Two years ago, after Torino staged an almost flawless Games, the Olympic flame went out in the northern Italian city.
At the time, the Turinese believed the Olympic Games would help Torino shake off the dust, revive its economy and rekindle its passion.
And when CTV British Columbia's Mike Killeen visited the city two years later -- and two years before Vancouver will welcome the world -- he found that it seems to have worked.
Turinese gather at local cafes in a city now brimming with self-esteem -- and a renewed sense of purpose.
The president of the Torino Organizing Committee told Killeen on that visit that the Olympics helped transform Torino -- just what its people needed.
"What we expected was something which is not measurable, and I mean the mood of the city," said Valentino Castellani. "All of the other things, tourism, investment are important of course because they are part of the games, but what Torino needed at that time was a change in confidence in themselves, in ourselves."
Torino Mayor Sergio Chiamporino put it more bluntly: "The Turinese are again proud to be Turinese. This is probably the most important legacy of the Olympic Games."
Before the games, tourism was picking up, as people crowded to see the ancient legacies of biblical legend. But as the world's eyes -- and cameras -- descended on the city, they saw a modern metropolis.
"Usually when you talk about Torino, people they think of fiat, juventus and maybe the holy shroud," said Paola Musolino, of Turismo Torino.
"But after the games they saw that Torino is a great city, it has many monuments, buildings, and museums, so we started to have more and more tourists," said Musolino.
And the facilities -- completed only days before the opening ceremonies -- found a new home, used for competitions or rented out for training.
After all the cameras went home, the media village -- where CTV News stayed during the games -- was converted to student housing for a nearby university.
Parts of the athletes' villages have also been converted to student and low-income housing.
With the physical legacies from the games, and those that aren't measurable, this Olympic city seems destined to proper.
