Rai Production Centre of Turin
The Rai Production Centre of Turin is the Rai headquarters at via Verdi 14-16, one of the company's four production centres alongside Rome, Milan and Naples; since 1 October 2024 it has been named after Piero Angela.[1][2] Turin is the city where Italian radio broadcasting was born.[3]
From the URI to the EIAR
The Unione Radiofonica Italiana was founded in Turin on 27 August 1924; the EIAR was established in 1927, took the name RAI in 1944 and became Radiotelevisione Italiana in 1954.[4] In 1930 the editorial office of the «Radio Orario» moved to Turin, in 1933 the CETRA record label was founded there, and in 1949 the ERI publishing house; in 1944 Rai had its legal headquarters in Turin, which moved to Rome with the start of television broadcasts in 1954.[5] In 1931 or 1932 the EIAR bought the former Teatro Scribe on via Verdi and converted it into an auditorium, and in 1939 the building on the corner of via Montebello and via Verdi became home to offices and studios.[5][6]
The buildings
The present headquarters at via Verdi 14-16 was built in 1968 to a design by Umberto Cuzzi and Felice Bardelli, on the site of the Caserma Arimondi, partly destroyed by the bombing raids of 1943.[6] The same complex houses the Museo della Radio e della Televisione, first conceived in 1939 and moved to via Verdi in 1968, holding over 1,500 documents and instruments; the Ministry of Culture currently lists it as closed.[7][3] The auditorium on via Rossini, originally built in 1856 as the Regio Ippodromo, was purchased by Rai in 1952 and redesigned by Carlo Mollino; since 2007 it has been named after Arturo Toscanini and is home to the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale.[8]
Today
In 2019 the centre employed around 400 people and produced programmes for Rai1 and Rai3, children's television and drama.[2] In March 2026 Rai put up for sale the Rai Teche building at via Verdi 31, the ruins of the Teatro Scribe and the former centre on corso Giambone, in order to fund the remediation of its Rome headquarters on viale Mazzini; on 5 June 2026 trade unions protested outside the building against empty studios and the sell-offs.[9][10]
Sources
- Torino Oggi — 1 October 2024
- Città di Torino, CittAgorà — 7 November 2019
- Ministero della Cultura
- Archivio Centrale dello Stato
- La Voce e il Tempo — 17 April 2024
- MuseoTorino
- MuseoTorino
- MuseoTorino
- Torino Oggi — 25 March 2026
- ANSA — 5 June 2026