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Torre XX Settembre

Italian fascist architectureModernist architecture in ItalyPalaces in TurinResidential skyscrapers in ItalySkyscraper office buildings in Italy
Skyscrapers in Turin
Torre xx settembre 01
Torre xx settembre 01

Torre XX Settembre, in Turin, is one of the earliest examples of Modernist skyscraper in Italy. The building was designed in 1939 by Gino Salvestrini and Gabriello Gabrielli di Quercita. Because of the outbreak of the Second World War, however, works started only in 1947 and were completed in 1951. The high-rise building, also called Torre Santa Teresa or Grattacielo Santa Teresa, is located at the corner between via Santa Teresa and via XX Settembre, in central Turin. It owes its name to the day that marks the capture of Rome (20 September 1870), an event that was much celebrated by the Fascist Regime, during which time the building was originally designed. Its volume is clearly visible from Piazza San Carlo and was conceived as a Modernist counterpoint to the Baroque square. The building is composed of a 14-floor vertical structure and a 5-floor horizontal structure. Both structures are entirely covered by white limestone tesserae, with the exception of the two lowest floors where green marble and metal walls can be seen. Its western façade borders the small square in front of the church of Santa Teresa. The dimensional proportion between the windows and the built mass reflects the architectural theories of Italian rationalism, while decoration of interior common spaces can be considered a late example of Art Deco style.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Torre XX Settembre (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Torre XX Settembre
Via Venti Settembre, Turin Centro

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Latitude Longitude
N 45.0686 ° E 7.6814 °
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Torre XX Settembre

Via Venti Settembre
10121 Turin, Centro
Piedmont, Italy
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Torre xx settembre 01
Torre xx settembre 01
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Torre Littoria
Torre Littoria

Torre Littoria, or Grattacielo Reale Mutua, is the first high-rise building in Turin, and one of the most renowned rationalist buildings in Italy. It is located in the city centre, on Via Giovanni Battista Viotti, near Piazza Castello. Torre Littoria was built in 1933–34, with the intent of hosting, among other offices, the national headquarters of the National Fascist Party; in fact it never did, with the party's headquarters located first in Milan and then in Rome. Instead it became wholly owned by Reale Mutua Assicurazioni (Royal Mutual Insurance), an insurance company that already financed almost all of its costs and is still the owner of the entire property. The building is a prominent example of early 20th-century Italian rationalist architecture, notable for its widespread use of innovative materials such as glass brick, clinker brick and linoleum, and is also the first Italian building with a welded metal structural frame. The building occupies a little more than two-thirds of a city block, consisting of a 9-storey low-rise section, and a 19-storey high-rise section reaching 87 metres at its roof, upon which rises an antenna tower, giving the building a total height of 109 metres; until 1940 it was the tallest continuously habitable building in Italy. During World War II its roof mounted one of the 58 air raid sirens in Turin, and the building sustained minor damage during the bombing of 13 July 1943. The height of the building, in proximity to the Royal Palace of Turin, was regarded as a statement of Fascist dominance over the Italian Royal House of Savoy, and over the years the building has been derided as "an eyesore", "the finger of Duce", "the mobile phone" and "the arrogant tower".