Neighborhood
“Barriera di Milano” Turin district
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The district was born in 1853 as first duty fence, with the aim of guarantee customs control on every incoming good. In the sixties the district became essentially industrial but in the last decade it has been reborn with the old industrial areas recovery, transformed into meeting points and green areas.
Around Via Cigna, where Fiat Iveco Telai establishments used to be, Turin first “smart” park and, probably the only one in the national scene, Arelio Peccei park appeared. Designers’ and administration’s choice, conform to the “smart” development theme and the environment respect politics, has been starting from the renovation and the preservation of the collective memories, but mostly encouraging the rebuilt of vegetation and the use of highly ecologic materials.
Precisely in front of the park is situated Ettore Fico Museum (Via Cigna 114), dedicated to the painter from Biella, artwork. The museum is the reconversion of an old industrial establishment, where enamelling copper wires machines where built. The museum has been officially opened to the public on the 14th September 2014 and received the “Architetture rivelate” award on June 2015.
Another recently redeveloped area is the Piazza Foroni Market, born in 1926. In 2015 the market reopened with a completely new space, which appears now modern and functional, and the square now also take the name of Piazzetta Cerignola, due to the customs and habits of the community from Cerignola, one of the biggest communities that moved from the South of Italy to the “Barriera di Milano” district in order to work in the industrial environment in the 1990s.
A few steps away appears the Docks Dora (via Valprato 68), it used to be a warehouse between 1912 and 1914, when the duty fence was working. The new establishment used to shield and preserve goods – mostly food – on duty hold. Different were the warehouse roles, which counted with coffee roasting, wine making and confectionery; the basements were used to store cheese and wines, while a massive refrigerating room produced ice for the whole city. The warehouse kept this function during all the first 1900s and some decades after the war, but finally dismissed in 1970s. Not too late the Docks Dora started to reanimate and, starting from the 1980s, hosted artistic and cultural events and different forms of entertainment.
It became the headquarter of contemporary art galleries, private associations, art and architecture ateliers, music rehearsal and recording studios, and finally night clubs. Is important to mention that the night clubs became very important for Turin music scene and for the 1990s Turin nightclubbing life, it was the real representative for the underground and post industrial Turin culture.
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