Highlights
Did you know?
When the Lingotto was inaugurated in 1923, its helical test track on the roof went around the world: it was such a revolutionary idea that architects, engineers and intellectuals rushed in from every country to see it with their own eyes.
Le Corbusier defined it as one of the most exciting places in Europe.
Even today, walking on that curvilinear track 25 metres above the ground, with the view over Turin and the Alps, gives a unique sensation of suspension between past and future.
The permanent collection: 25 masterpieces chosen with passion
The heart of the Pinacoteca Agnelli is a collection of just 25 works, but of exceptional quality.
This choice is no accident: Giovanni and Marella Agnelli preferred depth to quantity, accumulating over time works capable of dialoguing with each other and telling a personal and coherent vision of art.
The result is a museum itinerary that has the emotional density of a private collection and the rigour of an international museum.
Renzo Piano's Scrigno: architecture as emotion
The Scrigno designed by Renzo Piano is one of the most successful architectural interventions in contemporary Italy.
Positioned on top of the Lingotto, this parallelepiped volume clad in glass and steel emerges from the roof like a luminous lantern, visible from afar in the Turin urban landscape.
Piano's choice to make the external envelope transparent is not only aesthetic: it allows natural light to filter into the interior spaces, creating an ideal environment for the enjoyment of artworks.
The Lingotto: from FIAT factory to cultural hub
The Lingotto is much more than a simple museum container: it is one of the symbolic places of Turin and of Italian industrial history.
Built between 1916 and 1923 to a design by the engineer Giacomo Mattè Trucco, it was for decades the largest automobile plant in Europe.
Its most famous feature is precisely the test track on the roof, where newly produced cars were tested before leaving the plant: a visionary idea that astonished the entire world and made the Lingotto an icon of modernist architecture.
The museum is housed in the Scrigno, an elegant glass volume designed by star architect Renzo Piano, overlooking the historic rooftop test track. The collection holds 25 works of extraordinary value, personally selected by Giovanni and Marella Agnelli over decades of passionate collecting.
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The permanent collection: 25 masterpieces chosen with passion
The heart of the Pinacoteca Agnelli is a collection of just 25 works, but of exceptional quality. This choice is not accidental: Giovanni and Marella Agnelli preferred depth over quantity, accumulating over time works capable of dialoguing with each other and recounting a personal, coherent vision of art. The result is a museum route with the emotional density of a private collection and the rigour of an international museum.
Among the names on display stand Henri Matisse, with his luminous and sensual compositions, and Pablo Picasso, represented by works from various periods of his prolific career. Also present are masterpieces of 18th-century Italian painting, particularly by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, testifying to the Agnellis' interest in the great masters of European pictorial tradition. Antonio Canaletto is represented with his Venetian views of extraordinary precision and atmosphere.
The collection also includes works by Renoir, Manet and other protagonists of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, alongside works by 20th-century artists who shaped modern art history. Each work is presented with philological care, accompanied by educational apparatus that explains its historical context and its meaning in the Agnelli collecting story.
Renzo Piano's Scrigno: architecture as emotion
The Scrigno designed by Renzo Piano is one of the most successful architectural interventions in contemporary Italy. Positioned atop the Lingotto, this parallelepiped volume clad in glass and steel emerges from the roof like a luminous lantern, visible from afar in the Turin urban landscape. Piano's choice to make the outer envelope transparent is not just aesthetic: it allows natural light to filter into the interior spaces, creating an ideal environment for enjoying the artworks.
Access to the Scrigno is via panoramic lifts that take visitors from the Lingotto hall up to the exhibition rooms, offering progressive glimpses of the city and the historic building. Once inside, the glass windows frame breathtaking panoramas over Turin, with the Mole Antonelliana, the hills and, on clear days, the snow-capped Alps on the horizon: a scenographic context that turns every visit into a memorable experience.
Piano's project respects and showcases the historic identity of the Lingotto without overwhelming it. The Scrigno settles lightly on the roof, dialoguing with the famous helical test track that still runs along the building's perimeter and remains one of the most iconic symbols of 20th-century Italian industrial architecture.
The Lingotto: from FIAT factory to cultural hub
The Lingotto is far more than a simple museum container: it is one of the symbolic places of Turin and Italian industrial history. Built between 1916 and 1923 to a design by engineer Giacomo Mattè Trucco, it was for decades the largest car factory in Europe. Its most famous feature is the rooftop test track, where newly produced cars were tested before leaving the factory: a visionary idea that astonished the entire world.
After the production shutdown in the 1980s, the Lingotto was the subject of an extraordinary recovery and conversion operation, again entrusted to Renzo Piano. The Genoese architect transformed the former factory into a multifunctional complex that today hosts a conference centre, a hotel, a shopping centre, exhibition spaces and naturally the Pinacoteca Agnelli. A model of urban regeneration studied worldwide.
Visiting the Pinacoteca therefore means immersing yourself in three superimposed layers of history: the industrial and social history of Turin represented by the building, the history of contemporary architecture embodied by Piano's Scrigno, and the history of European art recounted by the Agnelli collection.
Did you know? The rooftop track that inspired the world
When the Lingotto was inaugurated in 1923, its helical rooftop test track went around the world: it was such a revolutionary idea that architects, engineers and intellectuals flocked from every country to see it with their own eyes. Le Corbusier defined it as one of the most exciting places in Europe. Even today, walking along that curving track at 25 metres' height, with views of Turin and the Alps, gives a unique sensation of suspension between past and future. The Pinacoteca Agnelli has managed to transform this industrial heritage into an internationally recognised art container.