TOWARDS TORINO
FROM THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY UP TO THE PRESENT DAY

No hay caminos,
hay que caminar
inscribed on the wall of a cloister
in Toledo, 13th century

1.
Introduction: foreign migration, domestic migration
and international migration in the 19th and 20th centuries
Italys industrial development in the 19th and 20th centuries progressed
very slowly but was also characterised by mobility on a scale that
produced profound changes to the countrys demographic structure.
As Italy lagged behind other countries in modernising its economic and productive systems,
more than 5 million Italians were forced to emigrate during the last quarter of the 19th
century and the first few decades of the next, mainly to the Americas.
Initially emigration was a phenomenon that mainly involved the north of Italy. The first
people to leave Piedmont mostly headed for France, but then more and more started to
move to America. As the United States imposed stricter immigration rules, however, they
were more or less obliged to opt for South America. There are still numerous communities of
Piedmontese origin that have made a profound mark on the culture, society and especially
on the economy of countries in this part of the world, such as Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela
and Uruguay.
The peak in emigration from regions in the south of Italy came somewhat later, between the
beginning of the 20th century and the outbreak of the First World War: in these fifteen years
it is estimated that some 3 million Italians emigrated to the United States.
In both cases people were following the American dream, of a country seen to offer
boundless possibilities, the new frontier of economic and social advancement, a place to
escape to from an Italy that was still extremely rural and where the peasant population
suffered the pains of widespread poverty and fatigue, forced into silent acceptance of a
system based on the excessive application of taxes and duties but also witnesses to the first
social and political tensions.
It is important to remember that during this period of mass emigration abroad large
numbers of people also began to leave the countryside, the Alpine valleys and rural areas
and move to the big cities where most of the new industries were located. Even though the
process of industrialisation was still in its early stages, it was well on the way towards
expansion.
This was a period of rapid depopulation of entire rural and mountain areas in Piedmont and
of further development of the industrial outskirts of Torino and to a lesser extent the
other provincial capitals of Piedmont.
The first Fiat factory was inaugurated in 1900 (a year after the company was founded). It
introduced the Fordist model that was to characterise Torinos socio-economic system for the
whole century.
Thus Torino, along with Milan and Genoa, formed one of the countrys major industrial hubs,
with the consequence that more and more people moved to the city.
For almost the whole of the 20th century Torinos industrial development was characterised
by a huge unbalance between the continuously growing urban conglomeration and the rural
and mountain regions that were losing their inhabitants.
With urbanisation came rapid changes to the city: within just a few decades whole new
neighbourhoods sprung up next to the 19th century tollgates (barriere), giving rise to the
development of a densely populated and highly working-class suburban area.
If we examine the trends in Torinos population from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries,
the scale of urbanisation is staggering. Although other events in Torinos history had
attracted large numbers of people to the city, from the time of the Risorgimento until 1861
and then afterwards when it became the first capital of a united Italy, the new manufacturing
industries surpassed them by far.
In just one century Torinos population increased by more than six times, from 120,000
inhabitants prior to unification, to 735,000 in 1950. The First World War brought this
constant and relentless growth of the citys population to a halt, although it was the terrible
Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 that left a permanent mark on longitudinal population trends.
The Second World War, especially between 1942 and 1945, also slowed the rate at which the
citys population was growing (Graph 1.1).

Graph. 1.1 The population of Torino between 1850 and 1949

800.000
700.000
600.000
500.000
400.000
300.000
200.000
100.000

1949

1945

1940

1935

1930

1925

1920

1915

1910

1905

1900

1895

1890

1885

1880

1875

1870

1865

1860

1855

1850

2.
The first half of the 20th century: urban expansion and
the exodus from the rural areas of Piedmont and Veneto
Since the time of Giolitti, when the capital of Italy was transferred from Torino,
the city set about creating a new identity as the driving-force of industrialisation
in Italy. Whereas on the one hand Torino witnessed a period of demographic stagnation for about
twenty years after the capital was transferred, first to Florence and then to Rome (Graph 1.1), on
the other a severe agricultural crisis forced many peasants to move to the city to find work as
labourers in the increasingly large numbers of workshops that formed a tight network of small
businesses, some of which would eventually develop into fully-fledged industrial giants.
Emanuele Luserna di Ror, who was mayor of Torino at the time the city lost its capital city status,
had no doubts: no longer the political centre of the new nation, Torino must concentrate of
building a new identity as a model of industrial development, to become the Manchester of Italy.
An extraordinary amount of effort was put into boosting growth and an equally huge number of
human resources were required to achieve this industrial miracle.
In the early part of the century Torinos industries complained of a shortage of labour, stating
their need for far more workers than were available on the market. Eventually a number of laws
were introduced that restricted and attempted to reduce the possibility of expatriation and thus
of emigration. It was for this reason that the balance of migration was always positive.
Unfortunately no uniform and continuous statistical records containing information about the
places of origin of the people who moved to Torino are available for the whole of the first half of
the 20th century. We can, however, make estimates by crossing the few flow data that can still
be found in the citys statistical records against data available regarding the people who - of all
those who took up residence in the city at that time - are still alive and registered with the city
registry office.

Graph 2.1 Migration to/from Torino between 1900 and 1950

Emigrati

Immigrati

1900
1905
1910
1915
1920
1925
1930
1935
1940
1945

-50000

-40000

-30000

-20000

-10000

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

Once the basic validity at the level of the sample used to obtain this crossed combination has
been verified, it gives us a fairly accurate picture of the geographical distribution of the origins
of those who moved to Torino in the first half of the last century.
Graph 2.2 Residents in Torino in 2005 who migrated to Torino between 1900 and 1949 according
to area of origin (weighted percentage with reconstructed immigration flows for the period)
Estero
4%

Italia insulare
4%

Provincia di Torino
22%

Italia meridionale
10%
Italia centrale
4%

Italia nord orientale

17%
(*)

(*) compresi i
profughi istriani

Resto del Piemonte

32%

Italia nord
occidentale
7%

Graph 2.2 illustrates this distribution, with the information available to us today adjusted on
the basis of that of the time which is fragmentary, diverse and variously grouped that can
still be found.

Over half of those who came to Torino travelled a relatively short distance: one quarter came from
the province of Torino. They, plus the immigrants from the rest of Piedmont, made up 55 per cent of
the migratory movements within the region.
Another important migratory flow consisted of immigrants from the north-east of Italy (Veneto,
Trentino, Friuli, Istria and Emilia Romagna).
If we examine these origins in greater detail we find that the provinces of Piedmont from which the
largest numbers of people moved to come to Torino in the first half of the 20th century were those
of Cuneo and Asti. These two provinces alone provided more than two thirds of the immigrants to
Torino during that period (Graph 2.3). A far smaller proportion came from Alessandria, and even
fewer from Vercelli and Novara, towns and provinces that traditionally gravitate around other centres
mainly Milan.

Graph 2.3 Residents in Torino who migrated to Torino

from other Piedmontese provinces between 1900 and 1949

Novara
5%

Vercelli
10%

Alessandria
15%

Asti
33%

Cuneo
37%

Regrettably, given the incompleteness of the statistical records relating to this period it is
impossible to use suitable weightings to calibrate the data better. In this and other cases we can
only photograph the present-day situation to which we can merely assign a clearly reduced and
as it were sample value.
As regards immigrants from all the Piedmontese provinces, the largest numbers came from the
provincial capitals: 7 per cent of the immigrants who moved to Torino in the first decades of the
20th century from the province of Cuneo came directly from the city of Cuneo itself, 13 per cent
of those from the province of Asti came from the city of Asti and 14 per cent arriving from the
province of Alessandria came from the provincial capital.

Table 2.1 Residents in Torino who migrated to the city between 1900 and 1949 from the
provincial capitals of Piedmont: percentages according to origin and place of birth
Provincia di provenienza

% di provenienti dal capoluogo

% di nati nel capoluogo

7,1

3,3

Asti

13,3

10,5

Alessandria

14,3

9,9

Vercelli

14,6

7,7

Novara

25,0

17,0

Cuneo

10

This also suggests that in many cases there is an intermediate move between that from the
country to the big city, in which people moved to the provincial capitals, as shown in Table
2.1: of the many immigrants arriving from other provincial capitals in Piedmont, only a portion
of these originally came from those cities. Less than half in the case of Cuneo and only slightly
more in that of Vercelli.

3.
The second half of the 20th century: the great internal
migratory flows between the 1950s and 1970s a
After the Second World War and in the immediate Post-War period, a time
dedicated to the countrys material and social reconstruction, it also becomes
easier to reconstruct the situation and changes in the citys socio-demographic make-up using
the statistics of the time.
Once again Torino turned out to be a driving-force of the countrys economic and industrial rebirth and as such it gradually became a magnet for workers, especially from the poorest parts of
southern Italy and the Italian islands, who easily found work in the big factories and the network
of industries supplying these, and also in the building industry and other related fields, that
enjoyed an inevitable period of growth in the 1950s.
Table 3.1 Immigrants to Torino between 1950 and 1959 according to place of origin

Provenienza
Piemonte
Valle dAosta
Liguria
Lombardia
Veneto
Trentino - Alto Adige
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Emilia - Romagna
Toscana
Marche
Umbria
Lazio
Abruzzo e Molise
Campania
Puglia
Basilicata
Calabria
Sicilia
Sardegna
Totale Italia

1950

1951

9.928 10.530
99
114
533
505
936 1.000
1.139 1.158
118
145
276
286
558
544
601
540
114
102
62
78
457
435
139
164
403
587
1.052 1.086
91
158
396
382
1.059
867
223
275

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

8.919 14.807 20.912 22.903 19.740 22.407 19.370 18.867

103
173
229
280
173
198
244
186
459
641
899 1.023
858
935
763
962
818 1.114 1.545 1.663 1.556 1.839 1.573 1.752
969 2.683 3.754 5.103 4.273 4.497 3.769 3.495
114
172
195
255
269
229
249
271
207
435
667
816
715
823
715
656
403
819 1.151 1.706 1.488 1.736 1.516 1.566
367
751
823
927
709
876
794
794
135
228
316
321
256
315
408
423
66
93
128
147
147
200
212
289
422
560
575
633
566
693
789
871
160
341
354
557
442
456
441
563
496
713
926 1.417 1.235 1.355 1.183 1.378
1.004 1.523 3.386 5.385 5.538 6.747 4.844 5.831
91
193
443
680
764 1.019
739
934
319
912 1.359 2.220 1.880 2.179 1.757 2.013
732 1.188 1.854 2.900 2.751 3.216 2.458 3.256
205
358
519
660
665
780
712
981

18.184 18.956 15.989 27.704 40.035 49.596 44.025 50.500 42.536 45.088

Estero

1.992

1.666

1.223

1.290

1.536

1.314

1.238

1.246

1.220

1.572

Ignota

52

41

15

19

18

159

150

133

86

40

Totale generale

20.228 20.663 17.227 29.013 41.589 51.069 45.413 51.879 43.842 46.700

11

Graph 3.1 Immigrants to Torino from the rest of Italy between 1950 and 1959
(excluding immigrants from Piedmont)
70.000
60.000
50.000
40.000
30.000
20.000
10.000
0
1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

Graph 3.2 Immigrants to Torino from the rest of Italy between 1950 and 1959 according to
region of origin (excluding immigrants from Piedmont)
40.000
35.000
30.000
25.000
20.000
15.000
10.000
5.000

egn
a
Sard

Sici
lia

Cala
bria

ta

lia

ilica
Bas

Pug

zo e
M ol
ise
Cam
pan
ia

Lazi
o

Abr
uz

Umb
ria

na

che
Mar

Tos
ca

V en
eto
Tren
tino
A.Ad
ige
Friu
li-Ve
n.Gi
ulia
Emi
lia R
oma
gna

Lom
bard
ia

Ligu
ria

During the 1950s, excluding those who migrated to Torino directly from the rest of Piedmont
(whose numbers gradually fell during the course of the decade, from 49-51 per cent in the
early 1950s, to 40 per cent at the end of the decade), the number of immigrants from the
other regions of Italy grew considerably.
The phenomenon exploded in 1953: one should remember that in 1951 work started on
designing the new Fiat 600, and production commenced in 1953. The beginning of mass
motorisation in Italy - under Vittorio Valletta, president of Fiat marked the end of the Post-

12

War period and heralded a new industrial opportunity for Torino. Over 3 million of these utility
cars designed by Dante Giacosa were sold in the next ten years. However, what was soon to
be defined a fully-fledged economic miracle needed large numbers of human resources, that
could only be found by encouraging an exodus from other regions. The agricultural areas of
the south, still based on the use of obsolete farming methods, became an extraordinary source
of manpower. Thus the flows of immigrants from southern Italy joined those from Veneto, who
continued to move to Piedmont and Torino throughout the 1950s.
The largest number of immigrants to Torino in the 1950s came from Apulia, which alone
accounted for 20 per cent of Torinos immigrants (excluding those from Piedmont). In 1955
immigrants from Apulia outnumbered those from Veneto, who were now starting to arrive in
smaller numbers.
These regions were followed at a distance by Sicily (11 per cent of immigrants) and then, with
an even smaller proportion, Calabria and Lombardy (7 per cent).
This trend in terms of the origins of Torinos immigrants was confirmed over the next decade.
In the 1960s almost 90,000 immigrants arrived in Torino from Apulia, accounting for 15 per
cent of all arrivals, followed by more than 70,000 from Sicily, 35,000 from Calabria and 30,000
from Campania.
Migratory flows oscillated in the decade between 1960 and 1969. The number of arrivals
peaked in 1961: 84,000, more than 60,000 of whom came from other regions of Italy. One
should also bear in mind that the figure for 1961 may in part be related to a regularisation
process in connection with the general census of the population that was taken that year,
which certainly caused substantial adjustments as compared to the previous situation.
Table 3.2 Immigrants to Torino between 1960 and 1969 according to place of origin

Provenienza

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

Piemonte
Valle dAosta
Liguria
Lombardia
Veneto
Trentino - Alto Adige
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Emilia - Romagna
Toscana
Marche
Umbria
Lazio
Abruzzo e Molise
Campania
Puglia
Basilicata
Calabria
Sicilia
Sardegna

18.909 19.845 22.016 14.141 12.842 14.406 15.373 15.720 15.235 15.177
208
292
455
217
198
166
182
116
180
188
1.124 1.429 1.933 1.447 1.167 1.070 1.184 1.179 1.243 1.326
2.180 2.412 2.702 2.027 1.709 1.485 1.708 1.829 1.711 1.788
5.266 5.927 4.351 2.748 1.610 1.143 1.293 1.488 1.181 1.114
258
362
455
235
243
171
186
171
180
162
696 1.010
923
644
540
403
345
370
324
309
2.224 2.838 2.214 1.420 1.036
765 1.087 1.250 1.016
866
1.191 1.512 1.796 1.251
763
540
587
737
728
739
513
630
725
563
424
281
312
365
310
312
291
485
542
478
256
159
254
248
230
305
1.020 1.353 1.836 1.563 1.015
938
937 1.307 1.121 1.383
675
993 1.003
979
690
390
526
701
589
768
2.302 3.536 4.114 3.520 2.469 1.595 1.987 3.284 3.728 5.408
12.113 16.951 11.375 8.629 5.116 3.430 5.297 8.481 8.747 9.219
1.947 2.994 2.352 2.162 1.254
695 1.122 1.836 2.068 2.616
3.633 4.890 4.768 3.980 2.577 1.816 2.341 3.683 3.923 4.036
6.186 10.783 8.776 8.099 5.865 3.296 4.893 7.652 9.199 8.560
1.939 3.504 3.645 3.058 1.999 1.318 1.407 1.958 2.245 2.072

Totale Italia

62.675 81.746 75.981 57.161 41.773 34.067 41.021 52.375 53.958 56.348

Estero

2.002

2.636

3.741

2.738

2.131

1.400

1.425

2.130

2.177

2.629

Ignota

28

10

20

53

71

58

55

65

41

63

Totale generale

64.705 84.392 79.742 59.952 43.975 35.525 42.501 54.570 56.176 59.040

13

Graph 3.3 Immigrants to Torino from the rest of Italy between 1960 and 1969
(excluding immigrants from Piedmont)
70.000
60.000
50.000
40.000
30.000
20.000
10.000
0
1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

Graph 3.4 Immigrants to Torino from the rest of Italy between 1960 and 1969 according to
region of origin (excluding immigrants from Piedmont)

90.000
80.000
70.000
60.000
50.000
40.000
30.000
20.000
10.000

gna
Sard
e

Sici
li

ria
Cala
b

Bas
ilica
ta

Pug
lia

Lazi
o
Abr
uzzo
eM
olis
e
Cam
pan
ia

Umb
ria

Mar
che

na
Tos
ca

to
Tren
tino
A.Ad
ige
Friu
li-V
en.G
iulia
Emi
lia R
oma
gna

Ven
e

Lom
bard
i

Ligu
ria

After 1961 there was a fall in the number of arrivals, at least until the middle of the decade.
This was followed in the second half of the decade by another rather marked increase that was
to continue into the 1970s.
The 1970s marked the end of the economic boom and a slowdown in immigration. Although
there were in fact fewer immigrants in the 1970s compared to the two previous decades, they

14

continued to arrive in large numbers: more than 360,000 new arrivals. The immigrants
arriving in Torino in the 1970s came to a city that was entering a period of crisis. A crisis
characterised by a decrease in the population (in 1974 the population peaked at 1,202,846,
after which it began to fall until, in the 1980s, it decreased by 20-25,000 each year), economic
recession (the energy shortage, for instance, mainly due to the Arab-Israeli conflict, which led
to the introduction of austerity measures that were to have profound effects on the social and
industrial fabric), a gradual deterioration of social conflicts, that would eventually lead to the
years of terrorism that plunged Torino into a period of violence and social insecurity.

Table 3.3 Immigrants to Torino between 1970 and 1979 according to origin

Provenienza

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976
8.899
132
744
874
324
73
176
306
287
115
49
645
321
1.797
2.986
655
2.260
3.403
815

1977
8.758
164
702
837
310
53
117
266
278
87
47
507
245
1.740
2.913
646
2.184
3.034
725

1978
8.528
120
727
852
342
54
139
287
262
82
67
641
340
1.783
2.875
668
2.151
3.221
801

1979

Piemonte
Valle dAosta
Liguria
Lombardia
Veneto
Trentino - Alto Adige
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Emilia - Romagna
Toscana
Marche
Umbria
Lazio
Abruzzo e Molise
Campania
Puglia
Basilicata
Calabria
Sicilia
Sardegna

14.132 13.576 14.343 14.481 10.892 10.477

161
142
165
250
134
102
1.214 1.105 1.081 1.159
859
791
1.679 1.509 1.456 1.489 1.307 1.132
1.034
892
772
643
514
436
157
126
114
107
92
64
299
262
279
226
194
118
741
644
506
586
429
288
758
696
551
522
354
344
298
333
355
254
178
120
249
180
179
177
124
69
1.184 1.182 1.084
827
949
790
702
655
471
530
405
362
4.324 4.166 3.727 3.550 2.996 1.895
7.566 7.551 5.943 5.838 4.506 3.245
1.867 1.789 1.362 1.292
939
761
3.768 4.173 3.778 3.394 2.589 2.145
7.562 7.136 5.925 6.017 4.893 3.710
1.705 1.633 1.471 1.409 1.042
846

8.718
100
618
730
319
40
110
228
273
90
31
690
360
1.954
2.623
593
1.909
2.940
783

Totale Italia

49.400 47.750 43.562 42.751 33.396 27.695 24.861 23.613 23.940 23.109

Estero

2.882

2.437

2.190

2.026

1.803

1.633

1.423

1.587

1.878

1.690

Ignota

87

104

106

247

152

116

77

50

42

48

Totale generale

52.369 50.291 45.858 45.024 35.351 29.444 26.361 25.250 25.860 24.847

As for previous decades, Table 3.3 outlines the annual flow of immigrants to Torino in the
1970s: between 1970 and 1979 the number of immigrants fell by half. The number of Sicilians
resident in Torino exceeded (though by little) the number of those from Apulia, while the
percentage of immigrants from Calabria and Campania increased.
Family reunification probably accounts for a large proportion of these figures: having achieved
a certain standard of economic and social stability, during this period many immigrants
continued to encourage their families and relatives to joint them.
Another interesting fact regarding this decade is the increase in the percentage of immigrants
from Piedmont, which should in actual fact be interpreted as an increase in migration between
Torino and its hinterland, which was by now organically linked to the city both physically as
well as socially and economically.

15

Graph 3.5 Immigrants to Torino from the rest of Italy between 1970 and 1979
(excluding immigrants from Piedmont)
70.000
60.000
50.000
40.000
30.000
20.000
10.000
0
1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

Graph 3.6 Immigrants to Torino from the rest of Italy between 1960 and 1979 according to
region of origin (excluding immigrants from Piedmont)
50.000
45.000
40.000
35.000
30.000
25.000
20.000
15.000
10.000
5.000

gna
Sard
e

Sici
li

ria
Cala
b

Bas
ilica
ta

Pug
lia

Lazi
o
Abr
uzzo
eM
olis
e
Cam
pan
ia

Umb
ria

na

Mar
che

Tos
ca

Ven
eto
Tren
tino
A.Ad
ige
Friu
li-V
en.G
iulia
Emi
lia R
oma
gna

Lom
bard
i

Ligu
ria

Between 1950 and 1979, i.e. during the period of mass domestic migration prompted and
accelerated by the Post-War boom and the economic miracle brought about by the
industrialisation process, the city registry offices handled over 1.3 million immigration files. In
the same period 900,000 people emigrated from the city, and almost half of these emigrated
from 1970 onwards.

16

Graph 3.7 Migration to and from Torino between the 1950s and 1970s
90000
Immigrati

80000

Emigrati

70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000

19
50
19
51
19
52
19
53
19
54
19
55
19
56
19
57
19
58
19
59
19
60
19
61
19
62
19
63
19
64
19
65
19
66
19
67
19
68
19
69
19
70
19
71
19
72
19
73
19
74
19
75
19
76
19
77
19
78
19
79

Graph 3.8 summarises the distribution of the origins of the people who migrated to
during this thirty-year period that was such a crucial time in the citys modern history.
illustrates the dynamics of this phenomenon over the years, with Piedmont and Veneto
main regions of origin (there were four times more immigrants from the latter in the
than in the 1970s) being overtaken by those of southern Italy and the Italian islands.

Torino
It also
as the
1950s

Graph 3.8 Distribution of the origins of immigrants

between the 1950s and 1970s as percentages
100%

Italia Nord Occidentale

90%
80%

198.519

135.139
Italia Nord Orientale

191.556

70%
60%

48.824
30.000

12.667
15.908

183.308

117.292

Italia Centrale

50%
40%

49.940

30%

17.223

20%

68.235

10%

25.659

Italia Insulare
96.454

59.071

0%
Anni '50

Italia Meridionale

Anni '60

Anni '70

17

4.
From the decrease in the population to international
migration
The last quarter of the 20th century was characterised by a profound change
in the structure of Torinos immigration inflows.
While the 1980s were characterised, in terms of demographic trends, by the great flight from the
city (few immigrants, a large number of emigrants), a decrease in the population (in just one
decade Torino lost almost 150,000 inhabitants!), a population growth rate of less than zero
(more deaths than births), the 1990s will be remembered as the decade of the great influx of
foreign immigrants.
In the last 15 years 70,000 foreign immigrants have arrived in Torino, mostly from the poorest
parts of the world.
The first foreign immigrants to come to Torino were mainly from north and central Africa, but
also from China, the Philippines and South America. These first waves of immigrants were then
followed by others, from Albania, the East European countries and the former Soviet empire. In
recent years the largest groups of immigrants are from Romania, Moldavia and Ukraine.
Reconstructing the actual demographic dynamics of this new phenomenon that began with the
approach of the 21st century, is a particularly complex task.
A significant number of foreign immigrants are in fact hidden immigrants illegal immigrants
without residence permits but it is impossible to calculate the exact extent of this
phenomenon, for which there are clearly no official statistics.
This phenomenon is also strongly influenced by the various laws that have in turn either
restricted or encouraged regularisation, on the one hand implementing coercive measures and
on the other offering amnesty for illegal immigrants who fulfil certain requirements. As a result
of the continuous alternation of these laws over the last twenty years, the number of legally
registered foreign immigrants in the area has oscillated considerably, as shown clearly in Graph
4.1.
Graph 4.1 Foreign immigrants to Torino over the last twenty years (annual inflows)
and the main immigration laws
20.000
18.000
Legge
189/2002

16.000
14.000
12.000
10.000
8.000
6.000

D. Lgs.
489/1995

Legge
39/1990

Legge
40/1998

Legge
943/1986

4.000
2.000

18

20
04

20
03

20
02

20
01

20
00

19
99

19
98

19
97

19
96

19
95

19
94

19
93

19
92

19
91

19
90

19
89

19
88

19
87

19
86

19
85

In actual fact the cumulative frequency of the various annual inflows, reconstructed in the
stock data for the end of each year provides a much more linear and extremely predictive
picture of how this phenomenon has evolved: the most cautious prediction is that Torino will
have 100,000 foreign residents between 2007 (maximum hypothesis) and 2011 (if inflows
continue to slow down as they have over the past two years).
Graph 4.2 Presence of foreign nationals in Torino from 1990 up to the present day
90.000
80.000
70.000
60.000
50.000
40.000
30.000
20.000
10.000

20
05

20
04

20
03

20
02

20
01

20
00

19
99

19
98

19
97

19
96

19
95

19
94

19
93

19
92

19
91

19
90

While it is clear that migratory flows over the last twenty years have not only regarded people
arriving from other countries or continents, this component definitely represents an important
segment of these dynamics.
Graph 4.3 Proportion of foreign immigrants compared to the total number of
immigrants in different periods
Anni '70

Anni '80

Italia
95%

Italia
92%

Estero
5%

Estero
8%

2004

Anni '90

Italia
82%

Estero
42%

Estero
18%
Italia
58%

19

Table 4.1 and the following graph clearly illustrate the metamorphosis of the phenomenon over the last
fifteen years.
There has been an increase in the number of all foreign immigrant components, but to varying degrees
according to their place of origin: the number of Asians has tripled, and that of Africans has
quadrupled. The number of people from South America has increased by nine times and that of
Europeans from non-EU countries has increased by almost thirty times. Over the last fifteen years the
total number of foreigners in Torino has multiplied by six, with an increase of +450 per cent.
Today, almost half of the people who make up Torinos variegated multiethnic mosaic are non-EU
European nationals. Another third are Africans. The increase in the number of Europeans from the
Balkans and Caucasus regions has resulted in a compression of the percentages of other components
from other countries, except from South American (Graph 4.4).

Table 4.1 Foreign immigrants to Torino in different years according to area of origin
1990

1995

2000

2005

Unione Europea

2.512

2.145

2.698

3.342

Altri paesi europei

1.235

2.125

8.449

31.880

Asia

2.649

2.783

4.816

7.519

Africa

5.968

7.707

16.340

24.060

America Nord-Centro

414

356

694

956

America Sud

960

970

4.148

8.873

28

16

13

38

35

29

22

105

13.808

16.137

37.185

76.778

Oceania
Altro
Non determinata
Totale

Graph 4.4 Distribution of places of origin of foreign immigrants in different years

100%
90%

960
414

970
356

America Sud
4.148

8.873

694

956
America Nord-Centro

80%
70%

5.968

7.707

24.060
16.340

Africa

60%
7.519

50%
40%

Asia
2.649

2.783

4.816

30%
1.235
20%
10%

2.512

31.880
2.125
2.145

8.449
Unione Europea

2.698

3.342

0%
1990

1995

Altri paesi europei

2000

2005

20

The continuous inflows of new foreign immigrants (though at a slower rate, in the absence of
any major regularisation measures) appears to represent, at least in part, one of the few
antidotes to the disastrous decrease in the population in recent decades. It represents an
important contribution to the citys population, also because the average age of the majority of
foreign immigrants is very young and these components have a marked tendency to procreate
(at present one in every four babies born in Torino has at least one foreign parent).
Especially thanks to the wide-scale regularisation programme in 2003, the foreigners legally
resident in Torino have, at least in part, filled the gap caused by the decrease in the number of
Italian nationals resident in Torino (Graph 4.5)
Graph 4.5 Distribution of the places of origin of foreign immigrants in different years
1000000

900000
Stranieri
800000

700000
Italiani

600000

500000

21

20
05

20
04

20
03

20
02

20
01

20
00

19
99

19
98

19
97

19
96

19
95

19
94

19
93

19
92

19
91

19
90

400000

22

Part two
THE MOSAIC OF ORIGINS
TOOLS FOR CREATING A MAP OF THE DISTRIBUTION
OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGINS OF THE POPULATION OF TORINO

23

5.
Torinos population today: distribution and
stratification of origins
Having provided a brief outline of the migratory flows to and from Torino in
the last century, this second part examines how much can still be
deciphered from the current demographic make-up of the citys resident population
(September 2005).
This task is apparently easier, in that we can reconstruct the course of events over time by
using a database the registry office files that is perfectly compatible with our modern query
and statistical analysis tools, whereas in the first part our work was inevitably hampered by
the fact that our statistical data were incomplete and fragmentary and not compatible with the
digital formats that can be used with these tools.
However, working on a static file such as the register of the resident population i.e. an
instantaneous photograph that immobilises a situation in terms of quantity and quality also
involves a series of problems.
The first regards the fact that Torinos registry office procedures were computerised some
thirty years ago and thus only include a portion of the information previously recorded in noncompatible databases, either in the form of punch cards, introduced in the city data processing
centre immediately after the War, or the first magnetic tape machines installed in the City
Councils data processing centre in the 1950s.
The second major obstacle consists of the impossibility of crossing the flow data presented in
the first part of the study with stock data.
Another problem that should not be underestimated regards the difficulty of creating a reliable
map of the origins of Torinos present-day population in view of subsequent generational
turnovers (second, third, fourth generations). It is simple to say that a resident was born in
Torino, but tracing the place of birth of that persons parents or grandparents is a far more
complicated process. In this melting pot of origins the various combinations are multiplied and
there is therefore the risk of multiplying the possible results as well.
The city register database is structured according to the procedures and administrative
requirements of the registry offices and counter clerks rather than the needs of researchers,
statisticians or demographers (which is understandable). The processed data must therefore
undergo further sorting to eliminate any errors and make them clearer and more intelligible,
avoiding the use of burdensome procedures that, though justifiable, produce results that only
professionals (registrars) can comprehend.
This meant that we had to make some choices, both to overcome the inevitable difficulties and
also to simplify the way in which the appropriate variables were aggregated and crossed in
order to summarise the data without (excessively) limiting the reliability of our estimates.
We started with the distributive and effective allocation of the places of birth of all 900,000
people currently resident in Torino (all data were updated to the month of September 2005)
and then crossed this datum with that of the period in which they migrated.

Italian nationals resident in Torino and born in Italy

In this context we considered it useful to divide Torinos residents into Italian nationals and
foreign nationals, and analyse their origins and migratory flows separately, since the dynamics
of domestic migration have been and still are different to those of global and international
migration. We then bring together all these data into a single ideal overall picture in our
conclusive remarks.
Note that in the table the first column, as well as referring to those who were born in Torino
and have always lived in the city, also refers to those who have been resident in Torino from
birth but were, by chance and for a variety of reasons, born elsewhere even though their
parents were resident in Torino.

24

Table 5.1 Italian nationals resident in Torino according to province and region of birth
and period of immigration to Torino, where applicable

PROVINCIA E REGIONE
DI NASCITA

TORINO
Area Metropolitana
Altri comuni della provincia di Torino
Totale provincia di Torino
Alessandria
Asti
Biella
Cuneo
Novara
Verbania
Vercelli

Resto del Piemonte

Aosta

Valle d'Aosta
Bergamo
Brescia
Como
Cremona
Lecco
Lodi
Mantova
Milano
Pavia
Sondrio
Varese

Lombardia
Genova
Imperia
La Spezia

Nati a Torino
e residenti a
Torino nati
occasionalme
nte
altrove

PERIODO DI IMMIGRAZIONE A TORINO

Prima
del
1910

19101919

19201929

19301939

19401949

19501959

19601969

19701979

19801989

19901999

20002005

Totale

295.343

56

545

1.902

2.685

4.330

6.583

10.929

17.121

29.091

26.175 394.760

14.676
1.522
16.198

1
2
3

18
24
42

310
243
553

1.404
1.115
2.519

969
1.200
2.169

2.708
3.454
6.162

2.176
2.373
4.549

2.313
1.784
4.097

2.814
1.872
4.686

5.034
2.146
7.180

5.188 37.611
2.244 17.979
7.432 55.590

424
562
11
1.018
85
5
384
2.489
59
59
21
42
18
9
9
192
70
4
36
401
126
88
26

2
1
3
1
1
-

8
24
23
7
22
84
2
2
2
2
1
6
4
1
16
3
1
1

189
279
245
52
141
906
11
11
11
11
6
6
17
51
30
2
3
137
38
9
6

571
1.230
1
1.281
139
413
3.635
43
43
38
45
36
30
41
155
76
10
26
457
119
45
20

681
1.398
1.690
195
456
4.420
78
78
54
58
37
29
49
221
86
15
35
584
141
67
30

2.146
4.527
1
6.503
405
1.263
14.845
136
136
138
252
85
144
291
418
234
26
86
1.674
248
119
72

1.825
2.611
4.634
415
1.097
10.582
183
183
157
258
141
150
235
786
288
33
149
2.197
458
176
166

1.101
1.400
2.519
293
765
6.078
163
163
113
198
125
74
94
762
178
46
109
1.699
422
170
87

882
1.108
2.104
262
665
5.021
133
133
84
141
89
53
67
687
128
39
91
1.379
361
160
83

948
1.053
88
1.904
309
17
610
4.929
152
152
123
155
129
63
6
3
86
1.032
136
35
154
1.922
555
223
90

713
833
163
1.739
264
37
451
4.200
145
145
121
141
115
63
23
12
58
1.016
142
30
187
1.908
494
231
88

9.488
15.025
264
23.662
2.427
59
6.267
57.192
1.105
1.105
860
1.301
783
623
29
15
948
5.327
1.372
240
877
12.375
2.965
1.289
669
(segue)

PROVINCIA E REGIONE
DI NASCITA

Savona

Liguria
Bolzano
Trento

Trentino Alto Adige

Belluno
Padova
Rovigo
Treviso
Venezia
Verona
Vicenza

Veneto
Gorizia
Pordenone
Trieste
Udine

Friuli Venezia Giulia

Bologna
Ferrara
Forli'-Cesena
Modena
Parma
Piacenza
Ravenna
Reggio nell'Emilia
Rimini
Emilia Romagna
Arezzo
Firenze
Grosseto
Livorno
Lucca
Massa-Carrara

Nati a Torino
e residenti a
Torino nati
occasionalme
nte altrove
135
375
12
17
29
26
33
29
56
40
38
33
255
7
29
16
43
95
35
41
32
16
18
21
7
18
7
195
12
33
13
19
33
23

PERIODO DI IMMIGRAZIONE A TORINO

Prima
del
1910

19101919
1
1
-

2
7
2
1
2
5
1
1
2
4
2
1
7
2
1
13
1
2
1
1
-

19201929
27
80
1
5
6
10
64
118
39
23
33
41
328
6
19
5
12
42
8
60
20
12
12
11
6
129
8
13
9
43
7
1

19301939
61
245
18
37
55
99
219
234
196
151
132
149
1.180
14
97
27
141
279
59
167
48
47
45
36
7
31
440
12
54
20
54
45
15

19401949
86
324
27
40
67
94
243
221
236
167
110
150
1.221
27
92
36
160
315
69
163
49
54
56
39
13
45
488
20
65
23
45
55
27

19501959
195
634
73
139
212
255
1.635
2.069
1.207
1.200
581
714
7.661
78
283
75
413
849
157
1.127
204
198
182
130
35
154
2.187
92
129
97
127
148
113

19601969
279
1.079
157
183
340
193
1.359
2.319
718
1.081
585
578
6.833
78
215
109
442
844
195
1.733
158
199
188
145
47
144
2.809
138
158
269
183
150
149

19701979
243
922
89
112
201
120
390
685
304
428
200
245
2.372
34
96
62
199
391
135
423
80
81
107
84
38
58
1.006
44
114
89
94
68
95

19801989
201
805
77
59
136
61
313
385
177
300
141
148
1.525
39
47
30
134
250
85
268
52
61
51
46
24
33
620
35
103
51
72
49
54

19901999
267
1.135
83
68
151
73
317
376
192
300
168
162
1.588
33
60
67
156
316
104
330
71
73
52
63
30
47
3
773
41
144
73
100
55
77

20002005
274
1.087
69
66
135
52
244
297
192
239
148
162
1.334
22
48
42
119
231
115
189
68
69
63
49
37
46
11
647
28
136
43
109
53
44

Totale

1.771
6.694
606
726
1.332
983
4.817
6.733
3.319
3.930
2.136
2.384
24.302
339
987
469
1.821
3.616
964
4.502
789
810
776
625
238
582
21
9.307
430
950
689
847
664
598
(segue)

26

Nati a Torino
e residenti a
Torino nati
occasionalme
nte altrove

PROVINCIA E REGIONE
DI NASCITA

Pisa
Pistoia
Prato
Siena

Toscana
Perugia
Terni

Umbria
Ancona
Ascoli Piceno
Macerata
Pesaro-Urbino

Marche
Frosinone
Latina
Rieti
Roma
Viterbo

Lazio
Chieti
L'Aquila
Pescara
Teramo

Abruzzo
Campobasso
Isernia

Molise
Avellino
Benevento
Caserta
Napoli
Salerno

Campania

37
4
14
188
30
5
35
24
12
11
18
65
17
16
2
107
10
152
18
23
17
10
68
18
5
23
49
35
51
284
130
549

PERIODO DI IMMIGRAZIONE A TORINO

Prima
del
1910

19101919
-

3
2
3
13
1
1
5
5
1
2
3
3
3

19201929

19301939

12
4
6
103
14
7
21
11
2
5
2
20
4
1
1
17
23
1
4
1
2
8
3
2
5
1
1
1
26
4
33

41
14
12
267
18
6
24
42
15
6
21
84
22
10
1
73
3
109
6
8
12
2
28
18
3
21
16
5
19
65
52
157

19401949
40
20
10
305
37
10
47
45
14
12
30
101
25
12
4
128
14
183
15
26
14
11
66
38
9
47
72
29
37
149
53
340

19501959
120
44
69
939
175
62
237
174
58
49
111
392
74
96
32
327
51
580
174
119
124
67
484
297
93
390
615
261
279
473
545
2.173

19601969
152
56
146
1.401
482
125
607
315
86
143
160
704
187
185
81
607
91
1.151
399
244
158
134
935
539
209
748
1.709
711
891
1.839
2.088
7.238

19701979
78
25
60
667
206
78
284
170
71
92
68
401
118
102
50
511
72
853
265
148
109
69
591
278
93
371
1.240
558
818
2.582
1.895
7.093

19801989
56
26
41
487
77
40
117
77
31
49
43
200
79
70
27
516
52
744
130
96
59
60
345
136
43
179
457
275
434
1.582
794
3.542

19901999
79
22
3
39
633
90
48
138
87
50
43
44
224
79
87
31
818
45
1.060
128
103
61
52
344
141
51
192
437
261
428
2.040
846
4.012

20002005
62
19
6
39
539
83
45
128
83
42
42
32
199
92
103
22
810
40
1.067
115
80
78
42
315
87
35
122
302
173
413
1.877
710
3.475

Totale

680
236
9
439
5.542
1.212
426
1.638
1.029
381
452
529
2.391
697
682
251
3.919
378
5.927
1.251
852
635
449
3.187
1.555
543
2.098
4.898
2.309
3.371
10.920
7.117
28.615
(segue)

27

PROVINCIA O NAZIONE
DI NASCITA

Nati a Torino
e residenti a
Torino nati
occasionalme
nte altrove

PERIODO DI IMMIGRAZIONE A TORINO

Prima
del
1910

19101919

19201929

19301939

19401949

19501959

19601969

19701979

19801989

19901999

Totale

20002005

230
78
279
79
76
742
33
61
94
116
85
4
147
6
358
25
46
110
30
86
108
15
30
37
487
52
18
10
40
120

4
3
7
1
1

83
21
106
9
8
227
4
11
15
9
5
5
19
4
7
15
6
15
3
6
8
64
12
4
1
9
26

278
51
320
32
48
729
17
64
81
44
13
77
134
21
39
73
6
39
83
11
23
25
320
26
8
5
28
67

426
55
343
76
77
977
22
77
99
89
50
166
305
65
78
144
58
84
143
23
75
52
722
31
8
11
54
104

3.183
773
4.438
519
643
9.556
206
1.408
1.614
1.090
392
2.346
3.828
428
781
789
428
693
989
147
277
274
4.806
366
103
104
230
803

7.038
1.700
11.053
999
2.185
22.975
1.215
4.745
5.960
3.941
1.531
4.547
10.019
1.354
2.754
2.550
1.780
1.659
4.366
365
601
1.332
16.761
2.047
466
452
826
3.791

4.368
1.057
6.056
846
1.077
13.404
1.024
2.646
3.670
3.584
1.541
3.644
8.769
1.161
2.026
2.181
1.300
1.336
3.238
221
469
798
12.730
1.334
497
366
492
2.689

1.999
646
2.860
521
764
6.790
450
1.108
1.558
1.894
799
2.080
1
4.774
521
882
1.228
466
744
1.489
154
323
437
6.244
774
249
216
296
1.535

1.936
776
2.958
658
1.084
7.412
448
949
1.397
1.906
873
59
2.182
57
5.077
512
1.013
1.312
461
825
1.775
152
402
520
6.972
948
213
219
320
1.700

1.465
586
1.885
559
719
5.214
286
672
958
1.049
546
155
1.500
164
3.414
380
601
969
265
624
1.382
152
371
348
5.092
697
218
134
299
1.348

21.010
5.743
30.301
4.298
6.681
68.033
3.705
11.741
15.446
13.722
5.835
218
16.694
228
36.697
4.471
8.227
9.371
4.800
6.090
13.588
1.243
2.577
3.831
54.198
6.288
1.784
1.518
2.594
12.184

Provenienza italiana sconosciuta

Territori gi italiani: Fiume Istria Pola

16

446

1.149

426

138

89

83

52

2.412

Bari
Brindisi
Foggia
Lecce
Taranto

Puglia
Matera
Potenza

Basilicata
Catanzaro
Cosenza
Crotone
Reggio di Calabria
Vibo Valentia

Calabria
Agrigento
Caltanissetta
Catania
Enna
Messina
Palermo
Ragusa
Siracusa
Trapani

Sicilia
Cagliari
Nuoro
Oristano
Sassari

Sardegna

28

It is immediately clear that almost half (47 per cent) of those currently resident in Torino have
lived here from birth or were born here, regardless of the origins of their families. This figure
rises to 63 per cent if we also consider those born in the province of Torino and the rest of
Piedmont.
26 per cent (more than 220,000 people) belong to the second-largest group, which consists of
those born in southern Italy and the Italian islands; one third of the latter were born in Apulia.
5 per cent were born in the regions of north-east Italy: over 40,000 people (including refugees
from Istria) mainly from Veneto.
Graph 5.1 Italian nationals resident in Torino in 2005 according to place of birth
400.000
350.000
300.000
250.000
200.000
150.000
100.000
50.000

st
o

Re

Pr

ov
in

T
cia ORI
NO
d
de i To
rin
lP
o
i
Va emo
lle
nt
e
d'
Ao
Lo
st
a
m
ba
Tr
rd
en
i
ti n
Li g a
o
ur
Al
ia
to
Fr
Ad
iu
i
g
li
e
Ve
Ve
ne
ne
z
to
Em
ia
ili
Gi
a
ul
Ro
ia
m
ag
n
a
To
sc
an
Um a
br
Ma ia
rc
he
La
zio
Ab
ru
zz
o
Mo
lis
Ca
e
m
pa
ni
a
Pu
gl
Ba
si l i a
ica
ta
Ca
la
br
ia
Si
c
ili
Sa
a
rd
eg
na
Es
te
ro

Graph 5.2 Italian nationals resident in Torino in 2005 according to place of birth

Italia insulare
8%

Estero
2%

Italia
meridionale
18%
TORINO
47%
Italia centrale
2%
Italia nordorientale
5%
Italia nordoccidentale (escl.
Piemonte)
2%

Resto del
Piemonte
7%

Provincia di
Torino
9%

One interesting element consists of the fact that a significant portion of immigrants to Torino
were born in Torino and returned here after a period spent elsewhere: there are almost
100,000 repatriate Torino natives (12 per cent of the total, but this percentage has risen
considerably in recent years: it currently stands at 38 per cent). This group of immigrants was
a particularly small percentage of the total in the 1950s and 1960s, and now represents over
one third of all new arrivals (Graph 5.3).
Graph 5.3 Italian nationals resident in Torino in 2005 born in Torino or elsewhere
according to period of emigration
100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
ante
1910

19101919

19201929

19301939

19401949

19501959

Immigrati a Torino nati a Torino

19601969

19701979

19801989

19901999

20002005

Immigrati a Torino nati altrove

The first column of Table 5.1 refers to people born in Torino, but also as explained above
to those who have been resident here from birth in that they were born to parents resident in
Torino, but, for various reasons, were born elsewhere. This is a sizeable group of 23,400
people, 7 per cent of those resident in Torino from birth. It is a phenomenon that frequently
regards the Torino metropolitan area or the province of Torino, or even in the other provinces
of Piedmont, nor is the fairly high number of people born in Liguria surprising. However, some
people were also born by chance in Apulia, Sicily or Campania and in many cases these must
be the families regions of origin, which is also demonstrated by the fact that the phenomenon
has become less frequent over the years and mainly regards people aged between thirty and
thirty-five. Between the late 1960s and early 1970s there were probably a number of people
who had only recently emigrated to Torino who chose to return to their home towns or villages
to await the birth of their children, where they could presumably rely upon the help and
support of relatives.
20,000 of those resident in Torino were born abroad. This number obviously includes those
foreign nationals who having met the specific requirements (by marrying an Italian national,
or after ten years of legal residence etc.) have obtained Italian citizenship. Since 1990 there
has been a moderate increase in the number of foreign-born Italian nationals resident in
Torino. It is interesting to note that the number of people born in the EU is exactly the same
as the number of those born in Africa, and these are also the two biggest groups. While the
reasons for the first case are clear, the second is mainly due to Italys colonial policies in the
early 20th century. A rapid calculation indicates that the largest portion of Africa-born
residents came to Italy in the 1940s (at the time of the collapse of Fascist colonialism) and in

30

the 1960s, when some former colonies were the scene of tensions and rebellions that often
resulted in the expulsion of the Italians living there. This is reflected in the fact that, while the
largest group of foreign-born residents in Torino were born in France (2,675), the secondbiggest group are the 2,504 people who were born in Tunisia.
Going back to Italian-born residents, some interesting conclusions can be drawn by examining
the data in Table 5.1. in greater detail.
Starting with the areas closest to the city, the first element that is immediately apparent is the
large number of people born in the Torino metropolitan area . 68% of all those born in the
province of Torino, which includes 314 municipalities (excluding Torino), were born in the 53
municipalities that make up the metropolitan area.
More specifically the largest number of immigrants arrived from Moncalieri: 4,530. However,
Moncalieri is also the place of birth of the largest number of people who have been resident in
Torino from birth: 7,800. This is certainly mainly due to the fact that the maternity ward of the
local hospital enjoys a good reputation among many people in Torino.
Moncalieri is followed by Venaria Reale, (2,601), where a large number of residents in Torino
were also born by chance (2,757). The third municipality in the metropolitan area is Rivoli
(2,696).
The entire province of Torino contributed significantly to the present-day population of its
provincial capital (7% in all: 38,598 immigrants and 17,311 people who have been resident in
Torino from birth but were born by chance in other municipalities). Only four municipalities in
the province of Torino have currently no natives resident in Torino: three (Nomaglio,
Quagliuzzo and Strambinello) are in the Ivrea district, which experienced intense
industrialisation in the 20th century, a process that clearly channelled people from the rural
areas towards the capital of the Canavese district; the fourth is in the Val Chisone (Usseaux).
None of Torinos present-day residents ever emigrated from Varisella (Val Ceronda) although
one person who has been resident in Torino from birth was born there by chance.
If we weigh the data regarding the origins of the Italian nationals resident in Torino against the
current demographic structure of the various municipalities in the province, we obtain a
number of important results. Firstly, the first fifteen municipalities in which migration towards
the big city appears to have had the greatest effect in terms of depopulation (except for
Brzolo which is in the Basso Monferrato district) are all in the Alpine valleys of Lanzo and in
the Canavese district: Ribordone, Ingria, Lemie, Valprato Soana, Groscavallo, Noasca,
Chialamberto, Alpette, Frassinetto, Usseglio, Balme, Vi, Locana and Castelnuovo Nigra are all
villages that now only have a few hundred, or even a just a few tens of residents. On the other
hand, several hundred people who were born in these Alpine regions are now resident in
Torino. The most extreme case regards Ribordone, a small municipality in the Canavese
district on the edge of the Gran Paradiso National Park, which currently has fewer than eighty
inhabitants, less than the number of residents in Torino who were actually born in this small
village.
It is interesting to note that the majority of emigrants from these mountain communities
arrived in Torino before the great waves of inter-regional migration.
Looking at some of the larger municipalities, there are two more mountain communities, Susa
and Lanzo, from which the immigrants to Torino represent almost 10 per cent of their presentday population.
These data show that the valleys of Torino were heavily affected by the depopulation of the
mountain areas and subsequent urban migration. Note however that this phenomenon was felt
to a lesser extent in the valleys around Pinerolo and the Susa valley where, from the beginning
of the 20th century, an industrial area developed mainly in the lower valleys acting as a
sort of buffer and limiting the extent of the exodus towards Torino.

31

Table 5.2 Italian nationals resident in Torino born in the province of Torino

Comune di nascita

Agli
Airasca
Ala di Stura
Albiano d'Ivrea
Alice Superiore
Almese
Alpette
Alpignano
Andezeno
Andrate
Angrogna
Arignano
Avigliana
Azeglio
Bairo
Balangero
Baldissero Torinese
Balme
Banchette
Barbania
Bardonecchia
Barone Canavese
Beinasco
Bibiana
Bobbio Pellice
Bollengo
Borgaro Torinese
Borgiallo
Borgofranco d'Ivrea
Borgomasino
Borgone Susa
Bosconero
Brandizzo
Bricherasio
Brozolo
Bruino
Brusasco
Bruzolo
Buriasco
Bussoleno
Buttigliera Alta
Cafasse
Caluso
Cambiano
Campiglione Fenile
Candia Canavese
Candiolo
Cantalupa
Cantoira
Caprie
Caravino
Carema
Carignano
Carmagnola
Casalborgone
Caselette
Caselle Torinese
Castagneto Po
Castagnole Piemonte
Castellamonte
Castelnuovo Nigra
Castiglione Torinese
Cavagnolo
Cavour
Cercenasco
Ceres
Ceresole Reale
Cesana Torinese
Chialamberto
Chianocco
Chiaverano
Chieri
Chiesanuova
Chiomonte
Chiusa di S.Michele
Chivasso
Cintano
Cinzano
Ciri
Claviere
Coassolo Torinese
Coazze
Collegno
Colleretto Castelnuovo
Colleretto Giacosa
Condove
Corio
Cuceglio
Cumiana
Cuorgn
Druento
Exilles
Favria
Feletto

Nati
Nati
occasionali
emigrati
residenti a
poi a
Torino dalla
Torino
nascita
82
70
38
8
10
88
52
119
29
10
26
31
432
39
22
63
66
14
7
82
115
15
179
44
27
26
80
6
17
43
56
90
98
79
64
46
54
10
34
180
44
61
205
133
27
33
79
13
37
37
18
13
534
1.046
86
17
317
46
76
356
43
53
127
172
34
76
5
65
67
26
16
1.280
5
66
38
1.471
6
26
1.070
6
54
83
443
10
5
131
124
11
187
525
133
23
81
42

13
4
14
1
1
9
1
15
8
3
8
154
9
4
9
4
10
18
3
18
3
1
5
7
3
8
2
10
12
11
1
8
2
2
15
2
3
40
18
1
1
3
1
2
4
2
1
85
359
7
3
23
8
5
65
5
5
21
16
1
26
8
9
2
805
8
5
294
1
3
842
4
15
30
1
17
21
2
25
74
12
1
17
5

Totale

95
74
52
9
11
97
53
134
37
13
26
39
586
48
22
67
75
18
7
92
133
18
197
47
28
31
87
6
20
51
58
100
110
90
65
54
56
12
34
195
46
64
245
151
28
34
82
14
39
41
20
14
619
1.405
93
20
340
54
81
421
48
58
148
188
35
102
5
73
76
28
16
2.085
5
74
43
1.765
7
29
1.912
6
58
98
473
10
6
148
145
13
212
599
145
24
98
47

Comune di nascita

Fenestrelle
Fiano
Foglizzo
Forno Canavese
Frassinetto
Front
Frossasco
Garzigliana
Gassino Torinese
Germagnano
Giaglione
Giaveno
Groscavallo
Grosso
Grugliasco
Ingria
Isolabella
Issiglio
Ivrea
La Cassa
La Loggia
Lanzo Torinese
Lauriano
Leini'
Lemie
Lessolo
Levone
Locana
Lombardore
Lombriasco
Lugnacco
Luserna S.Giovanni
Lusernetta
Lusigli
Macello
Maglione
Marentino
Massello
Mathi
Mattie
Mazz
Meana di Susa
Mercenasco
Mezzenile
Mombello di Torino
Mompantero
Monastero di Lanzo
Moncalieri
Montaldo Torinese
Montalenghe
Montalto Dora
Montanaro
Monteu da Po
Moriondo Torinese
Nichelino
Noasca
Nole
None
Novalesa
Oglianico
Orbassano
Orio Canavese
Osasco
Osasio
Oulx
Ozegna
Palazzo Canavese
Pancalieri
Parella
Pavarolo
Pavone Canavese
Pecco
Pecetto Torinese
Perosa Argentina
Perrero
Pessinetto
Pianezza
Pinasca
Pinerolo
Pino Torinese
Piobesi Torinese
Piossasco
Piscina
Piverone
Poirino
Pomaretto
Pont Canavese
Porte
Pragelato
Prali
Pralormo
Prascorsano
Pratiglione
Quincinetto

Nati
Nati
occasionali
emigrati
residenti a Totale
poi a
Torino dalla
Torino
nascita
33
60
98
98
44
16
38
13
422
40
16
419
47
12
372
27
18
10
1.412
12
76
472
110
170
55
11
20
185
78
13
5
157
5
9
33
7
37
5
84
22
99
25
23
80
6
14
19
4.530
18
13
15
175
27
32
415
39
103
114
16
16
292
19
5
11
89
11
7
186
9
20
10
5
91
130
30
31
123
26
1.770
65
89
143
46
14
315
19
208
18
10
7
98
5
21
9

32

3
36
4
64
15
113
6
104
3
47
3
19
7
45
1
14
66
488
9
49
16
127
546
4
51
12
19
391
1
28
1
19
2
12
133 1.545
2
14
3
79
111
583
18
128
26
196
3
58
1
12
5
25
8
193
15
93
1
14
5
15
172
1
6
1
10
1
34
7
2
39
5
7
91
1
23
11
110
2
27
2
25
4
84
1
7
14
3
22
7.984 12.514
2
20
1
14
1
16
25
200
1
28
2
34
30
445
39
10
113
6
120
1
17
3
19
22
314
2
21
5
11
4
93
11
2
9
13
199
9
20
1
11
5
14
105
8
138
4
34
6
37
9
132
4
30
264 2.034
13
78
14
103
22
165
6
52
3
17
31
346
2
21
19
227
2
20
10
7
10
108
5
21
9

Comune di nascita

Nati
emigrati
poi a
Torino

Reano
Ribordone
Riva presso Chieri
Rivalba
Rivalta di Torino
Rivara
Rivarolo Canavese
Rivarossa
Rivoli
Robassomero
Rocca Canavese
Roletto
Romano Canavese
Ronco Canavese
Rondissone
Rosta
Roure
Rubiana
Rueglio
S.Ambrogio di Torino
S.Antonino di Susa
S.Benigno Canavese
S.Carlo Canavese
S.Didero
S.Francesco al Campo
S.Germano Chisone
S.Gillio
S.Giorgio Canavese
S.Giorio di Susa
S.Giusto Canavese
S.Martino Canavese
S.Maurizio Canavese
S.Mauro Torinese
S.Pietro Val Lemina
S.Raffaele Cimena
S.Sebastiano da Po
S.Secondo di Pinerolo
Salassa
Salbertrand
Salerano Canavese
Sangano
Santena
Sauze d'oulx
Scalenghe
Scarmagno
Sciolze
Sestriere
Settimo Rottaro
Settimo Torinese
Settimo Vittone
Sparone
Strambino
Susa
Tavagnasco
Torrazza Piemonte
Torre Canavese
Torre Pellice
Trana
Traversella
Traves
Trofarello
Usseglio
Vaie
Val della Torre
Valperga
Valprato Soana
Vauda Canavese
Venaria Reale
Venaus
Verolengo
Verrua Savoia
Vestign
Vialfr
Vico Canavese
Vidracco
Vigone
Villafranca Piemonte
Villanova Canavese
Villar Dora
Villar Focchiardo
Villar Pellice
Villar Perosa
Villarbasse
Villareggia
Villastellone
Vinovo
Virle Piemonte
Vische
Vistrorio
Vi
Volpiano
Volvera
Altri
Totale

12
86
99
35
91
71
274
22
2.696
19
63
7
15
34
52
26
25
61
8
85
45
104
20
14
97
40
53
54
35
47
19
212
364
7
31
104
37
19
14
7
6
125
12
68
15
45
8
9
613
7
48
59
608
6
68
6
216
35
13
23
124
35
20
31
75
33
18
2.601
10
192
103
30
6
32
10
169
287
13
5
37
17
47
11
15
120
121
19
69
9
162
221
81
76
38.598

Nati
occasionali
residenti a
Torino dalla
nascita

Totale

2
14
9
95
5
104
1
36
6
97
6
77
28
302
1
23
1.406 4.102
1
20
11
74
7
15
1
35
7
59
5
31
1
26
6
67
1
9
3
88
7
52
20
124
1
21
1
15
8
105
4
44
8
61
5
59
2
37
5
52
1
20
25
237
36
400
1
8
3
34
8
112
1
38
6
25
2
16
7
6
15
140
12
5
73
15
3
48
8
9
46
659
7
2
50
15
74
92
700
6
6
74
6
27
243
9
44
13
1
24
8
132
3
38
1
21
5
36
16
91
33
3
21
2.757 5.358
10
12
204
10
113
2
32
6
3
35
2
12
8
177
18
305
2
15
3
8
1
38
17
4
51
2
13
15
21
141
10
131
19
4
73
1
10
22
184
25
246
6
87
4
80
17.311 55.909

The following table is a summary of the main places of origin in the province of Torino of the
citys present-day population, also specifying the period of immigration to Torino.
These data can be analysed and compared to obtain some important information. For instance,
in the provinces two main industrial centres, Chivasso and Ivrea, the largest flows towards
Torino occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, a period in which some of the large industries in that
area entered a period of crisis.
In Carmagnola, where the agricultural and animal farming sectors are particularly advanced,
the peak in the number of emigrants heading for Torino occurred in the 1950s, when people
were still leaving the countryside and moving to the towns and cities.
Emigration from Collegno and Nichelino, in Torinos immediate hinterland, was at its highest in
the years following the Second World War, when the hinterland in turn become the destination
for large numbers of immigrants (also arriving from Torino), in a progressive process of
conurbation between the city and its hinterland.
Table 5.3 Italian nationals resident in Torino born in the province of Torino
(main places of origin)
Nati
occasiona
li
Totale
residenti
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 a Torino
dalla
1909 1919 1929 1939 1949 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999 2005 nascita
Periodo di immigrazione

Comune di
nascita

Moncalieri

28

141

91

276

258

336

650 1.389 1.360

7.984 12.514

Venaria Reale

17

67

44

222

232

337

320

699

2.757

5.358

663

Rivoli

12

84

58

151

141

245

317

807

881

1.406

4.102

Chieri

60

49

91

92

121

154

292

416

805

2.085

Pinerolo

14

46

62

165

162

155

252

392

522

264

2.034

Ciri

27

35

99

96

105

119

238

347

842

1.912

Chivasso

43

38

84

131

128

192

397

452

294

1.765

Ivrea

19

30

78

93

126

200

361

504

133

1.545

Carmagnola

38

38

170

108

105

108

176

300

359

1.405

Susa

11

13

60

80

61

76

152

153

92

700

Settimo Torinese

54

27

78

90

73

84

127

75

46

659

Carignano

10

65

69

71

71

115

122

85

619

Cuorgn

19

50

53

50

66

128

150

74

599

Avigliana

10

14

34

39

41

82

102

109

154

586

Lanzo Torinese

18

19

51

56

36

61

107

120

111

583

Giaveno

18

18

69

31

33

37

81

128

127

546

Gassino Torinese

25

36

102

59

45

53

54

43

66

488

Collegno

13

55

33

74

63

49

54

60

42

30

473

Nichelino

36

27

95

53

52

54

62

33

30

445

Totale

3 129 768 661 2.014 1.906 2.169 2.950 5.703 6.456

15.659 38.418

Altri comuni

10 184 1.273 1.376 4.083 2.642 1.927 1.736 1.516 1.091

1.652 17.491

Totale generale

13 313 2.041 2.037 6.097 4.548 4.096 4.686 7.219 7.547

17.311 55.909

33

The rest of Piedmont (thus excluding the province of Torino) also contributed significantly to
the population of Torino: also in this case some 7 per cent of those currently resident in the
provincial capital were born in other provinces of Piedmont, mainly Cuneo and Asti.

Graph 5.4 Italian nationals resident in Torino born in other provinces of Piedmont
(excluding the province of Torino)
Verbania (*)
0,1%

Vercelli
11,0%

Alessandria
16,6%

Novara
4,2%

Asti
26,3%
Cuneo
41,4%
Biella (*)
0,5%
(*) recently established provinces: until 1992 Biella was part of the province of Vercelli, and Verbania, the Ossola valley
and the area of Lake Maggiore were in the province of Novara.

As far as the provinces are concerned, that of Cuneo, with 23,662, has the largest number of
natives resident in Torino, but if we consider the towns, more of Torinos residents were born
in the city of Asti (almost 3,000 residents in Torino) than in the city of Cuneo (around 2,000).
However, from the province of Cuneo there are a large number of natives of Alba (1,205), Bra
(1,087), Savigliano (1,005). Mondov, Saluzzo and Fossano each account for slightly under one
thousand immigrants.
From the province of Asti a significant number of people originally came from San Damiano
dAsti and Costigliole (in the south of the province) but far fewer from the two biggest centres
in the province, Canelli and Nizza Monferrato.
The province of Alessandria is also well represented in Torino, with almost 10,000 natives,
1,745 of whom were born in the town of Alessandria itself, 1,358 in Casale Monferrato and 547
in Acqui Terme.
As regards the other provinces of Piedmont, as mentioned in other parts of this study, these
represent a far smaller proportion and none of the municipalities in the provinces of Vercelli or
Novara or in the recently established provinces of Biella and Verbania, excluding the provincial
capitals, have more than a few tens of natives who are now resident in Torino.
In terms of the periods in which people migrated to Torino from other provinces in Piedmont,
the largest flows were from the 1920s up to the end of the 1950s, when immigration of people
from other parts of Italy practically replaced intra-regional migration.

34

Table 5.4 Italian nationals resident in Torino born in other provinces of Piedmont
(main places of origin)
Nati
occasion
ali
Totale
residenti
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
a Torino
1909 1919 1929 1939 1949 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999 2005 dalla
nascita
Periodo di immigrazione

Comune di
nascita

Asti

29

96 160 454 424 299 337 427 417

274

2.919

Cuneo

29

62 253 265 228 255 368 387

160

2.014

Alessandria

12

67

84 237 282 222 194 271 257

119

1.745

Casale Monferrato (Al)

17

48

69

199

217

175

158

177

163

135

1.358

Alba (Cn)

10

57

73

255

183

123

142

113

128

121

1.205

Vercelli

10

39

42 153 156 141 138 161 163

100

1.106

Bra (Cn)

46

72

119

121

1.087

Biella

30

40

94 167 194 165 209 220

115

1.243

Savigliano (Cn)

36

41

182

182

96

91

93

153

126

1.005

Mondovi' (Cn)

32

31

194

201

92

121

110

110

75

968

Saluzzo (Cn)

28

57

179

139

97

85

85

110

84

869

Fossano (Cn)

23

63

191

140

85

82

73

83

40

791

Novara

31

39

82 117 123

45

752

Verbania

19

14

17

21

24

115

S.Damiano dAsti (At)

70

69

232

114

66

44

42

29

56

730

Costigliole dAsti (At)

55

39

232

123

48

42

28

19

45

639

Acqui Terme (Al)

15

16

57

114

73

70

89

66

43

547

Totale

10

148

703

961 3.244 2.983 2.158 2.136 2.513 2.571

1.665 19.093

Altri Comuni del

Piemonte

25

371 2.303 3.196 11.416 7.594 3.916 2.886 2.425 1.657

2.356 38.146

Totale generale

35

519 3.006 4.157 14.66010.577 6.074 5.022 4.938 4.228

4.021 57.239

224

156

100

99 101 105

113

129

Provincial capitals in bold type

In the same way as we have outlined the Piedmontese origins of Torinos resident
population, we can also outline the characteristics of those from the various other Italian
regions that have, over the last century, made a significant contribution to Torinos population
increase. This information is presented on the basis of the traditional division of Italy into
north-west, north-east, central, southern Italy and the Italian islands.

35

NORTH-WEST ITALY (Excluding Piedmont)

Aosta Valley
The majority of the 1,105 Aosta Valley natives resident in Torino were born in the provincial
capital (764), a few were born in other municipalities, both in the more important centres
(Chatillon, Saint Vincent, Pont St Martin) and rather surprisingly in a number of much
smaller communities such as Brusson and Villeneuve. The last few decades have seen
increasingly higher numbers of immigrants arriving from Courmayeur.
Liguria
Almost 7,000 people resident in Torino were born in Liguria; only one third were born in Genoa
(2,453) and one quarter were born in the other provincial capitals: Savona (732), La Spezia

36

(470) and Imperia (with just 347). As regards the province of Imperia, there are about 20,000
fewer residents in the provincial capital than in Sanremo, which is the real centre of the
province. This town, famous for its Song Festival and floriculture, was the birthplace of 481 of
Torinos present-day residents.
Almost all of the other people who moved to Torino from Liguria come from a small group of
municipalities in the provinces of Imperia (Bordighera and Ventimiglia) and Savona (Albenga,
Finale and Alassio).
From these data it is clear that most of those who migrated from Liguria to Piedmont were
from the coastal areas: very few come from the inland areas of Liguria.
As far as the province of Imperia is concerned, it was the birthplace of a significant proportion
of those resident in Torino from birth but born elsewhere by chance. The reasons for this are
clear.
Lombardy
There has always been a constant migratory flow of people between Lombardy and Piedmont,
although there was a marked increase between the 1930s and 1940s and there has been a
steady increase in the last few decades.
Of the 12,500 Lombard-born residents in Torino, 3,755 are from Milan, which is followed at a
distance by Brescia, with 390. Immigration from Lombardy to Torino is characterised by the
fact that the immigrants come from a large number of the regions many municipalities (one
fifth of all the municipalities in Italy).
The number of immigrants to Torino from Milan has been falling since the 1980s, whereas the
number of those from other municipalities, especially Varese and Monza, is continuously on the
increase.
Those migrating from Lombardy to Torino come from the provincial capitals, but also from
other major centres, some of which are very close to the border with Piedmont, such as
Voghera and Vigevano.
NORTH-EAST ITALY
Veneto
More than 24,300 of Torinos resident population are from Veneto; one in four was born in the
province of Rovigo, in the Polesine (Po Delta) area, once a barren land tormented by the great
river, malaria and famine.
The mass exodus from the Polesine and province of Rovigo began in 1951, the year of the
dreadful floods that plunged the entire region into a period of crisis and economic and social
turmoil.
However, the first immigrants from Veneto arrived in Torino much earlier: from the 1920s
onwards large numbers of Veneto-born peasants, mainly from the provinces of Treviso, Padua
and Verona, migrated to Torino and Piedmont.
Leaving aside for the time being those from the province of Rovigo, 3,930 of Torinos resident
population are from Veneto: of these, 902 were born in Cavarzere (Venice), 612 in the city of
Venice and 520 in Chioggia. The second-largest province, in terms of immigrants resident in
Torino, is Padua, with 4,817. Besides those from the provincial capital (665), large groups also
come from Este and Monselice. There are slightly fewer natives of the provinces of Treviso
(3.319), Vicenza (2,384) and Verona (2,136 - of whom 515 were born in the provincial capital
and 245 in Legnago). Fewer immigrants come from the smaller province of Belluno, 983.
As mentioned earlier, the biggest group of immigrants from the 1950s onwards came from the
Polesine area. In the first part of this study we explained how almost 60,000 people emigrated
from Veneto to Torino in the 1950s and 1960s. Of Torinos present-day population, 7 per cent
of those who immigrated in the 1940s, 11 per cent of those who arrived in the 1950s and 6
per cent of those who came in the 1960s are Veneto-born.
The Veneto municipality with the largest number of native residents in Torino is Adria (1,145),
in the province of Rovigo. Next comes the city of Rovigo (431), followed by Loreo, Taglio di Po
and Contarina (all with more than 300). Slightly fewer come from Ariano Polesine, Porto Tolle,
Rosolina, Lendinara and Donada.

37

Nowadays only 2 per cent of all immigrants to Torino are from Veneto, a figure that has
remained constant for at least thirty years. However, over the same period there has been a
significant increase in the number of immigrants from the big cities instead of from the rural
areas: Venice, Padua and Verona.
Trentino Alto Adige
There are 726 Trentino-born residents in Torino and 606 from Alto Adige. On the other hand,
more immigrants were born in the city of Bolzano than in Trento: 263 and 143 respectively.
However, the number of immigrants from Trento has increased in recent years, while there has
been a decline in the number from Bolzano.
There are only a few tens of natives of other important towns in the province, such as Merano,
Bressanone and Brunico in Alto Adige, and Rovereto, Borgo Valsugana and Cles in Trentino.
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
There were two major waves of immigration to Torino from Fruili, the first in the 1930s and
the second in the 1950s.
There are currently 3,616 Fruili-Venezia Giulia-born residents in Torino, one third of whom
were born in the four provincial capitals: Trieste (437), Udine (350), Gorizia (152) and
Pordenone (101). As regards the province of Pordenone, more immigrants were born in the
municipality of Morsano al Tagliamento than in the provincial capital. A few tens of immigrants
from the province of Pordenone are also from San Vito al Tagliamento, Pasiano, Sesto al
Reghena, Cimolais, Spilimbergo and Sacile.
Many municipalities in the province of Udine also contributed, on a somewhat smaller scale, to
the migratory flows towards Torino, especially Latisana, Buia and Gemona. Udine is one of the
provinces of Friuli with the largest number of immigrants in Torino: 1,821. All the others have
less than one thousand.
A few of Torinos residents were born in Monfalcone, while most immigrants from the province
of Trieste were born in the provincial capital: only 32 were born in the provinces other
municipalities (there are only five others apart from Trieste).
In this section on immigration from Fruili-Venezia Giulia, it is also worth mentioning that from
Istria, since over 2,400 of the people resident in Torino were born in this region. Of these,
70% are natives of the province of Pula (1,685). Others come from Rijeka (621), while there
are also a few tens of immigrants from Zadar.
A first fairly large group arrived immediately after the Second World War, but the majority
followed on from the Veneto immigrants.
Emilia Romagna
There are no specific studies regarding the phenomenon of immigration from Emilia Romagna
to Piedmont, or to Torino in particular, nor has much ever been said about it. However, the
9,307 natives of this region resident in Torino make up a sizeable group.
A first element to be taken into consideration is that immigration from Emilia Romagna has
several points in common with that from Veneto, since the Polesine area straddles the two
provinces.
Just about half of Torinos Emilia-born residents come from Ferrara (774) and its province:
Comacchio (611), Copparo (429), Codigoro (416), Bondeno (313), Migliarino (267), Berra
(258), Mesola (231), Massa Fiscaglia (212). Jolanda di Savoia, Formignana, Ostellato and
Portomaggiore each have under 200. Altogether more than 4,500 of Torinos residents were
born in the province of Ferrara, less than a thousand come from each of the other provinces:
964 from the province of Bologna (626 from the city itself), 810 from the province of Modena
(227 from the city), 789 from the province of Forl-Cesena (190 and 111 respectively from the
provincial capitals), 776 from the province of Parma (263 from Parma itself), 625 and 623
from the provinces of Piacenza and Cremona, 582 from the province of Reggio Emilia and
under 300 from the province of Ravenna. There are also almost 200 people from the province
of Rimini.
Immigration to Torino from Emilia Romagna began to slow down in the 1960s (and has
continued to fall, with the exception of some towns and cities, for example Bologna, but also
Parma and Modena) but reached fairly significant levels in previous decades, especially from
1930.

38

CENTRAL ITALY
Tuscany
Altogether there are 5,542 Tuscan-born residents in Torino, a large proportion of whom were
born in Florence (660), with smaller groups coming from the other provincial capitals,
especially Leghorn (345) and Pisa (280). Among the other towns that are not provincial
capitals, the largest groups of immigrants are from Piombino in the province of Leghorn (230)
and Altopascio in the province of Lucca (which has 159 immigrants in Torino, more than the
provincial capital Lucca).
Once again, immigration to Torino from Tuscany peaked in the first half of the 20th century,
when many people, especially from the poorest parts of the region, moved to the big cities in
the north of Italy and south of France.
Over recent decades the migratory flow has stabilised at a very low level, with some areas
(especially Florence) showing a tendency for growth and others, such as Pisa, Grosseto, Massa
and Carrara, on the decline.
Umbria
The majority of Torinos 1,638 Umbria-born residents are not from the provincial capitals, but
from two towns in the province of Perugia, Foligno (204) and Citt della Pieve (193). There are
just 165 from Terni and even fewer from Perugia, 144.
Migratory flows from Umbria have been insignificant in recent decades, but this was not
altogether the case in the 1950s and 1960s, when some 5,000 people migrated to Torino from
Umbria.
Lazio
As Italys capital city, large numbers of people have moved to Rome from Torino over the
years, ever since the ministries and bureaucratic departments were transferred from Torino to
Rome, and this is still the case to some extent today. On the other hand, relatively few people
have emigrated from Lazio to Torino: just over 6,000 Lazio-born people are currently resident
in Torino, more than half of whom are from the city of Rome.
A further 124 are from the province of Latina. In recent decades there has been a steady flow
of immigrants from Formia and Gaeta in the province of Latina (though only in terms of a few
tens of people).
Marche
There are 2,391 Marche natives resident in Torino (265 are from Ancona, which represents the
largest group). They are what remains of a minor migratory flow that was mainly concentrated
between the end of the Second World War and the early 1950s.
SOUTHERN ITALY
Abruzzo
Although many people emigrated from Abruzzo, this region made a relatively small
contribution to Torinos immigrant population, and in any case only during the years of the
economic boom and industrialisation (between the 1950s and 1960s some 11,000 people
migrated to Torino from Abruzzo and Molise, which were a single region until 1963).
The biggest group consists of 1,251 people born in the province of Chieti (148 in the provincial
capital, 116 in Lanciano, less than a hundred in Ortona, Vasto, Fossacesia, Atessa, Celenza and
Guardiagrele), followed by 852 from the province of Aquila (147 from the provincial capital,
111 from Sulmona, 100 from Avezzano and a few tens from Scanno and Pratola Peligna).
The city from which the largest number of immigrants comes is Pescara (272), with 645 from
the entire province.
Molise
Three quarters of the almost 2,100 Molise-born residents are from the province of
Campobasso. The province of Isernia is by far the least represented.

39

Torino has 1,555 residents who were born in the province of Campobasso, almost 300 of
whom were born in the provincial capital, 157 in Larino and 146 in Termoli.
Campania
70,000 Campania-born people migrated to Torino between 1960 and 1979. Of these, 28,615
still live in this city and most came here in the 1960s and 1970s.
38 per cent are from the province of Naples and 5,224 were born in the provincial capital.
Other towns in the province of Naples from which many of Torinos present-day population
originate are Castellamare di Stabia (741), Torre Annunziata (547) and Torre del Greco (390).
The other biggest group consists of the 7,117 people from the province of Salerno, 1,164 of
whom were born in Salerno and the remainder in the other provincial municipalities; significant
numbers arrived from Eboli (462), Cava de Tirreni (336), Nocera inferiore (332) and Sarno
(287).
4,898 residents are from the provinces of Avellino and Irpinia but only 503 were actually born
in the city of Avellino. Of those born in the province, 556 are from Lacedonia. There is also a
large group born in Ariano Irpino: 449.
No particularly large groups come from the other provinces, with the exception of the various
provincial capitals: for instance, 588 were born in Benevento (2,309 in the province) and 370
were born in Caserta (which is a relatively small number, considering that 3,371 were born in
the province).
As regards the characteristics of migration from Campania to Torino, there was a significant
drop in the number of immigrants in the second half of the 1970s and this trend has continued
ever since, even though large numbers of immigrants continue to arrive. In the last five years,
for instance, some 3,400 people have moved to Torino from Campania.
Apulia
People are not just joking when they say Torino is the sixth province of Apulia: 8.2 per cent of
the Italian nationals resident in Torino (68,000 people) were born in Apulia (thus not counting
second and later generations born to families of immigrants from Apulia).
Of these 68,000 people, almost half (30,301) are from the province of Foggia. 5,237 were born
in the city of Foggia, not quite as many as the 5,242 born in Cerignola, who constitute the
largest non-Piedmontese community originating from the same place.
Many other municipalities in the province of Foggia also contributed to the increase in Torinos
population in the second half of the last century: San Severo (approximately 2,500), Lucera
(almost 2,000), Orta Nova (1,721), Torremaggiore (1.513), Candela (1,242), Ascoli Satriano
(890) and Troia (725).
Next in terms of the number of immigrants is the province of Bari, which accounts for around
30 per cent of Torinos Apulia-born inhabitants and is also characterised by large local
communities. While 2,982 of the immigrants were born in the city of Bari, almost as many
were born in Corato (2,397), Canosa di Puglia (2.,83), Minervino Murge (2,134) and Barletta
(1,912). Other smaller groups come from Spinazzola, Andria, Terlizzi and Bitonto.
The other three provinces follow at considerable distance: 6,681 people were born in the
province of Taranto, 2,910 of whom in the provincial capital (none of the provinces other
municipalities have particularly significant numbers of natives in Torino); 5,743 were born in
the province of Brindisi, 1,419 of whom in the city of Brindisi (other places of origin include
Francavilla Fontana and Mesagne, both with under a hundred immigrants); finally, 4,298 are
from the province of Lecce, but only 560 were born in the provincial capital.
Migration from Apulia to Torino also peaked in the early 1960s (almost 17,000 in 1961 alone!).
The following decade was characterised by a significantly reduced migratory flow, although
large numbers of immigrants continue to move to Torino from Apulia. In recent years some
one thousand Apulia-born people have migrated to Torino each year, accounting for almost 20
per cent of all immigrants to Torino (excluding foreign immigrants and intra-regional
migration).
Basilicata
In the years of the great migratory flows from the south to the big cities in the north of Italy, a
large proportion of immigrants came from Basilicata.

40

15,446 first-generation immigrants from Basilicata still live in Torino and this is the sixthbiggest region in terms of the number of immigrants.
Potenza is the largest of the two Basilicata provinces in terms of numbers of immigrants:
11,741. However, only 592 (5 per cent) were born in the provincial capital.
The situation is similar for the province of Matera: out of the 3,705 residents in Torino, less
than 10 per cent (366) were born in the provincial capital.
Most of those who emigrated from Basilicata came from the smaller towns. In the province of
Potenza, for instance, a large number of immigrants were born in Lavello (1.959), Melfi
(1.931) and Venosa (1.095). 702 come from Palazzo San Gervasio, 551 from Rionero in
Vulture, 543 from Montemilone, 347 from SantArcangelo, 320 from Avigliano and 306 from
Corleto. Perticara, Ripacandida, Pietragalla and Rapolla each have under two hundred natives
resident in Torino.
Immigrants from the province of Matera come from two main areas: Tricarico (430) and
Stigliano (452).
Calabria
Natives of Calabria form the third-largest immigrant community in Torino, after Apulia and
Sicily. Torino has 36,697 Calabria-born inhabitants, most of whom arrived between the 1950s
and 1970s.
In the 1990s two new provinces, Crotone and Vibo Valentia, both of which were formerly part
of the province of Catanzaro, were created. This causes some problems when analysing data
for the various provinces.
For the purpose of this study, and to ensure a more consistent analysis of our data, we have
ignored this territorial reorganisation, which could have been misleading.
The province of Reggio Calabria made the greatest contribution to immigration to Torino
(16,697 of Torinos inhabitants were born in this province and 2,715 in the city of Reggio).
Another large group is from Locri (1,086) and a number of municipalities in the province of
Reggio, including Palmi (858), Gioiosa Jonica (754) and Siderno (656). Smaller, but
nonetheless significant numbers also arrived from Ardore (476), Taurianova (447), Bovalino
and Scilla (both with 378).
In the 1950s particularly large numbers of people emigrated from Palmi and Gioiosa Jonica to
Torino (in terms of the percentage in relation to the total number of immigrants from
Calabria), while the number of people arriving from Locri peaked later, and has remained
unusually constant over the past twenty years.
It is interesting to note that, while huge numbers of immigrants arrived from the municipalities
of the province of Reggio mentioned above, decidedly smaller numbers arrived from the other
major municipalities in the same province, such as Gioia Tauro, Rosarno, Villa S. Giovanni,
Polistena and Bagnara Calabra.
14,171 of Torinos inhabitants were born in the province of Catanzaro. This figure includes data
for the last fifteen years for the new provinces of Crotone and Vibo Valentia. 1,487 were born
in the city of Catanzaro, 916 in Crotone and 775 in Vibo.
In the area covered by these three provinces, the largest number of immigrants are from
Gerocarne (599), SantOnofrio (426), S. Mauro Marchesato (422) and Sersale (401).
There are far fewer natives of the province of Cosenza, with just 5,836. Of these, the largest
group is from the provincial capital and the rest are smaller groups from the other provincial
municipalities (including major centres such as Corigliano, Rossano, Rende, Castrovillari etc.).
THE ITALIAN ISLANDS
Sicily
During the twenty-five years of large-scale domestic migration - between 1950 and 1975
almost 130,000 Sicilians arrived in Torino (30,000 less than from Apulia, but twice as many as
from Campania or Calabria).
There are currently 54,233 Sicilian-born immigrants resident in Torino, one quarter of whom
are natives of Palermo (6,056) or the province of Palermo (7,538, making a total of 13.59). As
regards the province of Palermo, a particularly large number of immigrants who are now
resident in Torino were born in the towns of Prizzi (896), Lercara Friddi (583) and Termini

41

Imerese (518). A significantly smaller number of people were born in the three main towns of
the province, Bagheria, Monreale and Partinico.
Although a decidedly higher number of people arrived in Torino from Palermo in the 1960s and
1970s, the first wave of immigrants from Sicily to Torino (in the 1950s) was mainly from
Catania. 9,388 of Torinos current resident population are from this province, more than half
from the actual city of Catania. Not very many were born in Acireale, Patern or Misterbianco,
which are the largest towns in the province of Catania. The next largest community after
Catania is that of Caltagirone (990).
The province of Caltanissetta is almost as well represented, with 8,227 residents, 2,720 of
whom are from the city of Caltanissetta. However, the main centre of this province is Gela,
where 655 of the people resident in Torino were born. A larger group, numbering some 1,263
people, are from the smaller town of Riesi, from where many people emigrated to northern
Italy and especially to Torino. A sizeable group (529) is from Mazzarino.
Just over 6,000 people come from the province of Messina: 2,348 were born in the provincial
capital and there are no particularly large local groups, even from major centres such as
Milazzo, Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Patti or SantAgata di Militello.
The opposite is the case as regards the province of Enna: only 450 people are from the city of
Enna, but 1,151 were born in Piazza Armerina and 632 in the smaller town of Pietraperzia.
Altogether exactly 4,800 of Torinos residents originally come from the province of Enna. 4,471
are from the province of Agrigento (790 from the provincial capital), 3,384 from the province
of Trapani (only 584 were born in Trapani, a far higher number were born in Marsala: over
1,400).
The smallest groups are from the province of Syracuse (2,579, of whom 712 were born in the
provincial capital) and Ragusa (1,244 and only 178 born in the town of Ragusa).
Sardinia
When analysing the phenomenon of large-scale migration in the second half of the 20th
century and its repercussions on Torinos demographic structure, it is worth trying to explain
the specific characteristics of immigration from Sardinia with an additional statistical analysis,
not only of immigration but also of emigration from Torino and repatriation, which were
important phenomena during the crisis that hit Torinos industrial system and the Fordist
model on which its was based, between the 1970s and 1980s.
Of the 35,000 Sardinian-born immigrants who arrived in Torino during the period of maximum
industrial development (1950-1970) only one third are still resident in Torino: 12,184.
52 per cent, i.e. over half, are from Cagliari (1,147) and from its provincial area. Some of the
largest local communities are also from the province of Cagliari, such as Carbonia (685),
Iglesias (551) and Arbus (290): these are, of course, the main mining towns of the Sulcis and
Medio Campidano regions that suffered a period of crisis in the 1960s, which coincided exactly
with the start of mass emigration to mainland Italy. Further evidence of the fact that these
socio-demographic factors coincided lies in the fact that other major centres in the same
region were not affected by such large-scale emigration: only a few tens of people from Quartu
SantElena or SantAntioco emigrated to Torino.
The second largest Sardinian province in terms of the number of people who emigrated to
Torino is Sassari which follows at a considerable distance: 617 from the provincial capital
and 2,600 from the province as a whole.
The municipalities in the province of Sassari with the largest numbers of immigrants among
Torinos population are Alghero and Ozieri (although we are dealing with fairly small numbers,
164 and 125 respectively). Less than one hundred people originally came from Tempio
Pausania, another important town in this province.
The provinces of Nuoro (1.784) and Oristano (1,518) together represent slightly more than a
quarter of all Sardinian immigrants currently resident in Torino.
More in detail, 222 were born in the town of Oristano, slightly more than in Nuoro.
Other natives of the province of Oristano include small groups from Terralba, the secondbiggest town in the province (130) and Marrubiu, Arborea and Cuglieri all with less than one
hundred -, while the biggest group from the province of Nuoro consists of the 71 people from
Lanusei.

42

Presence of residents from some Italian regions in the 92 statistical zones of Torino

Piemonte
(escluso Torino)

Veneto

Campania

Lombardy

43

Apulia

Calabria

Sicily

Sardinia

44

Foreign-born Italian nationals resident in Torino

This section is concerned with the large portion of Torinos foreign-born resident population.
This is an extremely variegated group of some 20,000 people. It includes the children or
grandchildren of emigrants who have returned to Italy, foreign nationals who have fulfilled all
the legal requirements to obtain Italian citizenship and those who were simply born abroad by
chance. As can be expected, a significant number of these people (approximately 5,800 ) are
from EU Member States, with a very high percentage (practically half) coming from nearby
France (Graph 5.6).

Graph 5.5 Foreign-born Italian nationals resident in Torino

Allargamento
U.E.
Oceania
2,2%
0,8%
Asia
4,4%
Altri paesi
europei
13,2%

Unione Europea
29,0%

America
21,5%
Africa
29,0%

Graph 5.6 EU-born Italian nationals resident in Torino

3.000
2.500
2.000
1.500
1.000
500

as
si
m
bu
rg
o
Po
rto
ga
llo
Da
ni
m
ar
ca
Fin
la
nd
ia
Ir
la
nd
a
se

iB

Lu
s

Pa
es

Sv

ez
ia

Sp
ag
na
Au
st
ria

ia

lg
io
Be

Gr
ec

rm
an
ia
Br
et
ag
na
Gr
an

Ge

Fr

an
cia

45

The number of Italian nationals resident in Torino who were born in the EU (5,797) is exactly
the same as that of those born in Africa.
This is not particularly surprising, in view of Italys colonial policies in the first half of the 20th
century, before and during the Fascist period, as mentioned in the first part of this study.
Graph 5.7 illustrates this situation very clearly: of Torinos Africa-born residents, the largest
numbers are from the countries that were Italian colonies (such as Libya, Ethiopia, Somalia
and Eritrea) or where there were important colonial settlements, such as Tunisia, where 43 per
cent of Torinos Africa-born residents are from.
Graph 5.7 Africa-born Italian nationals resident in Torino
3.000
2.500
2.000
1.500
1.000
500

Eg
i tt
o
So
m
al
ia
Re
Al
ge
p.
ria
De
m
.C
on
go
Ni
ge
ria
Su
da
Co
fri
st
ca
ad
'A
vo
rio
Er
i tr
ea
Ke
ny
a
Se
ne
ga
l

io
pi
a

Et

oc
co

Lib
ia

Ma
r

Tu
ni

sia

The third large group consists of Torinos foreign-born residents who have re-immigrated from
America. This group mainly consists of the children or grandchildren of people who emigrated
from Piedmont to America between the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th
century, who have now returned to their families country of origin. The largest group is that of
people re-immigrating from Argentina.

Graph 5.7 America-born Italian nationals resident in Torino

1.400
1.200
1.000
800
600
400
200

46

Ci
le
Ec
ua
do
r
Me
ss
ico
El
Sa
lv a
do
r

ica
na

ua
y
Do

m
in

m
bi
a

Ur
ug

Cu
ba

Co
lo

da

Ca
na

zu
el
a

a
Us

Ve
ne

Pe
ru
'

ile

Br
as

Ar
ge
nt
in

Table 5.5 Foreign-born Italian nationals resident in Torino

NAZIONE
DI NASCITA

PERIODO DI IMMIGRAZIONE A TORINO

Residenti a
Totale
Torino nati
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
occasional Ante
1910
mente
1919 1929 1939 1949 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999 2005
allestero

Francia

98

36

218

263

361

457

332

288

331

286 2.675

Germania

30

21

21

181

238

199

299

277 1.276

Gran Bretagna

38

17

52

130

69

92

102

507

Grecia

45

195

53

43

32

32

34

442

Belgio

28

68

53

62

62

61

347

23

28

50

36

39

22

220

Spagna
Austria

15

13

14

12

85

Svezia

13

12

10

12

64

Paesi Bassi

12

51

Lussemburgo

12

46

Portogallo

37

Danimarca

23

Finlandia

13

Irlanda

11

215

46

248

350

656

886

897

739

911

Unione Europea

844 5.797

Svizzera

43

18

14

29

149

228

111

263

230 1.093

Romania

38

53

46

163

106

428

Serbia e Montenegro

31

79

77

56

43

29

24

346

Russia

19

25

119

64

266

Polonia

23

55

74

49

232

Albania

118

37

172

Turchia

11

12

17

13

84

Ceca Rep

14

18

21

13

83

Ungheria

10

17

21

12

76

Bulgaria

25

11

61

Croazia

20

15

55

Monaco

51

Ucraina

19

25

44

Slovacca Rep

11

19

27

77

Altri

27

78

46

95

204

309

452

347

956

Iran

19

76

40

13

153

India

18

55

20

15

119

Cina Popolare

14

29

31

16

96

Filippine

40

26

16

92

Indonesia

31

12

54

Vietnam

14

22

51

Thailandia

14

14

11

42

Altri paesi europei

665 3.164

Iraq

21

13

38

Sri Lanka

15

16

34

Israele

30

Libano

12

26

Giordania

11

23

(segue)

47

PERIODO DI IMMIGRAZIONE A TORINO

Residenti a
Totale
Torino nati
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
occasional Ante
1910
mente
1919 1929 1939 1949 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999 2005
allestero

NAZIONE
DI NASCITA

Corea del Sud

Siria

Asia

22
19

39

25

85

20

26

90

337

247

146

884

Tunisia

79

180 1.486

259

185

192

116 2.504

Libia

102

214

432

216

74

83

68 1.199

Marocco

11

21

35

59

360

79

582

Etiopia

62

48

101

101

61

52

37

468

Egitto

33

62

24

88

65

31

316

Somalia

11

31

18

31

19

125

Algeria

11

11

19

22

15

94

Rep. Dem. Congo

16

23

18

74

Nigeria

33

15

61

Sudafrica

16

55

Costa d'Avorio

22

35

Eritrea

15

34

Kenya

30

Senegal

18

30

Altri

36

52

52

29

190

22

31

274

13
2.17
514
3
81 104

747

621

964

Africa
Argentina

13

13

51

16

Brasile

13

Peru'
Usa
Venezuela

11

36

448 5.797

124

173

294

397 1.270

43

165

238

248

768

85

196

223

520

28

27

17

44

33

60

47

76

88

428

10

49

43

63

62

91

322

Canada

11

25

28

45

36

151

Cuba

80

44

133

Colombia

24

48

40

129

Uruguay

13

24

33

26

22

127

Dominicana Rep.

63

33

107

Cile

15

10

26

23

83

Ecuador

25

30

70

Messico

11

21

48

El Salvador

18

33

Altri

13

35

21

22

104

87

29

89

41

159

268

374

America

724 1.198 1.320 4.293

Australia

13

36

20

34

38

148

NuovaZelanda

Tonga

13

37

23

35

38

154

Apolide

24

Nazione non definita

23

66

30

145

Oceania

48

The new population of Torino and the globalisation of migratory flows

As outlined in the first part of this study, international immigration has had a huge impact
on Torino in the last few decades. The first foreign immigrants started to arrive in Italy in
the late 1980s, almost unnoticed, but then, from the mid-1990s, with increasing
momentum.
Over the years foreign immigration has taken root and stabilised, developing an
increasingly complex system of heterogeneous and diversified stratifications. Added to this
is the gradual arrival of second-generation immigrants: many foreign children have been
born in Torino to parents who immigrated here, and they now make up more than 10% of
the total.
The immigrants in Torino come from more than 150 countries spread over all five
continents, although there is a high concentration of people in just a few nationalities:
almost 80 per cent of the foreign nationals resident in Torino belong to ten major
nationalities, while in other big cities there is a far smaller concentration and a greater
dispersion across more nationalities.
Over the years there have been profound changes in the geographical distribution of the
origins of the foreign nationals resident in Torino. Fifteen years ago, when foreign
immigration was a new phenomenon, the first immigrants came from the Maghreb States
of Africa: more than one third of foreign immigrants were from that area. A significant
number, around 20 per cent, came from the rest of Europe. However, the total number of
foreign immigrants was less than 15,000.
Today there are 75,000 foreign nationals resident in Torino. There are almost twice as
many Romanians as Moroccans and 40 per cent of all foreign immigrants are from Eastern
Europe: besides the 22,000 Romanians, there are 4,200 Albanians, almost 2,000
Moldavians and some 500 immigrants from Bosnia, Serbia-Montenegro and Ukraine. To
give an idea of how this phenomenon has grown and evolved: in 1990 there were less than
40 Romanians in Torino and 4 Albanians. Fifteen years ago there was 1 foreign national in
Torino for every 71 Italian nationals, now that ratio is 1 to 11 (8.5%).
A more detailed study regarding the specific places of origin and the stratification of ethnic
networks of Torinos foreign communities is not yet available.
A large number of Romanians (about one third) come from the city of Bacau and its county.
This is an area of Romania that has developed stronger economical, cultural and tourist ties
with Italy, which act as strong pull factors. Large numbers of people thus attempt to
emigrate to a country where society is based on models that they see as far more
advanced, attractive and secure.
In other cases migration factors are more clearly linked to the need to escape economic or
social hardship (or political unrest and war). For instance, a large number of Moroccans are
from Khouribga, the capital of an internal region of the country, between the Atlantic
Ocean and the Atlas Mountains. Mainly an agricultural area, the mining sector (phosphate
mining) is now developing and over the past few decades the city has been the scene of a
devastating conflict as rural traditions clash with industrial development, with all the
inevitable consequences in terms of social unrest (especially among the young), loss of
identity, illegality and thus the desire to get away from a situation that has become
unbearable.
Another case is that of China. Almost all of the Chinese immigrants in Torino come from
one region (Zhejiang, south of Shanghai), more specifically from one province (the county
of Wencheng, a mountainous, internal, region), and one town (Yuhu, which explains why so
many have the same surname, Hu). In this case migratory flows are clearly associated with
Chinese family dynamics, based on the traditional extended model (the kia, a sort of united
and closely-knit clan in which relationships are only partially based on love and kinship),
where migration depends on a kind of local spreading of the word.
Table 5.6 outlines the places of origin of foreign nationals resident in Torino, distributed
according to the time of their arrival.

49

Table 5.6 Foreign nationals resident in Torino according to nationality and period of immigration
Periodo di immigrazione
Cittadinanza

Romania
Marocco
Peru'
Albania
Cina Popolare
Filippine
Egitto
Nigeria
Moldavia
Brasile
Senegal
Francia
Tunisia
Ecuador
Spagna
Somalia
Ucraina
Gran Bretagna
Germania
Polonia
Jugoslavia
Costa dAvorio
Russia
Colombia
Cuba
Ghana
Iran
Grecia
Bosnia-Erzegovina
Argentina
Bangladesh
India
Rep. Dem. Congo
Usa
Algeria
Camerun
Giappone
Dominicana Rep.
Croazia
Bulgaria
Belgio
Paesi Bassi
Sri Lanka
Macedonia
Pakistan
Bolivia
Portogallo
Svizzera
Eritrea
Etiopia
Giordania
Maurizio
Irlanda
Israele
Ceca Rep
Venezuela
El Salvador
Congo Rep.
Messico
Austria
Libano
Thailandia
Madagascar

Periodo di immigrazione

Prima
1990- 1995- 2000- Totale
del
1994 1999 2005
1990
3
36 1.913 18.763
215 1.399 3.397 6.815
10
156 1.626 3.201
103
911 2.908
118
181
600 2.112
158
278
629
826
95
156
438 1.138
9
57
499 1.138
16 1.651
23
87
339
867
57
248
235
598
111
180
268
495
50
173
263
508
1
4
81
854
57
98
148
266
32
136
157
157
16
429
118
66
98
158
85
75
85
160
15
35
82
272
126
97
70
99
15
15
141
213
2
19
62
270
4
18
51
258
3
52
261
17
65
106
115
96
31
46
100
80
52
72
68
21
47
93
102
11
20
27
194
3
18
215
14
29
53
117
17
32
42
114
22
23
39
117
14
15
63
104
6
33
58
90
4
13
61
106
3
8
62
105
9
24
37
67
3
10
11
103
15
16
28
49
13
23
30
42
7
12
28
60
6
41
57
1
3
12
87
3
3
10
85
10
15
25
45
36
11
9
28
25
8
26
25
12
3
27
39
21
9
17
32
1
9
22
42
16
12
16
26
9
8
23
30
3
18
15
33
5
5
3
51
18
13
9
20
13
4
15
26
2
1
22
31
11
8
10
26
8
10
5
32
2
2
19
32
5
8
11
31

Cittadinanza

20.715
11.826
4.993
3.922
3.011
1.891
1.827
1.703
1.667
1.316
1.138
1.054
994
940
569
482
445
440
405
404
392
384
353
331
316
303
273
272
263
252
236
213
205
201
196
187
184
178
137
127
108
108
107
104
103
101
95
84
84
81
79
74
70
70
69
64
60
58
56
55
55
55
55

Slovacca Rep
Turchia
Mali
Ungheria
Canada
Kenya
Svezia
Corea Del Nord
Iraq
Lituania
Cile
Uruguay
Australia
Capo Verde
Danimarca
Bielorussia
Angola
Vietnam
Togo
Finlandia
Niger
Burkina Faso
Libia
Sierra Leone
Siria
Malta
Norvegia
Georgia
Sudan
Paraguay
Liberia
Costarica
Indonesia
Seychelles
Kazakistan
Burundi
Honduras
San Marino
Lettonia
Malaysia
Panama
Estonia
Slovenia
Singapore
Benin
Gambia
Guinea
Ruanda
Nicaragua
Lussemburgo
Tanzania
Nuova Zelanda
Taiwan
Nepal
Armenia
Sudafrica
Altre nazionalit
Totale parziale

Prima
1990- 1995- 2000- Totale
del
1994 1999 2005
1990
6
2
2
3
6
8
2
1
1
4
2
2
2
5
2
1
5
2
2
1
6
1
4
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
9

7
4
4
3
2
3
3
8
4
2
1
2
3
6
4
1
3
4
2
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
10

50

30
23
25
28
24
17
17
21
14
30
19
16
25
15
12
19
12
13
8
9
16
6
8
16
5
6
6
12
11
12
13
9
9
3
9
8
8
3
9
3
7
7
2
6
5
5
3
1
3
4
6
5
2
5
5
4
26

46
45
38
37
37
36
34
34
33
32
32
30
29
28
27
26
26
23
21
20
20
19
19
18
17
15
15
15
15
15
14
14
13
13
12
12
12
9
9
9
9
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
6
6
6
5
5
5
5
56

1.948 4.341 13.62 47.70 67.626

Stranieri residenti a Torino dalla nascita

Totale Stranieri

9
12
9
4
9
13
8
5
7
2
9
12
1
6
7
7
10
7
8
2
2
8
8
1
4
4
7
3
4
2
1
4
2
1
3
4
2
2
1
4
2
2
4
5
3
11

7.774
75.400

6.

A sample survey of second-generation immigrants

The data presented so far in this second part of our study are certainly
interesting, but only allow us to create a partial map of the geographical
origins of Torinos population. Data obtained from the city registers and
gathered over the years can be used to say how many of the people
resident in Torino today were born in the various regions, provinces, towns or countries.
The problem is that over the years there has clearly been a generational stratification, so these
data only work if we start from the assumption which is entirely valid and legitimate - that
anyone born in Torino is a fully-fledged Torinese. We therefore attempted to investigate at
least second generations born in the aftermath of the great migratory inflows that flooded
Torino in its recent history.
This was no easy task. The city registry offices have only recently started using technical
procedures that enable a link to be established between each newborn baby and its parents
files in the city registry and unfortunately this innovative procedure is not retroactive. For
those born before 1995 all that is available is a text string specifying the parents names.
The only way of overcoming this obstacle and obtaining a reliable result was to take a sample
of Italian nationals who were born in Torino and have been resident here from birth and link
them with their parents records in the city register. This method clearly has its limits and
difficulties, not least because Torinos hybrid population is a huge mixture of the most farreaching combinations. We therefore had to organise our data analysis using criteria to enable
maximum simplification.
Our sample consisted 2,500 people. It was a statistically representative sample selected using
criteria of stratification according to age, sex, zone of residence. Nonetheless, we chose to limit
our survey to the parents regions of origin to guarantee statistical reliability.
We now present an initial part of the results of our survey.

Luogo di nascita dei genitori

Torino citt
Puglia
Resto del Piemonte (escl. prov. di Torino)
Sicilia
Provincia di Torino (escl. capoluogo)
Veneto
Calabria
Campania
Basilicata
Emilia Romagna
Estero
Lombardia
Sardegna
Toscana
Lazio
Abruzzo
Liguria
Friuli V. G.
Molise
Marche
Ex Istria
Trentino A.A.
Umbria
Valle d'Aosta
Luogo non identificabile o inesistenza dei genitori

51

Percentuale
21,0%
12,8%
11,4%
9,2%
6,1%
5,6%
5,2%
3,6%
2,7%
1,8%
1,8%
1,8%
1,8%
1,4%
0,8%
0,8%
0,7%
0,6%
0,6%
0,4%
0,4%
0,2%
0,2%
0,1%
9,2%

TO
Pr
RI
ov
NO
o
.
T
de
l P orin
o
Va iem
on
lle
te
d'
Lo Aos
t
m
ba a
Tr
en
rd
tin
Li g i a
o
ur
Al
ia
to
Fr
Ad
iu
ig
li
e
Ve
Ve
n
Em ezi neto
a
ili
G
a
Ro iulia
m
ag
na
To
sc
an
Um a
br
Ma i a
rc
he
La
Ab zio
ru
zz
Mo o
lis
Ca
e
m
pa
ni
Pu a
gl
Ba
si l i a
ica
ta
Ca
la
br
ia
Si
Sa cilia
rd
eg
na
Ex
Is
tr i
Es a
te
ro

Re
st

TO
Pr
RI
o
N
v
o
de . To O
lP
rin
o
Va iem
on
lle
te
d'
Lo Aos
t
m
ba a
Tr
en
rd
ti n
Lig ia
o
ur
Al
ia
to
Fr
Ad
iu
ig
li
e
Ve
Ve
n
Em ezi net
aG o
ili
a
Ro iulia
m
ag
na
To
sc
an
Um a
br
Ma i a
rc
he
La
z
io
Ab
ru
zz
o
M
Ca olis
e
m
pa
ni
Pu a
gl
Ba
sil ia
ica
ta
Ca
la
br
ia
S
Sa icilia
rd
e
Ex gna
Is
tr i
Es a
te
ro
Re
st

The Italian nationals resident in Torino are structured as follows, according to their place of
birth:

400.000

350.000

300.000

250.000

200.000

150.000

100.000

50.000

However, were we to consider the children in our sample (even those born in Torino) as having
the same origins as their parents, meaning that we consider those born in Torino as secondgeneration immigrants, the result would be as follows:

400.000

350.000

300.000

250.000

200.000

150.000

100.000

50.000

52

If we consider residents born in Torino as second-generation immigrants, we obtain the

following structure according to origin:

Luogo di
nascita

TORINO

Torinesi e
immigrati di
prima e seconda
generazione

394.760

47,9%

91.150

11,1%

Prov. Torino

55.590

6,7%

82.200

10,0%

Resto del Piemonte

57.192

6,9%

106.800

12,9%

1.105

0,1%

1.450

0,2%

12.375

1,5%

20.050

2,4%

Liguria

6.694

0,8%

9.600

1,2%

Trentino Alto Adige

1.332

0,2%

2.200

0,3%

24.302

2,9%

48.500

5,9%

Friuli Venezia Giulia

3.616

0,4%

6.300

0,8%

Emilia Romagna

9.307

1,1%

16.900

2,0%

Toscana

5.542

0,7%

11.800

1,4%

Umbria

1.638

0,2%

2.500

0,3%

Marche

2.391

0,3%

4.300

0,5%

Lazio

5.927

0,7%

9.600

1,2%

Abruzzo

3.187

0,4%

6.500

0,8%

Molise

2.098

0,3%

4.500

0,5%

Campania

28.615

3,5%

44.150

5,4%

Puglia

68.033

8,2%

123.600

15,0%

Basilicata

15.446

1,9%

27.350

3,3%

Calabria

36.697

4,4%

59.150

7,2%

Sicilia

54.198

6,6%

94.400

11,4%

Sardegna

12.184

1,5%

19.850

2,4%

2.412

0,3%

4.150

0,5%

20.181

2,4%

27.800

3,4%

0,0%

30

0,0%

Valle d'Aosta
Lombardia

Veneto

Ex Istria
Estero
Provenienza sconosciuta
Totale generale

824.830

824.830

53

Places of birth of italian national residents in Torino

1.332
3.616

1.105

12.375

24.302

112.182
6.694

9.307

5.542

2.391
1.638
3.187

Torino
394.760

5.927

2.098
28.615

68.033
15.446

12.184

36.697

54.198

54

Estimation of the real structure of Torino population

including the ancestral origin of second generation immigrants

2.200
6.300

1.450

20.000

48.500

189.000
9.600

16.900

11.800

4.300
2.500
6.500

Torino
91.150

9.600

4.500
44.150

123.600
27.350

19.850

59.150

94.400

55

7.

Torinese in the world

To conclude this study, in which we have analysed the role of Torino as a

destination city for migratory flows throughout its recent history, we also
wish to point out that Torino is not only a city of immigration, but also a
place from which more and more people are moving away.
As we saw in the first part of this study (Graph 3.7) the migratory flows to/from Torino have
been negative, at least since 1974. Emigration from Torino is the main reason for the decrease
in the population.
In this appendix we shall focus on one specific aspect that is rarely taken into consideration or
examined in detail: the number of Torinese currently living abroad.
To carry out our study we used the database of the A.I.R.E., the Register of Italian Nationals
Living Abroad, created in 1988 and operational since 1990.
Each City Council files and keeps an A.I.R.E. database, which contains the records of individuals
and families who have transferred their residence abroad and are no longer listed with the
registry office of the resident population [] Each City Council manages its own A.I.R.E. in which
it registers the Italian nationals who are removed from the register of the resident population
(A.P.R.), after a permanent period of residence abroad for more than twelve months. [] These
records are updated directly by the City Councils. People who move abroad for periods of up to a
maximum of one year, seasonal workers and tenured state employees in service abroad are not
registered with the A.I.R.E. In addition to Italian nationals who move away from an Italian
municipality to take up residence abroad, Italian citizens born outside Italy whose birth
certificates have been registered in Italy, those who acquire Italian citizenship while continuing
to live abroad, and Italian citizens who are legally declared to be resident abroad must be
registered with the A.I.R.E. (source: Ministry of the Interior).
Thus, for the sake of simplicity, in a city like Torino, all those who have transferred their
residence from Torino to a foreign country for at least one year are registered with the A.I.R.E.,
as are any children of these emigrants (who are Italian nationals even though they may never
have set foot in Italy) and the foreign spouse, where applicable.
Just over 30,000 people are registered with the A.I.R.E. in Torino (figure updated for the month
of November 2005), but for the reasons explained above, the majority were born abroad: 55 per
cent.
More specifically, many of those registered with the A.I.R.E. in Torino are expatriates who are
now resident in a foreign municipality, although a large proportion are the children of people who
emigrated from Torino (Graph 7.1).
Graph 7.1 People registered with the A.I.R.E. in Torino
and the reason for registration

Acquisizione
cittadinanza
italiana
3,7%

Altro
3,6%

Nascita se figlio
di iscritto AIRE
41,5%

56

Espatrio/
residenza
all'estero
51,3%

Which parts of the world did these people emigrate to from Torino? A large proportion did not
go very far, remaining inside the European Union (44 per cent).
The second-largest group emigrated to South America, bearing witness to the fact that there
continue to be strong ties with those countries that were the destinations of previous
generations of Piedmontese emigrants, and from which their descendents are now starting to
return to escape crises and devastating economical situations. South America is thus the only
macro-area in which there is a clear-cut majority of children of expatriates compared to firstgeneration expatriates (Graph 7.2). More than 3,300 people have emigrated to North America.
The following map illustrates this distribution in greater detail.

Graph 7.2 People registered with the A.I.R.E. in Torino with the reason for
registration and the country to which they emigrated
8000
7000

Espatrio/residenza
all'estero

6000
5000

Nascita se figlio di
iscritto AIRE

4000
3000
2000

Acquisizione
cittadinanza italiana se
residente estero

1000

ia

a
er
ic

57

Oc
ea
n

a
da
m
Su

da
m

er
ic

ric
a
Af

ro
-N
or
Ce
nt

As
ia

Al
UE
la
rg
am
en
to
Al
tr i
UE
pa
es
ie
ur
op
ei

Altro

Table 7.1 People registered with the A.I.R.E. in Torino according to macro-areas and
main countries of residence
Macroarea
di residenza
UE
di cui

Allargamento UE
di cui

Altri paesi europei

di cui

Africa
di cui

Asia
di cui

Centro-Nordamerica
di cui

Sudamerica
di cui

Oceania
di cui

Principali stati
di residenza

Maschi

Femmine

7.192
2.374
1.313
1.078
924
713
252
114
108
89
56

Francia
Germania
Spagna
Regno Unito
Belgio
Paesi Bassi
Grecia
Svezia
Lussemburgo
Austria

106

5.997
2.051
1.053
736
868
613
222
121
88
79
51
72

13.189
4.425
2.366
1.814
1.792
1.326
474
235
196
168
107
178

40
21

26
11

66
32

1.440
1.137
183

1.367
1.114
146

2.807
2.251
329

Polonia
Ungheria

Svizzera
Principato di Monaco

Totale

711
Sudafricana Rep.
Kenia

623
384
77

420
Israele
Cina

1.334
770
132

386
55

319
151
61

739
143
34

294
95

1.846
1.066
395
140
55

1.456

USA
Canada
Messico
Costarica

898
285
110
46

3.302
1.964
680
250
101

Argentina
Brasile
Venezuela
Cile
Uruguay
Per
Ecuador
Colombia

3.991
1.754
999
367
292
272
88
78
89

3.837
1.808
759
325
347
269
107
98
67

7.828
3.562
1.758
692
639
541
195
176
156

499
Australia
Nuova Zelanda

394
479
11

Totale complessivo

16.205

58

893
858
20

379
9

14.065

30.270

Graph 7.3 People registered with the A.I.R.E. in Torino with the reason for
registration and the place to which they emigrated
5.000
4.500
4.000
3.500
3.000
2.500
2.000
1.500
1.000
500

Lu E c
s s ua
em d o
b r
C urg
ol
om o
bi
K a
en
A ia
u
C str
os ia
ta
ric
a

Fr
an
rg cia
e
G ntin
er
m a
a
Sv nia
iz
ze
ra
U
S
R Sp A
eg ag
no na
U
ni
B to
ra
si
B le
Su
el
da Au gio
fr st
ic
an rali
a a
Ve Re
ne p.
zu
C ela
an
ad
a
C
Pr
U
i
l
e
in
r
ci Pa ug
pa e ua
s
to i B y
di
a
M ssi
on
ac
Is o
ra
M ele
es
si
c
G o
re
c
Sv ia
ez
ia

More than a third of all emigrants from Torino moved to France, while Argentina is the second
most popular destination, clearly indicating the strong ties between this South American
country and Piedmont. It is also interesting to note that a significantly higher percentage of
those listed in the register of Italians resident abroad in Torino as living in Argentina were born
in Piedmont than in other regions.
Torino certainly exports highly qualified people in terms of education and training, especially to
some specific areas: for instance a particularly large percentage of those who emigrate to Asia
have university degrees (26 per cent). This is not only the case of Jews who emigrated to Israel
(a fairly substantial group) but especially of engineers with jobs in Chinese companies or with
Italian firms that have moved their activities to China. The same applies for Poland (where there
are two large Fiat plants, in Tychy and Bielsko Biala). As far as the United States are concerned,
the high percentage of people with university degrees (at least 14%) is probably due to the fact
that many study or work in universities and research centres in America.
Graph 7.4 People registered with the A.I.R.E. in Torino according to the place of
emigration and education
100%

Laurea

80%
Diploma
60%
Licenza media
inferiore

40%
20%

Licenza
elementare

59

nia
ea
Oc

ric
a

Su
da
me

am
er i
ca

As
ia

Ce
ntr
o-N
ord

eu

Afr
ic

rop
ei

UE

si
pa
e

Alt
ri

All
a

rga
me

nto

UE

0%

Table 7.2 People registered with the A.I.R.E. in Torino according to place of birth and
current area of residence
Stato estero dove risiedono attualmente
Luogo di nascita

Allargam Altri
ento
paesi
UE
europei

UE

Torino

3.316

46

Resto prov. Torino

289

Resto del Piemonte

308

Africa

Totale
America
America
Nord
Oceania
Sud
Centro

Asia

187

934

1.177

167

6.891

49

69

146

16

656

71

18

97

203

12

818

760

304

70

103

13

21

129

58

54

13

47

100

408

Liguria

76

26

25

37

182

Trentino Alto Adige

16

10

12

51

Valle d'Aosta
Lombardia

144

42

36

24

50

116

16

429

Friuli Venezia Giulia

51

14

12

17

37

135

Emilia Romagna

72

21

13

16

37

164

Toscana

39

23

17

96

11

Veneto

Umbria
Marche

13

39

Lazio

82

22

19

20

164

Abruzzo

36

19

14

85

Molise

18

25

55

Campania

183

45

10

13

67

46

19

384

Puglia

519

77

26

11

119

81

23

863

Basilicata

115

15

30

35

10

214

Calabria

220

36

225

55

90

633

Sicilia

697

88

14

193

83

50

1.136

Sardegna

132

12

13

23

199

6.472

95

1.419

643

317

2.001

2.261

34

11

35

18

13

119

5.476

64

16

17

60

36

13

5.684

15

69

100

Italia

Totale Italia

Ex Istria
UE
Allargamento UE

431 13.639

Altri paesi europei

118

1.215

12

27

20

1.407

Africa

465

31

653

11

61

19

22

1.265

Asia

52

18

353

25

10

472

America Nord Centro

79

13

958

15

1.075

469

29

12

124

5.444

6.084

10

399

425

6.717

83

1.388

691

422

1.301

5.567

462 16.631

13.189

178

2.807

1.334

739

3.302

7.828

893 30.270

Sudamerica
Oceania

Totale Estero
Totale generale

60