The New Piazza Carlina

Piazza Carlo Emanuele II (more known as Piazza Carlina) is one of the main squares in the historic center of Turin, near Via Po. It has a square shape of 120 meters per side. It is much more known as "Carlina Square" (so much so also indicated in road maps) because of the nickname that the Turin people affirmed to Carlo Emanuele II of Savoy for his effeminate ways, starting since in the 17th centuryCreated during the second enlargement of the city in 1673, in the direction of Po, the square, conceived as the main public space of the "new city" and ultimately of Turin, it was the starting point for building the new neighborhood and It was the headquarters of the works.Regent Maria Joanna Battista of Savoy-Nemours, wife of Charles Emanuele II of Savoy, called Amedeo di Castellamonte to draw the plan of the square, which was thought to be octagonal. The project was modified, reducing the size of the square and leaving it in the characteristic square shape.The position was also changed: from the neighboring Via Po, as in the Duke's idea, it moved to where it is still today. 
 
In the center of the square is the statue of Camillo Benso di Cavour, the work of Giovanni Duprè and placed in 1872 where it is todayOn the south side, the church of Santa Croce, by Filippo Juvarra, built in 1718 by the will of King Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy: nowadays it is used as a Orthodox-Romanian church.On the east side, the Palace of the Marches Ferrero d'Ormea, acquired by Tancredi Ferrero d'Ormea in 1844, paid a sum of 600 thousand lire to the Marchese Luigi Coardi. The building was designed by Amedeo di Castellamonte and later restored by Giacinto Roero of Guarene. Damaged by World War II bombings, it has been left for many years in partial abandonment and is currently the prestigious seat of a BankAt civic number 15 is the building of the Ex- "Albergo di Virtù", an educational and welfare institute for the vocational education of young poors, specialized in manufacturing arts, and which was active in Turin from 1580 to the second half of the nineteenth century. In this place, it later became a group of residential housing. From the years 1919 to 1921 Antonio Gramsci lived there.Extremely refurbished in the interior, it is later transformed into a four star hotel and inaugurated in November 2014

The piazza underwent a major construction, and was completed recently. This is how it looks like now.