The name apparently derives from the Latin "nihil locus" (land of nothing), perhaps the fact that the area was a large marsh, another current of thought, however, declares that the name derives from the personal name Nicholas, once Count of Occelli . It is a town located quite near to its regional main city Turin, in a plain washed by the river Sangone. From a demographic point of view, it is the ninth largest town of Piedmont.
Part of a historical feud, it was under the domain of Moncalieri until 1500. It then passed under the jurisdiction of the Savoy, that in 1559 granted it to the family of Ussel, becoming, a few years later, a County. The territory submitted a long dispute between the Occelli and the Umoglio; until in the late XVII century it became independent from Moncalieri and was assigned to Count Nicholas Manfredi Occelli. In the early XIX, the inhabitants of Nichelino sent their army in aid of Turin, occupied by French troops, and in return, as a sign of gratitude, they obtained, from the Savoy, new powers, that were added to the old previously assigned. In the late XVIII century the town, like the entire region, returned under the domain of the French. In 1814 with the return of the Monarchy, the center submitted radical political, social and economic changes, with an exponential increase in population in the XX century, thanks also to immigration of workers from South of the peninsula.

Not to miss:

- the Parish of the Holy Trinity, which features a fine portal and a façade divided into two distinct parts, the upper one, interrupted by an oval rose window, surmounted by a tympanum. The small Bell Tower, incorporated into the structure, to the side and behind the main body, emerges behind the tympanum.
- the Stupinigi hunting residence, which has become a Unesco World Heritage site. It was built by the Savoy on draft of the artist Juvarra as hunting lodge. Surrounded by parkland, today it houses the Museum of furniture.
- Palazzo Occelli, also known as the Castle of Nichelino, which was built on the foundations of an pre-existing construction in 1565.
- the Superga Theatre.
- Parco Boschetto, a vast green environment that together with Park Sangone and Park Colonnetti of Turin, cover a huge extension of something like 600,000 square meters wide.