Following the first nucleus of the Castellamonte District, Adriano Olivetti’s residential development programme brought together some of the finest names in Italian architecture. The first outcome of this remarkable collaborative effort,which continued until the late 1970s,was the neighbourhood known as Canton Vesco. Originally located on the southern outskirts of the city, it developed around a workers’ housing complex designed in 1943 by the Mantua-born architect Ugo Sissa, who was deeply engaged in the Rationalist movement and later designed the Olivetti showroom in Rome. After the Second World War, additional buildings were added, designed by leading architects including Italo Lauro, Volfango Frankl, Giuseppe Mario Oliveri, Marcello Nizzoli, and the Milanese architect Annibale Fiocchi (head of Olivetti’s Technical Office).
By the completion of its development in 1977, the neighbourhood—initially financed by Olivetti and later supported through funding from INA-Casa and the Istituto Autonomo Case Popolari (Public Housing Institute)—featured a variety of housing types: three-storey apartment buildings, two-storey terraced houses with duplex apartments, and four-storey residential blocks. The final phase of development, completed in 1977 to a design by Ottavio Cascio and Emilio Aventino Tarpino, also included two seven-storey buildings that departed from the architectural language of the rest of the neighbourhood.
Canton Vesco was inspired by British and Scandinavian planning models. It was conceived as a semi-self-sufficient neighbourhood, complete with a nursery school, primary school, church, social services and commercial facilities. As such, it reflects the transition from “orthodox” Rationalism towards a more sensitive integration with the surrounding environment. Alongside the residential buildings, the primary school, designed by the Roman architect Ludovico Quaroni, and the nursery school, designed in the mid-1950s by fellow Roman architect Mario Ridolfi, are clear examples of Rationalist architecture. The nursery school, however, stands out within Olivetti’s architectural heritage thanks to the originality of its design—including railings, a garden footbridge and a spiral staircase—and its choice of materials, such as exposed stone, timber and perforated brick. The church, designed by Nizzoli and Oliveri, is particularly bold and remains one of the most recognisable examples of Olivetti architecture and its ambition to “build a modern tradition.”
The collaboration between Marcello Nizzoli and Annibale Fiocchi also led to the construction, between 1949 and 1953, of the INA-Casa residential neighbourhood for Olivetti employees in the area known as Canton Vigna. The development includes buildings of three different types, later joined by additional residential complexes. To complete the neighbourhood, Olivetti also worked with the Turin Istituto Autonomo Case Popolari (IACP), providing the project design and technical assistance free of charge.
The Bellavista neighbourhood, developed between 1957 and 1975, was designed to accommodate around 4,000 residents and to include extensive green spaces. Built in two phases (1957–69 and 1970–75) across an area of 320,000 square metres, it was designed by the Venetian architect Luigi Piccinato, widely regarded as the father of modern Italian urban planning. Enclosed by a perimeter road providing access to both the residential buildings and the neighbourhood’s social, commercial, sporting, religious and educational facilities, the development was financed not only by Olivetti but also through INA-Casa programmes, employee housing cooperatives working with the Istituto Autonomo Case Popolari, Gescal funding, and, in its final phase, further Gescal investment on land made available by Olivetti under favourable conditions.
Between 1958 and 1962, another residential development was built to the east of Canton Vesco, in the area known as La Sacca. Additional housing developed by cooperatives of Olivetti employees was subsequently built there.
