Turin
The city of Turin (pop. 886.837) is the capital of Piedmont region located in the northwestern part of Italy, near to the Alps. Since the 1990s Turin has been transformed from an automotive industrial centre into a city of innovation and culture, gaining more and more prominence both at Italian and European level.
The metropolitan area of Turin has one of the most interesting food systems in Italy, concerning local food and gastronomy culture, innovative food businesses, important national and international cultural and political influencers.

Turin is continuously fostering many practices, projects and policies to make the food system more sustainable and fair, related to the most of the dimensions of food: environment, culture, economy, health, social and spatial justice. The importance of food issues has been evidenced in 2017, when the food right became part of the Statute of the City of Turin: “The City promotes the implementation of the right to adequate food, understood as the right to have permanent and free access to quality, sufficient, nutritious, healthy, culturally and religiously acceptable food, which guarantees the mental and physical satisfaction, individual and collective, necessary to lead a worthy life”.

The River Po by sunset. The longest river in Italy and one of the symbol of the City. Photo by Flavio Pi

Main objectives and planned implementations

The Municipality of Turin will be responsible, together with its third parties (UNITO, UNISG, ORTI GENERALI) and in collaboration with the Fondazione Comunità di Mirafiori, for the implementation of the “Food Innovation Living Lab” in Turin, which will include:

  • Experimental initiatives of environmental sustainability, support for economic development, raising awareness around nutrition and health, citizens’ participation in food culture, to be scaled up throughout the city in compliance with the strategy “Turin City of Food”.
  • Drafting and publication of the “Annual Food Balance Sheet” of the Food Atlas, namely the Food Policy Report: a tool for assessing the current state of the food system and monitoring food policies
  • Creation of a “Food Council”, intended as an arena of multi-sectoral coordination capable of fostering a comprehensive quality food system, and promoting concrete regulatory, communication or experimental actions.
  • Activation of awareness-raising campaigns involving local key actors such as “Slow Food” and “Coldiretti”, as well as open workshops focused on the link between food quality, healthy eating and public health.
  • Food Lab: Supporting experimentation with circular business models for the production/processing of food for local commerce, including bars, restaurants, local associations that manage collective catering functions and local markets.
  • Food Hub: experimentation of a widespread pole for the collection and redistribution of unsold food.
  • Food Policy Training: the Turin living lab will focus on training and dissemination activities, in order to trigger a process of awareness around food among practitioners and citizens.
  • Food Tech Testing: Testing activities will also be promoted in collaboration with companies according to the ‘Torino City Lab’ model of above-ground farming techniques and Tech for Food.

Local partners

  • City of Turin 
  • Fondazione della Comunità di Mirafiori (FCM)
  • University of Turin (UNITO)
  • University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG)
  • Orti Generali (OG)
Turin by night with a panoramic view of the city centre and Mole Antonelliana. Photo by Samuele Giglio

FUSILLI Turin Mood Videos

Contact

Elena Deambrogio

EU projects and Smart City Unit Coordinator

EU Funds and Innovation Department

elena.deambrogio@comune.torino.it

Torino (turismotorino.org) IT | EN