Archaeological remains found in the centre of Pinerolo in the early 1970s testify the human presence in the area in prehistoric times. Remains of the
Roman necropolis of Dama Rossa, found during works for the Pinerolo–Turin highway in 2003, show that the area at the time was the seat of agricultural activities. The toponym of Pinerolo appears only in the Middle Ages, in an
imperial diplom dating from 981, by which
Otto II confirmed its possession, within the
March of Turin, to the
bishops of Turin. The town of Pinerolo was one of the main crossroads in Italy, and was therefore one of the principal fortresses of the
dukes of Savoy. Its military importance was the origin of the well-known military school that still exists today. The fortress of
Fenestrelle is nearby. Later, Pinerolo was ruled by the
abbot nullius of Pinerolo, who ran the abbey of Abbadia Alpina, even after the city had established itself as a municipality in 1247 under the government of
Thomas II of Savoy. From 1235,
Amadeus IV, Count of Savoy exercised over the town a kind of protectorate, which became absolute in 1243, and was continued thereafter by either the House of Savoy, or its cadet branch, the House of Savoy-Acaia. When French troops invaded Piedmont in 1536, Pinerolo was conquered; it remained under French control until 1574. It fell again to France in 1631 with the
Treaty of Cherasco. France agreed to hand Pinerolo back to the House of Savoy under the
Treaty of Turin in 1696, with the conditions that its stronghold's fortifications be demolished and that Savoy withdraw from the
League of Augsburg against
Louis XIV. ==Economy==