Torre Littoria, or Grattacielo Reale Mutua, is the first high-rise building in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, and one of the most renowned rationalist buildings in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is located in the city centre, on Via Giovanni Battista Viotti, near

Piazza Castello Piazza Castello is a city square in Turin, Italy. It is lined with museums, theaters and cafes. Buildings around the square *Royal Palace of Turin *Palazzo Madama, Turin Palazzo Madama e Casaforte degli Acaja is a palace in Turin, Piedmont. ...

Torre Littoria was built in 1933–34, with the intent of hosting, among other offices, the national headquarters of the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

; in fact it never did, with the party's headquarters located first in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and then in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. 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 Clinker bricks are partially-vitrified bricks used in the construction of buildings. Clinker bricks are produced when wet clay bricks are exposed to excessive heat during the firing process, sintering the surface of the brick and forming a shin ...

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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...

, and over the years the building has been derided as "an eyesore", "the finger of Duce", "the

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

" and "the arrogant tower".

Sources

La Torre Littoria in Museo Torino
''museotorino.it'' * Giovanni Sessa, ''Via Roma Nuova a Torino'', in Agostino Magnaghi, Mariolina Monge and Luciano Re, ''Guida all'architettura moderna di Torino'', Lindau, Torino 1995, pp. 507–517 {{DEFAULTSORT:Torre Littoria Skyscrapers in Turin Modernist architecture in Italy Italian fascist architecture Skyscraper office buildings in Italy Residential skyscrapers in Italy