International Exposition of Industry and Labor (1911)
The International Exposition of Industry and Labor was held in Turin in 1911, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Unification of Italy, at the Parco del Valentino; 37 nations took part, from Argentina to Venezuela, and there were more than seven million visitors.[1] In the sequence of Turin's expositions it comes after those of 1884 and 1898 and before that of 1928.[2]
Dates
It was inaugurated on 29 April 1911 in the presence of Vittorio Emanuele III and opened to the public the following day; the closing date is given as 19 November 1911 by the MuseoTorino text and by the Treccani encyclopedia, while the heading of the same MuseoTorino entry indicates 31 October.[1][2]
Organization
The General Committee was chaired by Mayor Secondo Frola; the Executive Committee was headed by Tommaso Villa, who had already organized the expositions of 1884 and 1898.[1][3] The overall design was by Pietro Fenoglio, Stefano Molli and Giacomo Salvatori di Wiesenhoff.[1] The site covered 1,200,000 square meters, 350,000 of which were covered by pavilions, and it extended to the right bank of the Po as far as Pilonetto, reached by a temporary bridge; the entrance was near the Umberto I bridge, which for the occasion received four allegorical sculptural groups.[1][3]
The pavilions
The pavilions were temporary structures of wood and plaster: among others there were those of Fashion, Electricity, the Royal Navy, Post and Telegraph, Agriculture, Goldsmithing, Machinery, Railway Equipment, and Aeronautics.[1] Only the Palazzo del Giornale, also known as dei Giornali, was built to last: a neo-Baroque structure in reinforced concrete using the Hennebique system, with a facade 105 meters long and a domed hall 23 meters high, where the press and papermaking were exhibited; from it arose the Torino Esposizioni complex.[1][4]
For the exposition the Stadium was also built, the city's first multifunctional sports facility, demolished during the Second World War; on its site later rose the seat of the Politecnico on Corso Duca degli Abruzzi.[3][2][6]
Memory
The pavilions were photographed by Gian Carlo Dall'Armi; in 2011, for the centenary, the City presented an album dedicated to the showcase of Turin as a "manufacturing capital".[5]
Related articles: Crocetta (Turin)