The Centennial
1961: The Centennial
The Turinese celebrations for the first 100 years of unity of Italy were the main national event, so much so that the committee instituted by the Government in 1960 settled in Torino and collaborated with the local committee, which had been working since 1956. In the first capital city, the productive core of the country at that time, a great project, called Italia 61, was put in place.
In order to house it, a whole neighbourhood in the city (Millefonti district along the riverbanks) was upgraded with new buildings, designed by the best known Italian architects of the time (let us recall just one of them, Pier Luigi Nervi), and temporary facilities over a general 600,000 square-metre surface.
The Italia 61 Expos were conceived by the great figures of the Italian culture, economy and design.
The International Exposition of Work, called “The man at work. One-hundred years of technical and social development: Achievements and prospects”, was co-ordinated by Giovanni Agnelli and designed by Gio Ponti and it involved 19 foreign nations.
The writer Mario Soldati worked at the Exhibition of the Italian regions, which was displayed in 20 pavilions overlooking the Po. The knight Pinin Farina supervised the exhibition “Fashion, Style and Costume” that presented the evolution of Italian design with over 500 objects.
Italia 61 offered other attractions: the “Circarama”, an innovative projection system patented by Walt Disney (a round room with a 32-metre diametre where the spectators – up to 1,000 at the same time – were surrounded by the colour pictures of a spectacular documentary film about Italy) and the Monorail, a track at six metres high where a futuristic train traveled, which later became the icon of the event.
Not far from the main venue, a floricolture show, “Flor 61”, took place in the Torino Esposizioni building and the Parco del Valentino with 800 exhibitors from 19 countries.
In the rest of the city important restoration works and architectonic interventions as well as other significant initiatives were carried out, including a historical exhibition on the Unity of Italy in Palazzo Carignano and a rich agenda of official parties and popular events (firework competitions, night festivities along the Po, theatre shows, film festivals).
The Italia 61 exhibitions were open from 6th May until 31st October and were visited by over 6 million people.
Rome also played a significant role in the year of celebrations, mostly through television and cinema productions. For the Centennial Rossellini made the film “Viva l’Italia”, and several documentary films were produced on commission of the President of the Council of Ministers.
