Throughout the 1900's, Torino was the undisputed industrial capital of Italy.
Now, the present century sees the city moving in an entirely different direction -- holding a steady course toward culture and the arts, emerging as the national center for the artistic avant-garde.

Torino, or Turin, is presently experiencing a sort of Golden Age, with initiatives and projects springing up everywhere, bearing witness the city's new, more cosmopolitan image.
In the year 2006, Torino is to host the Winter Olympic Games. To the sure delight of visitors, a part of Gianni Agnelli's celebrated collection will be exhibited at the Lingotto, as part of a spectacular presentation planned by architectural genius Renzo Piano.
The monumental arched construction will house masterpieces by artists from Bernardo Bellotto to Henri Matisse.
One of the exhibition's focal points is the "Luci d'artista" display, open to the public through January 11, 2001. For two months, the city will give itself over completely to art and culture, highlighted by a stupefying red neon display by Mario Merz which reaches to the top of the Mole Antonelliana, the 167 meter high symbol of the city.

The 18th-century building safeguards the newly-inaugurated Nazionale Museo del Cinema's 7000 films, 140 photographic documents, 200 light shows and 150,000 posters.
The exhibition "Luci in galleria: da Warhol al 2000" will be open to the public until January 14th. The unique collection was assembled by the Gian Enzo Sperone, and comprises works by selected artists exhibited by the "king of gallerists" in the course of his 35-year career. Among other things, Sperone was the first in Italy to exhibit Pop-Art masters Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Jim Dine and Andy Warhol.


An initiative of a different sort is devoted to the rebirth of Arte povera in Torino, the city first to celebrate this style. The Fondazione CRT is poised to acquire 17 Arte Pover works (including several by Michelangelo Pistoletto and Giulio Paolini to Jannis Kounellis) at a total cost of 2 billion dollars.
Until February 4th, the Galleria d'Arte Moderna will host an ample exposition dedicated to Michelangelo Pistoletto featuring over 100 works realized between the 1950's to 2000.