Description
The Lingotto is Turin's former Fiat factory, in the Nizza Millefonti district: a very long reinforced-concrete building with a test track on the roof, now turned into a center for fairs, conferences, hotels, shops and museums. It is the icon of Turin's industry.
Giovanni Agnelli designed it in 1915 on the model of Ford's factories. The engineer Giacomo Mattè-Trucco made it two blocks more than five hundred meters long, five stories high, with a spiral ramp at each end up which cars climbed from the ground floor to the roof.
On the roof is the test track: two straights of over four hundred meters joined by two parabolic curves, designed to be taken at 90 km/h when the cars of the time topped out at 70. The parapet is a meter and a half high.
Up there too, the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli sits inside the Scrigno, a small glass structure by Renzo Piano, with a selection of twenty-five works including Canaletto, Matisse, Balla, Picasso and two sculptures by Canova.
Not far away is the Bolla, the glass-and-steel room hovering over the roof, with 25 seats and a view of the Alps and the track.
In 1994 this suspended corner was added on top of the central building, with a helicopter landing disc beside it. The Auditorium Gianni Agnelli is dug about ten meters down and its capacity goes from under five hundred to about two thousand seats.
The Lingotto is not just history: it holds a multiplex cinema with eleven screens, a conference center with twelve permanent rooms, two hotels and an exhibition center of over 70,000 square meters, home to the Salone del Libro and the Salone del Gusto.
The opening took place on May 22, 1923, in the presence of King Victor Emmanuel III. The Torpedo, the Balilla, the Topolino and the sporty X 1/9 all rolled out from here. Photos of the building ended up in Le Corbusier's Vers une architecture.
In 1982, after the last Lancia Delta, the factory closed. A design competition named no winner, and in 1985 the renovation went to Renzo Piano, who left the exterior almost untouched and wanted to make the Lingotto "a genuine piece of city".
Don't miss
• The track on the roof.
• The Pinacoteca Agnelli.
• The Bolla.
• The Auditorium Gianni Agnelli.
Did you know?
• It is one of only three buildings in the world with a track on the roof, and the only one where the track can still be driven.
• In 1969 the track was the set of the chase in The Italian Job.
• The Auditorium was inaugurated in 1994 by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Claudio Abbado.
Giovanni Agnelli designed it in 1915 on the model of Ford's factories. The engineer Giacomo Mattè-Trucco made it two blocks more than five hundred meters long, five stories high, with a spiral ramp at each end up which cars climbed from the ground floor to the roof.
On the roof is the test track: two straights of over four hundred meters joined by two parabolic curves, designed to be taken at 90 km/h when the cars of the time topped out at 70. The parapet is a meter and a half high.
Up there too, the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli sits inside the Scrigno, a small glass structure by Renzo Piano, with a selection of twenty-five works including Canaletto, Matisse, Balla, Picasso and two sculptures by Canova.
Not far away is the Bolla, the glass-and-steel room hovering over the roof, with 25 seats and a view of the Alps and the track.
In 1994 this suspended corner was added on top of the central building, with a helicopter landing disc beside it. The Auditorium Gianni Agnelli is dug about ten meters down and its capacity goes from under five hundred to about two thousand seats.
The Lingotto is not just history: it holds a multiplex cinema with eleven screens, a conference center with twelve permanent rooms, two hotels and an exhibition center of over 70,000 square meters, home to the Salone del Libro and the Salone del Gusto.
The opening took place on May 22, 1923, in the presence of King Victor Emmanuel III. The Torpedo, the Balilla, the Topolino and the sporty X 1/9 all rolled out from here. Photos of the building ended up in Le Corbusier's Vers une architecture.
In 1982, after the last Lancia Delta, the factory closed. A design competition named no winner, and in 1985 the renovation went to Renzo Piano, who left the exterior almost untouched and wanted to make the Lingotto "a genuine piece of city".
Don't miss
• The track on the roof.
• The Pinacoteca Agnelli.
• The Bolla.
• The Auditorium Gianni Agnelli.
Did you know?
• It is one of only three buildings in the world with a track on the roof, and the only one where the track can still be driven.
• In 1969 the track was the set of the chase in The Italian Job.
• The Auditorium was inaugurated in 1994 by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Claudio Abbado.