Turin Celebrates 700 Years of the First Ordinati Volume: A Journey into the City’s Civic History

Turin, September 2025 — Turin is turning the clock back seven centuries with the opening of “The 1300s in Turin: 700 Years of the First Volume of the Ordinati,” a major exhibition at the Historical Archives of the City of Turin. The show, inaugurated in the symbolic setting of the Sala Rossa — the City Council’s chamber — explores the medieval roots of local self-government through rare archival treasures. 

Rediscovering the City’s Earliest Civic Records

At the heart of the exhibition is the first volume of the Liber Consiliorum, containing the Ordinati of 1325 — the earliest surviving record of the city’s council deliberations. Usually kept out of public view, the manuscript represents the birth of a civic body that has evolved over seven centuries into today’s municipal council.

The show runs from September 26 to December 31, 2025, offering free admission. It has been curated by the Historical Archives team in collaboration with the Presidency of the City Council and forms part of UNIGHT – European Researchers’ Night.

Treasures on Display

The exhibition brings together some of the archives’ most significant medieval documents, including:

• The charters of liberties granted in 1360 by Count Amadeus VI of Savoy, complete with five original seals.
• The celebrated “Codice della Catena” — the city’s centuries-old statutes, once chained to prevent theft during public consultation.
• The Liber pactiorum of 1280, recording oaths of loyalty from foreigners settling in Turin.
• A 1363 medieval land register (catasto) used for property taxation.
• The “Codice Maria,” a parchment collection of civic acts from 1239–1543.
• Charters on salt and wine taxes from the 14th century.
• Iconic maps such as Giovanni Caracha’s bird’s-eye plan of Turin (16th century) and a plate from the Gatti Cadastre of 1820.

These artifacts, along with drawings and prints from the Simeom Collection, let visitors travel through time, tracing Turin’s urban development and social history.

Medieval Turin: A Living Tapestry

The exhibition also sheds light on 14th-century Turin — then a modest town of around 5,000 inhabitants, marked by dynastic struggles between the House of Savoy and the Achaea line, and shaped by trade routes and ecclesiastical power. The city still followed the ancient Roman grid of cardo and decumanus, with walls and gates, while its civic life unfolded without a dedicated town hall until 1375, when the municipality finally acquired a permanent seat.

Voices from the City

City Council President Maria Grazia Grippo described the exhibition as “a reflection on the continuity of public administration — from the Middle Ages to today — and the legacy of those who governed for the common good.”
Culture Councillor Rosanna Purchia called the Historical Archives “a treasure chest of knowledge that strengthens the link between past and present.”
Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa, Director of the Civic Museum of Ancient Art, added: “Archives are not dead repositories; they are living material, preserving the social pact that defines a community.”

Symbolism and Civic Memory

Placing the 1325 Ordinati volume in the Sala Rossa underscores the connection between medieval governance and modern democracy in Turin. Local media have praised the exhibition as a rare chance to see the “DNA” of the city’s administration — a story of resilience through crises, from medieval plagues to modern challenges.