Lingotto

I didn't expect to have internet access today, as the administration here said the internet would not be available starting August 1, but I guess they might be running late on things. Anyway, today, Fernando and I went to Lingotto, which used to be the Fiat factory here in Torino. By the way, I only just found out that Fiat is also the owner of Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari, and Maserati, in addition to now being part owner of Chrysler... what a powerhouse!

To get back on topic, this huge building used to be the Fiat factory until they moved to an even larger venue not too far away. The layout is interesting in that cars were manufactured going up in a spiral around the building, until they finally reached a test track on the roof. Here, we can see part of the building on the right side.

Now, Lingotto is home to a mall on the first floor (which, remember, is the equivalent of the second floor in the US), an 11-screen cinema, a museum, and some offices.

The inside of the building has a nice industrial look for reasons that should not be hard to figure out. The mall has mostly clothing stores and eateries, but we were also able to find a bookstore where I purchased Italo Calvino's Cosmicomiche.

I figured a book in its native Italian language would be a nice souvenir for me, even if I'll eventually struggle trying to understand. Fortunately, it's a book of short stories, so it might make things a little easier.

At one end of the building is a huge spiral, which is presumably where the newly-made vehicles exited the factory after being tested on the roof. Shoppers can now walk along the spiral as they enter the mall.

Near the other side of the building is a footbridge that goes across the train tracks. This bridge was constructed for the 2006 Olympics to allow pedestrians to walk between Lingotto and the Olympic Village, which is right across the tracks. The bridge itself has a cool look, and is cable-stayed from what is known as the "Olympic Arch."

Lingotto has its own train station, but these tracks run farther down to Porta Nuova and Porta Susa, which are the larger train stations in the city, with service across Italy and Europe.

In the afternoon, we went to the cinema in Lingotto, which had a really fancy three-floor layout (nice seats, too). Here, we watched The Hangover, but I guess there's no real translation for that word in Italy, since they changed the title to

which literally means "a night as lions," but from some internet research is kind of an idiom for "a crazy night." Yeah, the translation's a little weird, but we think it sure beats the French version of the title, which we saw on posters back in Monaco.

Anyway, the movie was really funny, even in Italian!