There are two sides to the city of Turin. A regal, traditional and slightly introverted side, and another more underground and innovative, where classic and contemporary art and architecture coexist and often merge. The Lingotto is a complex of buildings built in 1916, based on a project by Matté Trucco to house the FIAT factory (now FCA). Nowadays it still symbolizes the wealth of the city. Reconverted by Renzo Piano in the 1980s, it hosts events and the famous rooftop test track. The old Carpano plants, lying adjacent to the Lingotto complex, are now occupied by Eataly’s food market.

The multi-functional Lingotto complex, redesigned by archistar Renzo Piano and located in the Nizza Mirafiori district, is a symbol of Turin’s industrial past. Piano has designed a “coffin”, according to his definition, a fascinating structure suspended on the roof of the Lingotto. The historic FIAT factory now hosts the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, a small art gallery boasting a rich permanent collection devoted to 18th, 19th and 20th-century works of art including paintings by Canaletto, Manet, Renoir and Matisse, plus two plaster statues by Canova.

Piano’s futuristic concept of the project blends harmoniously with the original structure of the old factory which, in its own right, was innovative for the times, establishing an interesting dialogue between the urban landscape and the surrounding scenery, with the Alps silhouetted in the background. The rooftop test track offers a breathtaking view over the city and leads to the bottom of the “Bolla”, a bubble-shaped glass and steel building located at the end of the track.