Turin-Togliatti 1966-2026. A large factory at once

Set up right in the atmospheric spaces of the Fiat Historical Centre - place where, in May 1966, the historic cooperation agreement was signed between Italy e Soviet Union - this extraordinary exhibition traces an epic that is not only industrial, but profoundly human and diplomatic. Sixty years ago, the president of FIAT Vittorio Valletta signed a protocol with the Soviets to build a colossal automobile plant in the city of Togliatti. What will prove to be one of the most audacious parallel diplomacy operations of the Cold War relives today through a layered tale on two narrative levels.

On the one hand, the dense historical archive documentation - consisting of technical reports, telegrams, photographs, drawings and administrative papers - conveys the complexity of a massive investment of around ten billion euro today. A colossal undertaking that led to the birth of the factory AutoVAZ and the car that symbolises this union, the 124 Žiguli. On the other hand, the curators Claudio Giunta e Giovanna Silva question the traces still visible in the urban landscape and architecture through a journey undertaken in 2019. The photographer's sensitivity Giovanna Silva captures the metamorphosis of buildings and archive spaces , while professor and writer Claudio Giunta collects the living memories of former Russian and Italian workers and managers , offering a mirror in which the history of Turin openly dialogues with the past and the present.