A former Serie A powerhouse with a tragic past and a stadium slightly smaller than Ewood Park, who exactly are Torino?

Joe Hart is set to find out first hand as he undergoes a medical on Tuesday prior to signing a season-long loan deal with the Italian outfit.

Here, Sportsmail looks into the club Hart will call home over the next nine months...

Joe Hart is set to sign a season-long loan deal with Serie A outfit Torino this week

Andrea Belotti celebrates scoring the opening goal for Torino against Bologna on Sunday

The Turin club are managed by former AC Milan boss Sinisa Mihajlovic

So Joe Hart is moving to Torino; how have his new side begun the season?

Torino are currently 7th in Serie A after two games. They lost to AC Milan on the opening day in a 3-2 defeat but beat Bologna 5-1 this past weekend. They, are, however, a middling Italian club in recent times.

They have only finished in the top half of Serie A twice since 1999 and 7th is their highest placed finish in a league season during this millennium. By any barometer, this move signifies a significant step down by Joe Hart.

Belotti and Co currently sit seventh in Serie A with two games of the new season played

He's leaving behind Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero, so who will he be rubbing shoulders with in the Torino dressing room?

Torino are managed by Sinisa Mihajlovic. The Serbian played in Italy for Lazio and Inter, while he has since managed Fiorentina and Milan. Their squad includes for former Barcelona forward Maxi Lopez, Tottenham flop Iago Falque and midfielder Marco Benassi.

Their forward Andrea Belotti has scored four goals already this season and celebrates his goals with a 'rooster' celebration as a tribute to an old school friend. Their stadium, Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, has a capacity of 27,958. That is slightly bigger than Hull and Crystal Palace but less than Blackburn.

Mihajlovic is trying to improve on Torino's 12th-place finish in Serie A last season

Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino - the club's home ground - has a capacity of 27,958

Date for the diary?

The first big derby of the season against Juventus is on December 11. It is known as the Derby della Mole and it is a fierce rivalry. In 2015, nine people were injured when a paper bomb exploded after being thrown by Juventus fans.

Violence had broken out before the game when 300 Torino fans tried to block the Juventus team bus from entering the stadium and threw stones at the vehicle, breaking one of its windows.

Torino have won seven Serie A titles but none in the past 40 years

What should Hart know about the club before he arrives?

Torino are an iconic Italian outfit. They have eight Serie A titles to their name, winning four consecutively following the Second World War.

Torino's history will, however, forever be marked by the Superga air crash in May 1949. The side were returning from a friendly game in Lisbon when their jet crashed into the Superga hill not far from Turin. All 31 people on board were killed, including 18 Torino players.

Torino were, at the time, leading the title race and there were four games remaining. They fielded a youth side for the last encounters of the season and their Scudetto rivals did the same. Torino won all four games and lifted the title.

The nation was so haunted by events that the Italian national team would travel by ship to the World Cup in Brazil the following year. Torino would not win another title until 1976 and they have not won another since.

The club was an Italian powerhouse in the 1940s, winning four consecutive titles

Tragedy struck in 1949 when 18 of their players were killed in the Superga air disaster

Is Hart following in the footsteps of any other Brits at Torino?

Yes, Liverpool legend Graeme Souness coached the club but only for a few months in 1997. The Scot lasted only six games as the club's manager after walking out on Southampton.

He was handed the task of taking Torino back into the top flight but after a 4-0 defeat to Verona, and with the club lying 14th in the second tier, Souness was sacked.

In an interview in 1999, Souness said of his time in Italy: 'Well, when I when I left Southampton I took the first offer that came along, without taking in any background research. It didn't work out.'

Joe Baker, an English forward, also played a season for Torino after coming through at Hibernian in Scotland. He would go on to score 93 goals for Arsenal and 41 for Nottingham Forest. the Italians played £75,000 for Baker in 1961.

Centre forward Gerry Hitchens, who played for England in the 1962 World Cup, spent three years at the club in the 1960s while full back Tony Dorigo - another Three Lions international - made 30 appearances for Il Toro in the 1997-98 season.

Joe Baker, left, and Denis Law, right, are two of the British contingent to have played for Torino

Wasn't Denis Law there, too?

Yes, the Manchester United and Manchester City icon played in Torino for a year, joining in July 1961 for £110,000 (which was a record for a British player). During his time there, he made news in the English media for receiving a fine (worth £13) for 'incorrect behaviour' on the field.

However, he often starred in games. A Daily Mail report from September 1961 reports on a game between Torino and Inter.

It reads: 'Torino's Denis Law was the star - he overshadowed Inter's Gerry Hitchens and the £171,500 Spanish ace Luis Suarez.' The next month, there is a report on a clash between Torino and Juventus, where Torino won courtesy of a Joe Baker goal.

Law, however, was the main man again. 'Denis Law, the most stylish man on the field,completely outshone £170,000 Omar Sivori, Juventus and Argentine ball artist.