Art Nouveau in Turin

Due to the success of this stylistic current and the type of buildings that arose in the first decades of the twentieth century, Turin became one of the landmarks of Italian Art Nouveau, often renamed "floral style,"[2] so much so that conspicuous architectural evidence of that period can still be perceived today.

[3] The transition from the 19th to the 20th century in Europe was marked by a fervent renewal of artistic expressions, strongly influenced by technical progress and the enthusiastic positivist exaltation of the important achievements of science.

In the overall and varied national panorama, this new current, which later also took on the name "floral style,"[4] never consolidated into a true Italian school of reference but established itself, albeit with a slight delay compared to the major European countries, experiencing its heyday in the first years of the twentieth century.

In its first decade, in fact, one can speak of Art Nouveau, a term that eventually became more widely established in Italy and derived from the famous London warehouses of Arthur Lasenby Liberty, among the first to display and disseminate objects and prints of exotic taste that flaunted the sinuous forms typical of this new style.

Turin, while boasting an architectural landscape predominantly characterized by the Juvarra-esque connotation of the numerous noble palaces and Savoy residences, in the two decades between the 19th and 20th centuries allowed itself to be permeated by this new stylistic current.

[11] A significant contribution also came from industry, which, involved in the forefront of the renewal process in the Piedmontese capital, played the role of privileged client but also of interlocutor able to offer the technique and solid support for the benefit of those workers necessary for the full affirmation of this new current in Turin.

He devoted himself for about thirteen years to the realization of more than three hundred projects including villas and palaces, some of them concentrated in the area of Corso Francia and adjacent streets, as well as a variety of industrial buildings commissioned by Turin's new ruling class; however, his contribution was not only that of an esteemed professional, he was also called upon to intervene at the political level, holding positions as a city councilor and consultant for the study of the new town plan completed in 1908.

At the same time as his intense architectural activity, he also became part of the emerging industrial and financial bourgeoisie in Turin, enriching his skills and intensifying his influence in the construction sector; Fenoglio held the position of vice-president of the well-known Impresa Porcheddu, of the Società Anonima Cementi del Monferrato, as well as that of partner of the Accomandita Ceirano & C. and managing director of the nascent Banca Commerciale Italiana.

[25] Also crucial in the choice of the site was the presence of irrigation canals and the proximity of the new railway, which, running along the axis of today's Corso Francia, allowed a rapid connection with Turin, nearby Rivoli but also with the Susa Valley and France through the new Fréjus tunnel.

The complex, designed between 1875 and 1907 by Pietro Fenoglio, consists of two residential areas on the side of the textile factory, which ceased operations in 2007, originally housing about a thousand people including workers, employees and their families.

[26] Despite the mainly Baroque connotation of the Guarini and Juvarrian school, the architectural heritage of the old Savoy capital still preserves almost intact important Art Nouveau vestiges and the presence of architecture from that period is still perceptible in some central areas of the capital such as the districts of the historic center, the Crocetta, San Salvario, the hill but with an absolute predominance in the area including the San Donato and Cit Turin districts.

There Ceppi knew how to blend Baroque and eclectic stylistic features with Art Nouveau sinuosity and, in the case of Palazzo Bellia, made extensive use of bay windows, turrets and trefoil arches, making it one of the most characteristic buildings in the central Via Pietro Micca.

Betta's work was distinguished by its more monumental approach, influenced by classical elements skillfully combined with secessionist stylistic features, the most notable example of which appears in the Avezzano House (1912) in the Crocetta district, where the façade is punctuated by a sequence of large projecting Corinthian columns supported by taurine protomes and "chained" to a series of bay windows.

[note 12] The nascent automobile industry also played the role of commissioner; one of the first workshops to make use of a new structure according to the dictates of the new current was that of Accomandita Ceirano & C., Turin's first automobile workshop producing small Welleyes-branded vehicles[38] equipped with internal-combustion engines and of which Fenoglio himself was a partner; it moved its operations in 1906 to the southern outskirts of the city, in what is now Corso Raffaello 17, in a building still easily recognizable by its access gates surrounded by large circular volutes in litho-cement.

Also significant is the Galleria dell'Industria Subalpina, a structure inspired by typical Parisian passages albeit still a relic of eclectic taste, which housed the famous Caffè Romano[note 13] and is overlooked by the elegant Caffè Baratti & Milano, renovated in 1909; its entrance from the arcades of Piazza Castello exhibits a rich marble frame embellished with bronze bas-reliefs and richly worked interiors, with extensive use of marble intarsias and stuccoes.

However, the architect Vandone di Cortemilia also devoted himself to commercial premises: the Caffè Mulassano in central Piazza Castello, whose small size does not, however, make the elegant boiseries and mirrors, the coffered ceiling in wood and leather and the numerous bronze decorations look out of place.

In the neighboring Cìt Turìn district, along Via Duchessa Jolanda, stand two palaces designed by Gottardo Gussoni, clear examples of late Art Nouveau dating from 1914; similarly, the buildings in the rear of Via Susa also repeat the same layout: a central courtyard with a low building at the bottom surmounted by a crenellated turret, an element that made Gussoni's Art Nouveau style increasingly characterized by an eclecticism that would later result in a true neo-Gothic style, so much so that he became one of the favorite architects of Cav.

[9][44][note 17] He often made harsh remarks about Art Nouveau, going so far as to call it a "rubella of good taste,"[45] almost likening it to a passing infatuation with European models that, according to his thinking, had no connection with the Italian architectural tradition; on the contrary, in Neo-Gothic he sensed a healthy "return to order" that sheltered from dangerous, overly daring stylistic avant-gardes.

[48] Another example of art deco was the building that was erected on the corner of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, which was built in 1926 to a design by engineer Bonadè-Bottino to house the Palazzo del Cinema, later Cinema Corso, at the time the largest movie theater in Italy;[note 23] despite its destruction in a fire on March 9, 1980, the characteristic facade with angular access surmounted by a dome was preserved and the building was put to a different use, designed by architect Pier Paolo Maggiora.

[29] In Piazza Solferino[note 24] stands another example with sober and elegant forms built in 1928 to a design by Giuseppe Momo, as the headquarters of the Società Anonima Edile Torinese.