Ivrea is an Italian town in the metropolitan city of Turin, in Piedmont. The city is characterized by its historic carnival, famous throughout Italy for the historic battle of the oranges. It is considered “the capital of the Canavese”. Thanks to its historical importance and its particular environmental characteristics, the city of Ivrea and the surrounding area offer a considerable amount of interest, both from a cultural and a tourist point of view. On 1 July 2018 it became part of the UNESCO heritage.
The city of Ivrea, known to most for the industrial settlements of Olivetti, is geographically positioned within the area called “Canavese” occupying an obligatory point of passage for those wishing to reach Valle d’Aosta from the main cities of Northern Italy. In the past, the city, which bore the name of Eporedia, has held a strategic position as the last outpost at the foot of the Alps, sinking its origins up to the period of Roman colonization.
The city is dominated by the Castle built in 1358 at the behest of the Green Count, Amedeo VI of Savoy, as a symbol of the Savoy dominion over Ivrea and the Canavese area. Three imposing towers characterize the structure, which stands near the cathedral and the bishop’s palace.
The geographic area surrounding Ivrea is characterized by the moraine hill of the Serra, which identifies the northern limit, to the east, of the Canavese; the western border is instead delimited by the Gran Paradiso National Park. A strategic road crossroads already in ancient times, to the west of Ivrea it is possible to reach Valchiusella, while to the north the Valle d’Aosta region. The road to Vercelli and Milan departs to the east. To the northeast, the one to Biella, only 35 km by road.
Following the retreat of the last glaciation, the area was enriched with numerous moraine lakes, which still surround the city today. They are mainly five, Lake Sirio, Lake San Michele (towards Chiaverano), Lake Pistono in Montalto Dora, Lake Nero (between Montalto Dora and Borgofranco) and Lake Campagna inCascinette. A little further away are also Lake Viverone (on the border with the Province of Biella) and Lake Candia (in the lower Canavese), as well as various other small scattered stretches of water.
History
The ancient core of the city stands on a hill overlooking the Dora Baltea. Ivrea was founded by the Romans and was called Eporedia. It is thought that this name derives from epo (horse) and reda (chariot), as its inhabitants were skilled horse tamers. Subsequent alterations and contractions of the name led to the current name of Ivrea. Indicating it as an already strategic road station of equestrian wagons for access cisalpini. Ivrea has been an important center of trade and services since Roman times, of which it preserves archaeological remains and testimonies such as the amphitheater.
Roman period
The Romans Latinized the name, which underwent variations. From the 1st century BC it was in fact a Roman colony, placed as a garrison of the military road that from the Piedmontese plain went into the valleys of the Dora Baltea. Particularly relevant, among the archaeological evidence of this period, are the ruins of the amphitheater, located a short distance from the current historic center. Later it changed its name to Augusta Eporedia.
The buildings and public and private architectural works that made up the Roman Ivrea have been almost completely destroyed over the centuries to give way to palaces, or to various structures suited to the various needs of the new generations. However, some very important traces remain that allow us to reconstruct what could have been Eporedia. The path can start from one of the most symbolic constructions: the amphitheater.
The Amphitheater of Ivrea was built around the middle of the 1st century AD, outside the walls, along the road to Vercelli. It is assumed that it could accommodate ten to fifteen thousand spectators. Of this ancient monument, which extends for a length of about 65 meters, the foundations of the walls remain, in particular of the external elliptical perimeter wall and of the lateral replacement walls (archeology term indicating a structure that is totally or partially underground to support a building above). It is also possible to identify some underground passages where fighting animals were kept.
The Ivrea amphitheater was unearthed at the beginning of 1955 and, during the excavation work, many fragments of frescoes and a long stretch of bronze covering for the backs of the podium seats were found. To build the amphitheater, the Romans demolished a pre-existing villa, of which some archaeological remains are visible today. Here coins, amphorae, fragments of statues and remains of painted plaster were found.
The road, which leads us from the amphitheater to the ancient Eporedia, has maintained the direction of the Via delle Gallie which directly connected Rome with the territories beyond the Alps. Eporedia was therefore an obligatory passage and became an important commercial center, consequently the population also increased considerably. The city therefore expanded, especially in the imperial period, even beyond the walls, mainly in the eastern part which was the most suitable for new settlements. Throughout the area between the amphitheater and Porta Praetoria, new neighborhoods were built and this is documented both by medieval sources and by archaeological excavations. A predominantly commercial area was discovered north of the Porta Praetoria.
The theater: at the top of the climb up via Cattedrale it is possible to observe the terracotta spur which testifies to the presence, in this area, of the Roman Theater. It stood right in the center of the city not far from the intersection between the decumanus and the cardo maximi and was probably built in the first century AD. The Eporedia theater came to light in the early 1800s during some renovation excavations and it was therefore possible to know its precise location and size. Over time, the theater was largely demolished and the area on which it stood was covered to allow the construction of houses in whose cellars it is still possible to see stone slabs that belonged to the steps of the theater. The streets adjacent to the houses were built on the ruins of the theater and have maintained a curvilinear course
In the upper part of the city the Romans probably built their main public buildings: the forum and the temple. No sure traces of the forum have been found and therefore its location is very uncertain. Instead it is likely that the temple stood in the same place as the current cathedral. In fact, when Christianity became the official religion of the Romans it was customary to transform the pagan temple into a place of Christian worship. Confirmation of this hypothesis is also given by the findings of tombstones and Roman inscriptions with dedications to the gods. It is also believed that the marble columns incorporated in the current ambulatory of the cathedral belonged to the ancient pagan temple and that they were used for the construction of the apse of the primitive cathedral. One of the main Roman finds found in Ivrea is currently housed in the Cathedral.
Cathedral: piazza Castello. We leave piazza Castello and go down via IV Martiri considered the Cardine Massimoby Eporedia. The hypothesis can be considered valid by remembering that the area to the north-east was occupied by the City Lake which obviously would have prevented the construction of a road towards the Alpine passes. Instead via IV Martiri already in the Middle Ages ended with a door that opened towards the road to Aosta. One can think that it, at the time of Eporedia, corresponded to the Left Door. The Cardine, after crossing with the Decumano, continued towards the Dora through what is now a closed alley, but which was still efficient in the medieval period. At the top of the ascent of Via Arduino, the ancient maximum decumanus, there was the Porta Decumana which opened towards the south-west territories of the Roman colony, located beyond the Dora which was crossed by bridges.
Urban blocks: in 1982 during some excavation works, the structures of two urban blocks emerged, particularly in the central area of the public gardens. One of these was probably used as a metalworking laboratory. Furthermore, fragments of various ceramics have been found which can be dated to the first century. BC and the first century.
Middle Ages
In medieval times it became the seat of a Lombard duchy and therefore a Frankish committee. It has been an episcopal seat since the 4th century: the period of Bishop Warmondo degli Arborio is also the time when Arduino reigns.
Ivrea became the seat of the homonymous duchy, between the VIand the seventh century. At the beginning of the eighth century, Ivrea became a county and a Marca, under the Frankish kingdom, through the nascent Anscarica dynasty. Here, after a period of conflict with Warmondo (powerful bishop of the city), in the year 1000 it was acquired by the Marquis Arduino da Pombia who, the following year, in Pavia, was elected King by a diet of princes and lords against the at the behest of Emperor Otto III of Saxony. The city Ivrea acquired great importance within the Kingdom of Italy.
King Arduino, in stark contrast to both the church of Ivrea and that of Vercelli, was excommunicated by Pope Sylvester II, and remained on the throne until 1014, the year in which he abandoned the struggle by retiring to the abbey of Fruttuaria where he died in 1018. At the end of the 11th century, after the period of the Arduinids, Ivrea returned to be dominated by the episcopal lordship.
Remembrance of this period is the still existing Torre di Santo Stefano, at the end of Corso Botta, strongly desired and subsidized by Pope Nicholas II to reaffirm power over the city, at the time used as the bell tower of the adjacent Benedictine monastery (now disappeared), detachment of the abbey of Fruttuaria di San Benigno Canavese.
In the second half of the 12th century he tried to assert himself the political power of the Marquises of Monferrato, establishing the territory of the ” municipality of Ivrea and Canavese”, but which was nevertheless destined to succumb in the first decades of the following century.
In 1238, the emperor Frederick II placed the city under his dominion; later, the lordship of the city will return to be disputed between the bishop of Ivrea, the marquis of Monferrato and other potentates, including the count of Savoy. In 1356, Ivrea therefore passed under the dominion of the Green Count of Savoyand, in the second half of the XIV century, the city witnessed the peasant revolt against the abuses of the Canavese nobles which goes by the name of ” tuchinaggio “.
In the thirteenth century Ivrea will become a free municipality and in 1313 it will pass under the dominion of the Savoy. In the Middle Ages, the city was surrounded by walls and was divided into three areas that were called third parties. That of the City included the upper part where the Bishop’s Palace, the Cathedral, the Cloister, the Palazzo del Comune and from 1358 the Castle were located. The upper city was in turn surrounded by walls. The San Maurizio district included the western area where the castle of the Marquises of Monferrato, better known as Castellazzo, had been built. The Borgo district included the entire lower part towards the east. On the other side of the river, beyond the Ponte Vecchio, outside the walls there was the Borghetto di ponte.
The starting point of our route is Piazza di Città. In the Middle Ages this area was occupied by several buildings including the De Burgo Hospital which remained active until the 18th century. In its place, in 1758, the current Town Hall was erected and the square formed. We walk along the first side street of via Palestro, via della Cattedrale, which will allow us to reach the district of the city.
At the end of the first climb we can see a high stone and brick wall which is a part of the medieval wall inside Ivrea. Continuing to the left you reach a long staircase, which connects the upper city with the lower one: it was called the “holy staircase” or “municipal staircase”, precisely because it led into the area of religious and civil power.
Renaissance
With the exception of brief periods of Spanish and then French occupation in the sixteenth century, Ivrea remained under the dependence of the Savoy for practically the entire period between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries.
Contemporary
On May 26, 1800, Napoleon was welcomed in Ivrea together with his victorious troops. Under the Napoleonic dominion Ivrea was the capital of the “Département de la Doire”, one of the five in which Piedmont had been divided; however, in 1814 the city, as well as the rest of Piedmont, returned to the Savoy, with Vittorio Emanuele I, king of Sardinia. From 1859 to 1927 Ivrea became the capital of the district of the same name, one of the five into which the province of Turin of the Kingdom of Sardinia was divided, up to the Unification of Italy..
The twentieth century saw the city as the protagonist of a new industrial center, with the foundation of the prestigious Olivetti typewriter factory, starting in 1908.
In 1927 the city, together with 112 other municipalities in the upper Canavese area, was annexed to the Aosta Valley, to form a new Province of Aosta. This annexation will be dissolved in 1945, to return under the Province of Turin. At the end of the eighties, with the closure of Olivetti, the city’s economy will suffer a severe blow; a few years later, the city will become the headquarters of the mobile telecommunications company Omnitel- Vodafone Italia.
Economy
The socio-economic development of Ivrea, especially after the Second World War, was largely linked to the growth and social policy of the Olivetti group, which had its administrative center and important industrial settlements in Ivrea. With the Olivetti crisis starting at the beginning of the nineties, Ivrea has experienced a painful reconversion of its economic and employment structure, which has seen a growth in small and medium industry and an increase in tertiary activities. Currently in the surroundings of Ivrea there are numerous small companies, but of considerable technological content.
The city was the protagonist of an interesting experience of local government, centered on the ideals of federalism and humanitarian socialism, a completely unique experience in Italy. The factory founded by Camillo Olivettisince its inception it has distinguished itself from the rest of the Italian industrial landscape, because it pursued not only profit, but also the social and cultural progress of its employees. At the heart of the “Olivetti philosophy” was the well-being of its employees. In fact, Olivetti allowed “flexible hours” that allowed employees, mainly fathers of families of peasant origin, to be able to follow the seasonality of rural life, continuing its activities. It provided scholarships and, for workers’ families, toys and gifts for Christmas.
The industrial district had a dense network of medical clinics for all pathologies, kindergartens, summer camps, a canteen and a library. It also offered both marine and mountain summer camps (Brusson, Marina di Massa, Donoratico); and everything was available free of charge or at decidedly discounted prices for employees and their families. The Olivetti “Golden Pin” was a recognition to older employees, who thus became part of a sort of club, which provided them with various services, including the possibility of spending their summer holidays in affiliated hotels.
The industrial city of Ivrea was built between the years 1930 and 1960 by Adriano Olivetti. The architectural heritage, bequeathed by the factory to the city, covers 70% of the urbanized perimeter of Ivrea, and constitutes an example of residential, industrial and social buildings of extraordinary quality. The city is also the result of multiple intellectual efforts aimed at achieving the socio-cultural idea of Olivetti, who was able to call upon the best urban planners and architects of the time to collaborate with him.
Since 2008, on the initiative of the Adriano Olivetti Foundation, a concrete process has been launched to enhance the heritage of modern architecture in the city of Ivrea, which culminated in 2012 with the inclusion of Ivrea, an industrial city of the twentieth century in the candidacies for the list of world heritage sites . The application dossier and the management plan were delivered in January 2016 to UNESCO in Paris, on the recommendation of the Board of Directors of the Italian National Commission of UNESCO. “Ivrea, industrial city of the twentieth century” was examined at the 42nd session of the World Heritage Committee held in June 2018 in Bahrain and has therefore become the 54th Italian Unesco site.
World Heritage
“Ivrea, industrial city of the twentieth century” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On Sunday 1 July 2018 at 11.30 in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee has officially included in the World Heritage List “Ivrea, industrial city of the twentieth century”.
Historical heritage
The Castle
The imposing Castle of Ivrea, located in the upper part of the city, is called by Giosuè Carducci the castle of “the red towers”. The mighty building – with a square plan with a large courtyard and reinforced at the corners by slender cylindrical towers, the largest of which was severely damaged in 1676 by lightning – was built in 1358 on commission from Amedeo VI of Savoy for defensive purposes. The complex in which it was inserted included the principal seats of political and religious power of a medieval style: the Municipality, the Episcopal Chapter and the Church. Significantly modified in the following years, from 1750 to 1970 the entire structure was used as a prison and was completely stripped of all the precious interior furnishings.
Celebrated by Carducci, in the verse cited at the top of this page, the castle of the three towers is a bit of the emblem of the city. Built (1357) by Amedeo VI of Savoy; made entirely of bricks, with a trapezoidal plan with four circular towers placed at its vertices, it was conceived as a defensive fortification (a function that was not then carried out and proved insufficient, with the introduction of gunpowder, to withstand the blows of the artillery). Used as a shelter, a lightning bolt exploded, in 1676, one of the four towers used as an ammunition depot: it was never rebuilt. It is occasionally the site of exhibitions and events.
At the end of 2017 it was definitively transferred to the municipal administration with the process of cultural federalism. The transition from the State to the territory is the result of teamwork between the State Property Agency, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and the Municipality of Ivrea which has allowed us to develop a program of enhancement and conservative restoration of the asset of great value historical-artistic. The redevelopment of the Castle is also part of a broader project for the development of tourism that involves the entire system of Epoerdian cultural heritage.
Town Hall and National Square
The historic main square of Ivrea, although it is one of the smallest, is located in the ancient historic village and divides the central street into two parts, namely via Palestro-Via Arduino. In ancient times, it was called Piazza Palazzo di Città or, more simply, Piazza di Città, a name that still remains in today’s popular language. It housed some buildings, including an ancient hospital, the De Burgo, abandoned in 1750 and replaced by the current Palazzo di Città, i.e. the Palazzo Civico, seat of the Town Hall, based on designs by the architect Giovanni Battista Borra, which stands out the high bell tower with clock. In front of the Palazzio di Città stands the Romanesquechurch of Sant’Ulderico. With the birth of Vittorio Emanuele I (1759), the square was first named after the King, but was later renamed Piazza Ferruccio Nazionale, in memory of the partisan hanged here in 1944.
Piazza del Duomo di Santa Maria
Piazza Duomo is located on the northwestern hill of the historic center. The discovery of Roman remains in the most ancient parts of the church, or found during the nineteenth-century excavations, suggests that a temple in line with the underlying theater (of which some traces are still visible) was already present, since the 1st century BC. The temple was then transformed into a Christian church, between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 5th century, when the Diocese was established. Expanded to the 1000 initiative of the bishop Warmondo, are preserved today, the ancient structure Romanesque, two bell towers, columns visible in the ambulatorybehind the apse and the frescoed crypt (containing an ancient Roman sarcophagus, which, according to tradition, preserved the remains of San Besso, co-patron of Ivrea together with San Savino).
During the reconstruction that took place in the 12th century, following a relatively important earthquake in northern Italy in 1117, the cathedral changed its physiognomy, adopting a plan much more similar to that of today. In 1516 then, the Bishop Bonifacio Ferrero had built a new facade. with a Bramante- style portico which replaced the ancient Romanesque facade. In 1854 it was in turn replaced by the current neoclassical facade, designed by the architect Gaetano Bertolotti. On the same square of the Duomo, next to it, there is also the church of San Nicola da Tolentino, built in 1605 by the homonymous brotherhood, and which has many elements of historical and artistic interest (façade, frescoes and wooden sculptures of Baroque style).
The Palazzo della Credenza
Ancient Gothic building of the fourteenth century, seat of the Town Council (made up of the so-called Credendari) at the time of the free Municipality of Ivrea.
The Ponte Vecchio and the Borghetto
The area of the city characterized by the Ponte Vecchio refers to the Roman bridge built around the third century that crossed the Dora Baltea and led out the defensive walls, in the so-called Borghetto, a perching of ancient houses and craft shops, later enclosed by three defensive walls accesses, respectively to Banchette, Pavone and Turin. In the following centuries, the bridge was rebuilt in wood, while in the Middle Ages it was reinforced and provided with two turrets, of which the external one also had a drawbridge. Around the 17th centurythe wood was replaced by a masonry bridge, then reinforced again in the following century, and subsequently enlarged in 1830.
Today the bridge is still fully functional, constituting the beginning of the current Via Gozzano road that crosses the aforementioned Borghetto, but the adjacent bridge, of more recent construction, the Adriano Olivetti Bridge, on Corso Nigra, area of late nineteenth-century liberty building to which Villa Ravera belongs, among others. In front of it you enter the romantic Lungo Dora, with a large and artistic fountain dedicated to Camillo Olivetti, founder of the homonymous factory, the work of the sculptor Emilio Grecoin 1957. Finally, there is a third parallel iron bridge, built in 1885, over which the Ivrea-Aosta railway passes.
The Tower of Santo Stefano
As already mentioned, the tower of Santo Stefano was the bell tower of the Benedictine abbey of the same name from the 11th century, built at the behest of Bishop Enrico. Little is known about the original structure of the complex, as little historical evidence remains today. The tower (and therefore the abbey) was built with brick probably of Roman origin, while from an architectural point of view it is an example of Canavese Romanesque architecture. The abbey was partially destroyed during the French domination in 1558, by order of Marshal Charles I of Cossé, Count of Brissac, and later in 1757by the hand of Count Perrone. The latter wanted to expand the garden of his palace (now the seat of the Court), which once overlooked the area. The result was the complete destruction of the complex, except for the bell tower which still stands today in the public gardens of Ivrea. In the early 2000s, the tower underwent a major restoration.
The Roman amphitheater
Built around the middle of the 1st century AD near the road to Vercelli, it is thought that it could accommodate more than ten thousand spectators. The archaeological area also includes a pre-existing villa, of which some wall structures were incorporated into the amphitheater.
Religious heritage
As part of the actions undertaken to enhance the heritage spread throughout the territory, and in particular the main monuments of the city, the Department of Culture has promoted the creation of a religious path, through which to rediscover the places historically destined for spirituality and production of culture. Like an ancient wayfarer, along a path whose stages wind from the Duomo to the chapel of the Three Kings, the visitor will be able to grasp suggestions inspired by these places, small architectural and artistic jewels, witnesses of ancient historical events.
Church of San Gaudenzio
It is a small church of late Baroque architecture built between 1716 and 1724, attributed to the Savoy architect Luigi Andrea Guibert. The building stands on a small hill, once outside the town of Ivrea, while today it is completely surrounded (except for the facade) by urban development. Inside there is a remarkable cycle of frescoes by Luca Rossetti da Orta with scenes dedicated to the life of San Gaudenzio, a 4th century saint who is believed to be a native of Ivrea.
Monte Stella Sanctuary
The Sanctuary of Monte Stella is a devotional place located on a hill that rises near the market square, along which a Via Crucis winds. Continuing uphill beyond the Sanctuary, you reach the Chapel of the Three Kings, in which there is a recently restored fresco (Nativity and Saints Rocco and Sebastian) of the Spanzotti school. The sanctuary was built in 1627, but today only the bell tower has remained intact. The rest of the building, the circular temple, dates back to the 19th century. As for the Chapel of the Three Kings, the year of construction dates back to 1220: tradition has it that it was St. Francis, passing through Ivrea, who suggested its construction. The chapel has a Romanesque architecture.
Church of Santa Croce
The Church of Santa Croce, located in Via Arduino 9, was founded in 1622 as an oratory of the Confraternity of Suffragio. It contains an elegant altar (1749), a wooden choir (1695) and especially an important cycle of frescoes created in 1753 and 1751 by Luca Rossetti da Orta.
Church of San Bernardino
The Church of San Bernardino is decentralized from the historic center, in the Olivetti industrial area of Via Jervis. It is in Gothic style, of modest proportions, built together with the adjoining convent in 1455 by the Franciscan order of the Friars Minor. The building was then completed in 1457, with a quadrangular plan with cross vaults. In 1465enlargement works took place, with the construction of a nave for access to the public and two side chapels. The monastery began its decline towards the end of the sixteenth century and in the eighteenth century the complex underwent further degradation due to subsequent military occupations, up to the Napoleonic conquest and the abolition of ecclesiastical properties.
In 1910 Camillo Olivetti bought the complex to transform it into his home, while between 1955 and 1958 his son Adriano Olivetti transformed everything into a headquarters for social services and for the after-work activities of Olivetti employees. The Church of San Bernardinoinside it preserves a cycle of frescoes on the Life and Passion of Christ, created between 1485 and 1490 by Giovanni Martino Spanzotti and restored in the 1950s thanks to the work of Adriano Olivetti.
The Synagogue
It was built in 1870 following the expansion of the Jewish community. The building is located in via Quattro Martiri in the historic center of the city. After a period of neglect, it was renovated in 1999 and also used for various cultural activities.
Culture Space
Giacosa Theater
It was built in 1829, based on a project by the architect Maurizio Storero, who had been commissioned by the Municipal Administration to build a New Civic Theater. With a show, performed on November 30, in 1922 the Civic Theater was named after Giuseppe Giacosa, on the proposal of Salvator Gotta, a native of Montalto Dora, a town in the Eporediese.
Cinema Giuseppe Boaro
Built in 1910, it is one of the first Italian cinemas. It is located almost at the entrance to Via Palestro, the main street of the historic center. The cinema, extensively renovated and modernized, is still active today and houses the only 3D projection room in the city.
Museums
The Civic Museum PA Garda
It preserves archaeological, ethnographic and artistic finds (among them a wooden nativity scene dating back to around 1470, coming from the Chapel of the Three Kings). The museum is important for the precious collection of Japanese lacquers and other oriental art objects (over 500 works) donated in 1874 to the city of Ivrea by Pier Alessandro Garda. The museum also includes finds from the collection of Palazzo Giusiana, the first seat of the museum. The Garda collection includes objects from Japan, while from Palazzo Giusiana we find various Chinese and Asian objects. The largest sector of the collection is made up of metal objects, followed by those in lacquer, porcelain and paintings.
Open Air Museum of Modern Architecture (MAAM)
Inaugurated in 2001, with the intention of enhancing the “cultural legacy” of Olivetti, which has distinguished itself since the 1950s for its avant-garde projects in the field of urban planning and industrial and civil architecture (all developed by prestigious architects). The museum itinerary winds along via Guglielmo Jervis and other contiguous sites. Along the public pedestrian paths, which connect the buildings, there are seven thematic information stations, in a succession that constitutes a possible itinerary for visits and characterized by a strong integration with the urban fabric. The themes illustrated by the stations concern the events relating to Olivetti’s commitment in the field of architecture, urban planning, industrial design and advertising graphics and the cultural contexts in which these events are located.
The buildings collected by the MAAM are: Palazzo Uffici 1 and 2 (Olivetti headquarters), the ICO workshops and thermal power plant, the nursery, the canteen, the study center, the Crist residential district, the West Residential Unit, called popularly Talponia(consisting of a complex with an underground arch on one side and windows opening onto the hill on the other) and numerous other homes for employees and managers. Near the Palazzo Uffici 1, the municipality of Banchette begins, whose modern district consisting essentially of buildings, was built in the 60s and 70s on behalf of Olivetti, in order to guarantee a home for its employees. close to the work site. A curious building is the one called La Serra. It recalls the shape of a typewriter, which initially contained a characteristic hotel inside, where each “key to type” represented a hotel room; in the building there was also a conference room and a swimming pool but over time the hotel has been transformed into mini-apartments and the conference room into a cinema.
Tecnologic mente Laboratory-Museum
Inaugurated in 2006 and managed by the Natale Capellaro Foundation, it is located in Piazza San Francesco d’Assisi at the Opera Pia Moreno premises. The exhibition illustrates the stories of the technologies that have allowed Ivrea to achieve world leadership in the mechanical and electronic sector. You can admire many typewriters including the Olivetti M1 and the Valentine, various mechanical computing machines, such as the Divisumma 24 and Tetractys, and electric and electronic computing machines such as the Olivetti P101. Finally you can also find a mini history of the computer and a restoration laboratory. The second wing of the museum is dedicated to educational workshops dedicated to schools of all levels, which allow young people to discover past technologies and deepen current ones through playful-educational paths.
Festivals and events
The carnival
The historic carnival of Ivrea known for the famous ” battle of the oranges ” dates back to 1808, the year in which the Napoleonic Empire ordered to unify the local carnivals in a single party. Other important elements are represented by the symbol of the Jacobin revolt characterized by the Phrygian cap worn in 1792, during the French revolution, a symbol of renewal and freedom, by the uniforms of the Napoleonic army, by the fifes to end with the scarlo (pole covered with heather and juniper) which is burned in a ceremonial as a good omen.
The Historical Carnival of Ivrea is a unique event, recognized as an Italian event of international importance, as per the communication of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of 27.09.1956, a “dream” that manifests itself every year bringing history, tradition, entertainment, emotions and great ideals to the streets and squares of the city of Ivrea.
The legend on which much of the carnival is built tells that Violetta, the daughter of a miller betrothed to Toniotto, rebels against the claims of the feudal lord who claims the right to jus primae noctis. Pretending to accept the invitation after going to the castle of San Maurizio she kills the tyrant with a dagger she had hidden in her hair and gives the signal to the people to rise up against the nobles. The people in fact lived difficult times also because of the taxes on the ground and on the marriage. The sword with the orange placed on its top is intended to evoke the head of the slain tyrant.
An event in which history and legend intertwine to give life to a show that goes beyond and merges the centuries, in which the absolute protagonists are the Vezzosa Mugnaia, heroine of the party, Risorgimento symbol of freedom, the General with his Napoleonic General Staff, the Substitute Grand Chancellor, the Podestà guarantor of city freedom, the procession with the flags of the districts represented by the Abbà and the Pipes and Drums. To fill the city with colors and scents, there is the famous and spectacular Battle of the Oranges, a moment of great involvement and strong emotion, re-enactment of the popular rebellion against tyranny.
As a sign of participation in the carnival all citizens and visitors, starting from Shrove Thursday, take to the street wearing the Phrygian Cap, a red sock-shaped hat that represents the ideal adhesion to the revolt and therefore the aspiration to freedom. as it was for the protagonists of the French Revolution.
San Savino
The feast of the patron saint of Ivrea, or San Savino, is held on 7 July. The major celebrations are related to the horse fair and include a parade of vintage carriages and equestrian exhibitions. This equestrian tradition is strengthened with the carnival one as horses and related crafts are used in the key moments of the Carnival. During the celebrations of San Savino a fireworks display is carried out (clearly visible from the long Dora), numerous stalls and a small funfair are set up in the market area.
San Savino was bishop of Spoleto between the end of the III century and the beginning of the IV; he suffered martyrdom during the last and most terrible persecution against Christians, that of Diocletian. In Spoleto the body of San Savino remained for a few centuries in the basilica dedicated to him, until in 956 the son of Berengario II Marquis of Ivrea, Corrado, who then ruled Spoleto before succeeding his father, brought him to our city. Corrado had in fact wanted to give Ivrea a patron saint who would free it from the plague which struck it at that time. The plague, tell the chroniclers of the time, actually ceased as soon as the remains of the martyr reached Ivrea.
The Equine Fair
In addition to the festivities planned for the celebrations of the patron saint, the equine fair, one of the most important in Italy, should be highlighted. Horses have always played a very important role in the history of Ivrea, and still continue today, and so the San Savino Horse Fair grows and gets richer every year.
The Passion of Christ
During the Easter period, the Municipality, the Diocese and the Il Diamante association organize a cultural path that reactivates the lost medieval tradition of popular spectacle on a religious theme, culminating on the eve of Palm Sunday in the Medieval Sacred Representation of the Passion of Christ. About 300 participants take part in the event.
Natural space
Naturalistic routes that wind through the Morainic Amphitheater, suitable for everyone and marked by appropriate signs.
Rings of the Five Lakes
The Rings of the Five Lakes project guides anyone looking for a careful and discreet relationship with the territory and in particular with a natural environment of extreme beauty and vulnerability, in one of the most beautiful areas of the Canavese.
Moraine amphitheater
The Ami – Morainic Amphitheater of Ivrea – is a geological monument unique in the world for the intact moraine with a closed circle that delimits it: over 600 km2 the extension of the internal basin and about 80 km the arc of hills that surrounds it. The Morainic Amphitheater of Ivrea includes 85 Municipalities and covers the territories of three Provinces: Turin (about 80% of the area), Biella (16%) and Vercelli (4%).
The partners of the Integrated Enhancement Plan “Morainic Amphitheater of Ivrea: landscape and culture”, in collaboration with Atl Turismo Torino and with the support of the municipal administration, have decided to build an organized supply system. In this direction, the VisitAMI application for smartphones and tablets was createdwhich collects the opportunities present on the territory of the morainic amphitheater: museums, archaeological sites, religious heritage, paths, parks and tourist sites.