Turin - The rooftop gardens of Lingotto

The famous Lingotto building in Turin was inaugurated in 1923 as the production plant for FIAT cars. On its roof was a test track, the only one of its kind in the world, consisting of two 400-metre straights and two parabolic curves where new models were tested. Over time, the Turin car industry was transformed and the last car was built at the Lingotto in 1982. The roof of the Lingotto is now the realm of a rooftop garden of a size unique in Europe, at the service of modern technology, and a visit to it is a marvellous walk in a sky of greenery at the crossroads of the past and the future.

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The construction of the Lingotto was described by the great architect Le Corbusier as one of the most impressive spectacles the industry has ever offered. The cars that were built in the Lingotto factory went directly from the factory to the track on the roof by means of a five-story helicoidal access ramp. The track was designed to accommodate up to 50 cars at a time and the curves could withstand a speed of 90km/h.

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Inaugurated on 22 September 2021, the Lingotto rooftop garden is the largest in Europe. It houses over 40,000 plants of 300 different species and extends over 7'000 square meters on the roof of the Lingotto alongside the track.

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One of the highlights of the mythical car chase scene in the film The Italian Job (Peter Collinson - 1969) set in Turin was shot at the Lingotto. The heroes' cars (Mini Cooper) had to jump 18 metres from the top of Lingotto to land on the roof of another nearby building. At the time, the Turin authorities had forbidden this stunt, but the film's production decided to shoot it anyway, to the great success of the film, which went on to become legendary for car chases. Don't miss the stunt on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_ZImfAxOu0

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Today, Lingotto is home to one of Europe's largest multi-functional congress centres as well as a state-of-the-art cinema complex and shopping mall. The track is still maintained in good order and used for exhibitions of new car models.