Pinerolo (; ; ; ) is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northwestern Italy, southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary between Pinerolo and San Pietro Val di Lemina. History Archaeological remains found in the center 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 (1247) under the government of Thomas II of Savoy. From 1235, Amadeus IV 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 (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 (1696), with the conditions that its stronghold's fortifications be demolished and that Savoy withdraw from the League of Augsburg against Louis XIV. Economy The economy of the Waldensian Valleys (right slope of Val Chisone, Valle Germanasca and Val Pellice) and of the plain between these valleys and the Po (river) course revolves around Pinerolo. Several industries have their base in this area, particularly mechanical, paper making, chemical and textile industries, and also absorb manpower from the nearby population centers. The leading companies are Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (former Corcos), which produces seals for rotating shafts and valves sterns, Raspini, a meat processing company, TN Italy (former NN Inc.), which