There are many reasons to visit the Lingotto Building in Turin. It houses a fabulous hotel, concert halls, a convention centre, theatres, shopping centres and more. But it’s also an incredible building – with a history. Construction of the building started in 1916.

But what was its original use?

Well, to give you a clue, I’m going to show you a small clip from a classic British film from 1969.

Yes, this scene from The Italian Job was filmed right on top of the Lingotto Building. and since the building had opened, its roof had been a spectacular test track.

Visit the building, or stay at the hotel and you can still see the track to this day.

Until just a few years after The Italian Job was filmed, this iconic building as the Fiat factory. Cars were manufactured starting in the lower floor and a spiralling ramps took them up to various levels for different parts of the process. When they were completely assembled, its said that each and every Fiat was driven on the test track.

In those days, the Fiat factory was an important part of Turin’s economy.

The Fiat factory in 1928

Image credit: Simone at Italian Wikipedia Commons., CC BY 3.0,