Ivrea — Città Industriale del XX Secolo (1930-1960): l'Utopia Sociale di Adriano Olivetti e il Migliore Modello di Comunità Fabbrica del Novecento (UNESCO 2018)
Ivrea — inscribed by UNESCO in 2018 as “Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century” (ref. 1538) — is the only modern city in the UNESCO World Heritage List recognized primarily for the quality of its industrial and social architecture: the factories, workers’ housing estates, cultural institutions, and service buildings commissioned by Adriano Olivetti between 1930 and 1960 represent the most complete surviving realization of the idea that a factory could be a community, not a machine for production.
At a glance
Ivrea (province of Turin, Piemonte; UNESCO 2018, ref. 1538) was inscribed as “Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century” because the urban ensemble created by the Olivetti company under Adriano Olivetti’s leadership (1938-1960) constitutes “an outstanding example of the development of a modern industrial town” (WHC criterion iv). The inscription covers approximately 1 km² of the city south of the historic centre, including: the main factory complex (ICO, Industria Costruzione Officine, 1930s-1960s; designed by Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini among others), the Via Jervis residential districts (the workers’ housing estates, designed by 50 different architects including Figini and Pollini, Ignazio Gardella, Annibale Fiocchi, and Luciano Lenti), the Olivetti social services (the Asilo Nido, the Centro Sociale, the Mensa aziendale, the Centro Studi, the Biblioteca), and Olivetti cultural buildings (the Istituto Professionale Olivetti, the Centro Servizi Sociali). The ensemble is unique because Adriano Olivetti insisted that every building — from the factory floor to the workers’ kindergarten — should be designed to the same quality standards and by the best architects of the day.
Key facts
- La fabbrica ICO (1930-1968, Figini e Pollini tra gli altri): The main Olivetti factory complex (ICO = Industria Costruzioni Olivetti) was progressively expanded from 1930 to 1968; the landmark building is the administrative-technical building by Figini and Pollini (1940, extended 1959-1963) — a glass-curtain-wall structure on pilotis that preceded the International Style factory buildings of postwar Europe by more than a decade; other factory buildings include the Olivetti Centro Meccanografico (1954, Figini and Pollini), the Servizi Sociali building (1955, Ignazio Gardella), and the Mensa aziendale (company canteen, 1953-1959, with a capacity of 1,500 workers, and an interior designed with the same care as a public restaurant)
- I quartieri residenziali via Jervis (1940-1960): Adriano Olivetti’s master plan for the workers’ housing districts called for 50 different architects to design individual housing blocks in the Via Jervis corridor south of the factory (the reason for 50 architects was Olivetti’s explicit belief that architectural monotony — the uniform housing estate — was socially destructive); the result is a sequence of housing blocks each architecturally distinct but unified by consistent landscaping, gardens, and setbacks; the architects include Figini and Pollini, Annibale Fiocchi, Luciano Lenti, Ignazio Gardella, Eduardo Vittoria, and Luigi Vietti
- Adriano Olivetti (1901-1960): Adriano was the son of Camillo Olivetti (the company’s founder, 1908) and took over management in 1938; his social vision — summarized in his 1945 manifesto “L’ordine politico delle Comunità” (The Political Order of Communities) — held that the factory should be the nucleus of a democratic community, with cultural and social services provided to workers as a matter of right, not charity; under Adriano, Olivetti became the patron of Italian design culture (the Lettera 22 typewriter, 1950, designed by Marcello Nizzoli, won the Museum of Modern Art Compasso d’Oro prize and is in MoMA’s permanent collection)
- Lettera 22 e il design Olivetti: The Lettera 22 portable typewriter (1950, designed by Marcello Nizzoli) and the Lettera 32 (1963, designed by Hans von Klier) are among the most celebrated industrial design objects of the 20th century (MoMA permanent collection, Compasso d’Oro award); the Museo Olivetti in Ivrea has examples of the typewriters, adding machines, and early computers produced in the factory from 1908 to 1990
- UNESCO: 2018, ref. 1538
- GPS: 45.4686, 7.8749 — Google Maps (fabbrica Olivetti, Via Jervis, Ivrea)
History
Ivrea was a small Roman military colony (Augusta Praetoria Salassorum, modern Aosta, is nearby) that became a modest medieval market town on the Dora Baltea river. Camillo Olivetti founded the typewriter company in 1908 (in a garden shed, initially making metre-sticks and later the M1, Italy’s first typewriter, in 1911). The company remained a small artisanal operation under Camillo; it was Adriano, who took over in 1938 and had been deeply influenced by the garden-city movement, the English Arts and Crafts tradition, and the social democratic ideas of Adriano De Gasperi’s circle, who transformed it into the sociological experiment inscribed by UNESCO. Adriano died suddenly in 1960 on a train; the company survived him until 1990, when the typewriter and office-machine market collapsed in the face of personal computers, but the urban ensemble he created survives intact.
What you see
The Ivrea UNESCO circuit is best covered in a 4-hour walking tour: start at the Museo Olivetti (Via Jervis 11; admission required; the permanent collection has typewriters, adding machines, the Elea 9003 mainframe, and original Nizzoli design models); then walk south along Via Jervis (the housing corridor — look for the architectural variety of the individual blocks and the consistent landscaping quality); then turn back toward the factory (Via Jervis 77; the exterior of the ICO complex is visible from the street — look for the 1940 administrative building by Figini and Pollini with its curtain-wall facade); then the Asilo Nido (Via Jervis 60; exterior only; this was the workers’ daycare centre, designed as a circular building on pilotis — one of the finest pieces of Italian rationalist architecture); then the Centro Studi (Via Jervis 60; exterior visible). The historic centre of Ivrea (the cathedral, the Castello di Ivrea) is 15 min on foot north of the factory district and is worth visiting for the contrast.
Gallery
Practical information
- Museo Olivetti: Via Jervis 11, Ivrea; open Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00; admission ~€5; the museum also offers walking tours of the factory district (book in advance; Italian and English available)
- Storico Carnevale di Ivrea: Ivrea’s Carnival (January-February, one of the oldest in Italy) includes the “battaglia delle arance” (orange-throwing battle), a street festival in which opposing teams throw oranges at each other from carts and on foot; the festival transforms the factory district and the historic centre for three days in the week before Ash Wednesday; if visiting in February, book accommodation months in advance
- Practical note: Ivrea is a working-class city, not a tourist destination; the Olivetti UNESCO site is visited primarily by architecture professionals and design enthusiasts; the restaurants and bars are local-oriented (no tourist menus), which is one of the attractions
Getting there
Via Jervis 11 (Museo Olivetti), Ivrea (TO), Piemonte. GPS 45.4686, 7.8749. By train: Trenitalia from Turin Porta Nuova (45-60 min regional); from Milan, change at Turin. From Ivrea station, the Olivetti factory district is 15 min on foot south (Via Torino → Via Jervis). By car: from Turin, SS26 north or A5 north-east to Ivrea (55 km, 45 min); from Milan, A4 west to Turin then SS26 or A5 (160 km, 1h45).
Nearby
- Torino — 55 km south-west; the Palazzo Madama (UNESCO 2011 — Savoy Residences, ref.823), Mole Antonelliana, Lingotto Fiat (ex-factory now a cultural centre by Renzo Piano, with a rooftop oval test-track), and the Museo Nazionale del Cinema (the largest film museum in Europe)
- Aosta e la Valle d’Aosta — 40 km north-west; the Roman city of Augusta Praetoria (the finest collection of Roman urban archaeology in northern Italy: triumphal arch, theatre, forum, city walls); Valle d’Aosta skiing and hiking
- Lago d’Ivrea (Chiaverano) — 5 km east; a glacial lake popular for windsurfing and summer swimming; the Dora Baltea river below Ivrea is one of Italy’s principal whitewater kayaking destinations (international competitions held regularly)
Sources
- UNESCO: whc.unesco.org/en/list/1538
- Wikipedia EN: Ivrea industrial city of the 20th century
- Olivetti, Adriano: L’ordine politico delle Comunità, 1945
- Museo Olivetti: museolivetti.it
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