The Polytechnic University of Turin (, abbreviated as PoliTo) is the oldest Italian public technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture, Urban Planning and Industrial Design.
The Polytechnic University of Turin has its main campuses in Turin, in the Piedmont region, where the majority of the research and teaching activities are located, as well as other satellite campuses in four other cities across the Piedmont and Aosta Valley regions. With eleven departments and several research institutes, it has around 35,000 students (undergraduate and postgraduate) and 1,800 employees (teaching, research, support and management staff). The university was established in 1859 as a Technical School for Engineers. The school expanded its research and education curriculum over time, becoming a polytechnic school in 1906. Politecnico di Torino is a member of several university federations, including the TIME, CESAER, and PEGASUS.
History
The Regio Politecnico di Torino (Royal Polytechnic University of Turin) was established in 1906. The present-day institution was preceded by the Scuola di Applicazione per gli Ingegneri (Technical School for Engineers), which was founded in 1859 in application of the Casati law, and the Museo Industriale Italiano (Italian Industry Museum) founded in 1862 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Industry.
Like other well known Polytechnic Schools in the first years of the 20th century the Regio Politecnico di Torino had several goals and began contacting the European academic world and the Italian industry. Aeronautics began as a subject. Students from all over Italy came to Turin and found in the new laboratories built for the study of various subjects ranging from chemistry to architecture in a positive and helpful atmosphere. Subsequently, the Faculty of Engineering was transferred to a building, now disappeared, which occupied the entire block between via Giolitti, via San Francesco da Paola, via Cavour and via Accademia Albertina (the current Valdo Fusi square). During the Second World War, the plexus was severely damaged, and largely razed to the ground by a heavy bombing by the Royal Air Force, in the night between 8 and 9 December 1942.
Instead of rebuilding the Faculty of Engineering where it was, it was decided to move it and expand it in the Crocetta district, and in November 1958 a large complex of buildings located in Corso Duca degli Abruzzi was inaugurated in the vast area where the Turin Stadium had been built in 1911. The historical headquarters of Valentino Castle (Castello del Valentino) helped expanding the volume and the facilities given in 1859 to the Technical School for Engineers.
The historical and representative base of the Politecnico is in the town, on the River Po: the Valentino Castle, a House of Savoy of the 17th Century. It is the main teaching campus for Architecture and has an area of 23.000 sq. m. The big complex in corso Duca degli Abruzzi – with 122.000 sq. m., the main campus of Engineering – was opened in 1958 and it is completed by the Cittadella Politecnica: a modern complex of 170,000 sq. m. adjoining to the main building, including areas dedicated to students, research activities, technological transfer and services. The newest campus is the Design and Sustainable Mobility Citadel, in an area adjoining to the manufacturing establishment of Mirafiori, FIAT manufacturing facility which has been remodeled as well as the Lingotto building, which hosts the Master School. The headquarters on Oddino Morgari street is intended for the course in territorial, urban and landscape-environmental planning.
Museum
The Museo Archivio Politecnico (MAP) carries out historical documentation activities for the University and for scholars who intend to carry out research and studies on the development of Turin's polytechnic culture, as well as the events that over the years have involved technical institutions and industry in Turin, Piedmont and Italy. The museum preserves and manages the historical materials of the University, such as: the historical archive of the students of the Polytechnic and a specialized library on the history of engineering, architecture and related institutions. It also carries out activities for the dissemination of scientific and technological culture with exhibitions, workshops and conferences.
Academics
Statistics
thumb|300px|right|School of architecture: [[Castello del Valentino]]
thumb|300px|right|The campus
Students statistics (A.Y. 2018–2019)
Departments
The university is structured in 11 departments that deal with both teaching and research. Departments carry out duties of coordination, promotion of research, organization and management of the teaching activity, following the recent reform of the University system. The departments are:thumb|[[GM Powertrain Torino|General Motors Powertrain Europe: A research facility within the school involved in hybrid and diesel engine development]]
- DAD – Department of Architecture and Design
- DAUIN – Department of Control and Computer Engineering
- DENERG – Department of Energy
- DET – Department of Electronics and Telecommunications
- DIATI – Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering
- DIGEP – Department of Management and Production Engineering
- DIMEAS – Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- DISAT – Department of Applied Science and Technology
- DISEG – Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering
- DISMA – Department of Mathematical Sciences
- DIST – Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning