The Polytechnic University of Turin (Italian: Politecnico di Torino) is a partly-public engineering university based in Turin, Italy. Established in 1859, it is Italy’s oldest technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture and Industrial Design. The Regio Politecnico di Torino (Royal Turin Polytechnic) was established in 1906. The present-day institution was preceded by the Scuola di Applicazione per gli Ingegneri (Technical School for Engineers, which was founded in 1859 in application of the Casati law) and the Museo Industriale Italiano (Italian Industry Museum) founded in 1862 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Industry. The Technical School for Engineers was part of the University, which led to technical studies being accepted as part of higher education. In those times Italy was about to begin a new industrial era, which the Industry Museum was to address more directly thanks to famous scholars and researchers dealing with new subjects such as electrotechnics and building science. The new school was deeply concerned with the needs of the Italian society and its development perspectives