Background and early history Turin was the
capital city of the
Kingdom of Sardinia, the legal predecessor of the
Kingdom of Italy, of which it served as its first capital. The history of Turin's
mayors dates back to the
Duchy of Savoy and began in 1564 when two to four members of the
aristocratic class were chosen annually as mayors; this lasted until 1800. After a 14-year hiatus under the
Napoleonic era, with the two mayors () Ignazio Laugier (1801–1805) and Giovanni Negro (1806–1814), the annually elected mayors returned to office until 1848. From 1814 to 1848, Turin was administrated by a
city council () led by two annual
syndics (). The office of mayor of Turin () was created by the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1848 after the promulgation of the
Albertine Statute. The prominent
Moderate Party member
Luigi de Margherita is commonly recognised as the first mayor of Turin. It was during this period that the first elections (with partial suffrage) were held under the Albertine Statute. This continued regularly until 1922, with the advent of
fascism in Italy. After the creation of the Kingdom of Italy, the mayor of Turin was elected as continuation of the previous office created during the Kingdom of Sardinia. The fascist dictatorship abolished mayors and city councils in 1926, replacing them with an authoritarian chosen by the
National Fascist Party. The office of mayor was restored in 1945 during the
Allied occupation of Italy. In these 84 years, the longest-serving mayors among the 19 elected were
Teofilo Rossi of the
Liberals from June 1909 to June 1917; Melchiorre Voli of the
Historical Left from January 1887 to October 1894; and Giovanni Notta of the Moderate Party from January 1853 to February 1860. The only ones to be elected for multiple terms were Secondo Frola of the
Historical Right from July 1903 to June 1909 and then from October 1917 to November 1919; and Felice Rignon of the Historical Right from November 1870 to December 1877, then from June 1895 to January 1896, and subsequently a third term from March 1896 to April 1898.
Political history and leanings Notable Turinese politicians included
Cesare Balbo,
Massimo d'Azeglio,
Vincenzo Gioberti, and
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour. As part of the history of
liberalism in Italy, the city developed a tradition of
liberalism, from
liberal conservatism to
conservative liberalism, and
moderate conservatism through the Moderate Party and the
Historical Right. Into the 20th century, particularly in the late 1910s and early 1920s,
socialism and
communism took their roots in the city and Turin was a significant part of the , with several leaders of and the
Communist Party of Italy, including
Antonio Gramsci,
Palmiro Togliatti, and
Amedeo Bordiga, residing in Turin. During the
Fascist Italy era, Turin was notable for its
anti-fascism (for example, the journalist and intellectual
Piero Gobetti, and Turin was among the cities decorated for military valor during the
Liberation of Italy with a
Gold Medal of Military Valor) and
Fiat automotive industry, both of which earned the hatred of
Italian fascist leader
Benito Mussolini, who spoke of "the dirty city of Turin". With the
fall of the Fascist regime in Italy and the advent of the
first Italian Republic, the
National Liberation Committee (CLN) through the
Italian Communist Party and the
Italian Socialist Party governed the city of Turin with a
red executive (). The Communists were the largest and most voted party in 1946. By 1951,
Christian Democracy was the most voted party and began to hold the office of mayor for decades, with the exception of one from the
Italian Liberal Party (Luciano Jona) in 1964–1965 and one from the Italian Socialist Party (Guido Secreto) in 1973. Turin often followed or reflected the
governing coalition of the national government, initially through the
Italian system of centrism (Christian Democracy with the support of the
Italian Democratic Socialist Party, the
Italian Liberal Party, and the
Movement for Piedmontese Regional Autonomy), and later with the
organic centre-left (with the addition of the Italian Socialist Party) and (with the addition of the
Italian Republican Party) coalitions. Within the city's
history of the Italian Republic, the ten years of Communist–Socialist government between 1975 and 1985 were among the most significative and transformative years. As with other cities, it was affected by the transition into the
second Italian Republic through . Into the 21st century, Turin is one of the strongholds of the
centre-left coalition, which won all but one election since 1993 (alongside
Naples among major cities), with five wins in a row and the centre-left doing better only in
Florence (among major cities) where it won all direct elections since 1995. Although Turin is not considered as left-wing as
Bologna, Florence, and other more left-leaning strongholds due to narrow centre-left wins in 1997 and 2001 and the significant influence of
moderates, it has a long tradition of
left-wing, communist, and socialist politics dating back to the post-war period, with the Italian Communist Party resulting the most voted party from 1970 to 1990. For example,
Milan, which also had a strong socialist tradition, was for a time a stronghold of the
centre-right coalition. Even as
Piedmont (among the most representative
Italian regions of national politics) shifted to the right in the late 2010s and early 2020s, Turin remained to the left. As with Naples, which saw a turn to the left in the 2010s under the mayor
Luigi de Magistris, Appendino's win was to a certain extant a similar shift to the left and a dissatisfaction with the centre-left that did not entail support for the centre-right. Although at that time the Five Star Movement was not left-wing in the sense that it rejected the
left–right political spectrum, Appendino's career began within the local section of
Left Ecology Freedom and was a supporter of
Nichi Vendola, and in subsequent years maintained a
progressive profile similar to that of the anti-establishment left, which is critical of alliances with the
Democratic Party. As of the
2021 Italian local elections in Turin, no
centre-right or
right-wing mayor was elected, with all mayors being members of the centre-left (through its various incarnations such as the
Alliance of Progressives and
The Olive Tree or through its main parties such as the
Democratic Party of the Left, the
Democrats of the Left, and the Democratic Party) or the Five Star Movement.
From the Italian miracle to the post-industry era From 1946 to 1993, the mayor was elected by the Turin City Council. The influential
trade unionist and
anti-fascist activist
Giovanni Roveda, a member of the
Italian Communist Party who was elected as mayor by the CLN on 28 April 1945 and served until 17 December 1946, led to the first
universal suffrage election of the city council, which elected the Communist
Celeste Negarville, who served from December 1946 to April 1948. In the post-war years, Turin was rapidly rebuilt, which helped Italy underwent an
economic miracle in the 1950s and 1960s. Amedeo Peyron of
Christian Democracy was the longest-serving mayor during this period, having led Turin from July 1951 to February 1962. Turin was a significant part of the
Italian miracle. The city's
automotive industry, led by
Fiat, played a pivotal role in the Italian
economic boom of these decades, which saw a shift to the left. The
organic-centre left coalition of the 1970s was followed by a
left-wing government led by
Diego Novelli in 1975. After the end of the 10-year Novelli government in 1985, the
Italian Socialist Party led a coalition, which ruled until 1992 before the appointment by the
prefecture of a
special commissioner. Among the 20 mayors since the war, only two were women: the Italian Socialist Party member
Maria Magnani Noya from July 1987 to July 1990 and the
Italian Republican Party member Giovanna Cattaneo Incisa from February to December 1992. The early 1990s proved to be turbulent years. Cattaneo Incisa followed the rule of
Italian Liberal Party member
Valerio Zanone, who governed from July 1990 until his resignation in December 1991. This resulted in the appointment of Baldassarre Furnari of the
Italian Democratic Socialist Party between January and February 1992 to lead the local
caretaker government, before Cattaneo Incisa was elected mayor. Since 1993, under provisions of new local administration law, the mayor of Turin is chosen by direct election, originally every four then every five years. The office of the
deputy mayor of Turin was officially created in 1993 with the adoption of the new local administration law. The deputy mayor is nominated and eventually dismissed by the mayor, and can hold several responsibilities. For example, Michela Favaro, the incumbent deputy mayor, was given responsibility for Personnel, Property, Legality, and Procurement.
Valentino Castellani was the first popularly elected mayor of Turin as part of the
centre-left coalition, starting a series of centre-left wins, including one against a left-wing coalition led by the
Communist Refoundation Party (1993), two narrow wins thanks to the support of the Communist Refoundation Party and the
Party of Italian Communists (1997 and 2001), and two
landslide victories in the first round (2006 and 2011). His administration focused on transforming Turin from an
industrial city to a more diverse European hub, involving various stakeholders in governance, and oversaw both significant urban transformation as Turin moved beyond its industrial past and the successful candidacy of Turin for the
2006 Winter Olympics. Economically, Castellani's aim was to reduce the city's economic and perceived image-impairing dependence on Fiat (what was called the industrial monoculture) and promote development in other sectors, primarily the
tertiary sector and cultural activities. In this area, results fell short of expectations and
Sergio Chiamparino, Castellani's successor, attempted to refocus attention on the automotive industry's role in the city's economy. Chiamparino was succeeded in 2011 by
Piero Fassino, who followed a similar line to Castellani. In an upset,
Chiara Appendino of the
Five Star Movement was elected in 2016, overturning Fassino's lead in the runoff. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, she remained in office for around four more months in 2021 after her original term had expired (October rather than June). In addition to Fiat and automotive politics, Turinese politics was affected by the
Turin–Lyon high-speed railway (TAV) and the
No TAV movement. Appendino became the first woman to be popularly elected as mayor of Turin, the first since 1992 and the youngest, and the second elected mayor of a major city for the
anti-establishment and
populist Five Star Movement (
Virginia Raggi was elected
mayor of Rome on the same day as Appendino but was sworn in on 22 June compared to Appendino's on 30 June), which in the
2016 Italian local elections underwent a successful wave of mayors elected, including in
Rome with Raggi. At that time, the Five Star Movement defined itself as neither left nor right, and won the mayoralty in part due to left-wing dissatisfaction. Although Appendino's concerns included a
balanced budget, resulting in a series of cuts, she enacted a series of progressive reforms, most notably legally recognising
same-sex families (a first in Italy). She also oversaw the candidacy of Turin (alongside
Milan and
Cortina d'Ampezzo) for the
2026 Winter Olympics, which ultimately collapsed after Appendino withdrew it in a polemic with
CONI over the lack of sports assigned to Turin, the organisation of the
ATP Finals (2021–2026), and a series of funds allocations from the
Italian government. Appendino did not run for a second term in the 2021 election, which was postponed by a few months due to the
COVID-19 pandemic and returned the centre-left to power, with an increased presence of the left within the centre-left coalition; unlike other cities and regions where the Democratic Party and the Five Star Movement are allies as part of the Progressive Camp, the Five Star Movement went back to the
opposition. The incumbent mayor
Stefano Lo Russo, a university professor of
Geology who is a member of the Catholic wing of the
Democratic Party, was elected mayor with a significant margin in the runoff against the
centre-right coalition candidate. == List of mayors ==