Lavazza Museum
The Lavazza Museum (officially MUSAC — Museo Aziendale Corporate) is a corporate heritage museum opened in 2018 inside the new Lavazza headquarters — the Nuvola (Cloud) building — in Aurora, a regenerated industrial district of northern Turin. Dedicated to the history of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A., the Italian coffee company founded in 1895 and still family-owned, the museum traces 125 years of coffee culture, advertising history, and industrial design across an immersive 3,500-square-metre exhibition space conceived by the scenographer Migliore+Servetto.
At a glance
- Type
- Corporate heritage museum
- Period
- Opened 2018; collection spans 1895–present
- Style
- Contemporary museum design (Migliore+Servetto scenography)
- Location
- Nuvola Lavazza building, Via Bologna 32, Turin, Piedmont, Italy
- Coordinates
- 45.0807° N, 7.6916° E
Overview
Lavazza was founded in 1895 by Luigi Lavazza in Turin, initially as a small grocery store at Via San Tommaso 10. Over 130 years it grew into Italy’s largest coffee company and one of the most internationally recognised Italian brands, remaining under family management through three and then four generations. The museum is housed within the Nuvola (Cloud) building, a striking contemporary structure designed by the Italian architect Cino Zucchi on the site of the former Eridania sugar refinery, and is central to Lavazza’s transformation of the Aurora neighbourhood into a cultural and innovation quarter.
History
Luigi Lavazza founded the company in 1895 with the insight that blending different coffee origins could produce a consistently superior product — an approach that became the company’s defining technical and commercial strategy. The company moved through successive headquarters in central Turin before acquiring the former Eridania factory in the Aurora district for its new Nuvola campus, inaugurated in 2018. The decision to embed a public museum within the new headquarters reflected a broader commitment to corporate cultural identity: Lavazza’s advertising archive, which includes work by artists such as Armando Testa and a long series of celebrated calendar campaigns, is recognised as one of the finest collections of Italian commercial graphic design of the 20th century.
What you see
The museum unfolds across approximately 3,500 square metres on two levels within the Nuvola building. It is divided into themed areas covering the origins and history of coffee globally, the story of the Lavazza family and company, the evolution of espresso culture and Italian bar life, and the celebrated advertising campaigns that made Lavazza one of the most visible Italian brands worldwide. A highlight is the archive of original poster art and photographic campaigns, including work produced for the famous Lavazza calendar series that began in 1993. Interactive installations and sensory elements — including coffee-scented zones — create an immersive experience beyond a conventional object-display museum.
Cultural significance
The Lavazza Museum is part of a Turin tradition of outstanding corporate museums — alongside the Museo dell’Automobile (MAUTO) and the Museo Nazionale del Cinema — that treat industrial heritage and commercial culture as legitimate fields of public cultural transmission. It also represents a significant chapter in the regeneration of Turin’s northern industrial districts, transforming a site of heavy industry into a mixed cultural, commercial, and innovation campus that has spurred further investment in the Aurora neighbourhood.
Practical information
- Address
- Via Bologna 32, 10154 Turin TO
- Hours
- Check official website for current schedule; advance booking recommended
- Admission
- Paid entry; check lavazza.com/musac for current pricing
- Website
- lavazza.com/en/musac.html
Getting there
The Nuvola Lavazza building is located in the Aurora district, north of Turin’s city centre, approximately 2 kilometres from Porta Palazzo market. By metro, take Line 1 to Porta Susa station, then bus line 51 or 52 toward Borgata Vittoria and alight at Via Bologna. Alternatively, tram line 4 (Via Bologna direction) stops close to the campus. By car, the building has a car park accessible from Via Bologna; the drive from Turin city centre takes approximately 10 minutes.