Turin – Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli
Located in a beautiful, although slightly incongruous, building on top of the former Lingotto test track is this small art gallery. I had a Torino + Piedmonte Card so I could get into the art gallery free of charge, but admission also gives visitors the chance to walk around the test track.
The danger with merging these entirely different attractions together is that it has give the museum some challenging reviews. Here are my favourites:
“The racetrack on top of the building was unidentifiable as only an asphalt covered area.”
“I really wanted to go and see the track on the top of this iconic building. Having finally got there, i was told it was “Not possible” by a very stern looking Italian lady! We must to pay to go and look at an art gallery before we could go on to the roof – there were big glass doors and we could see out – so near and yet so far!”
I like the idea that it wasn’t possible to notice the track, it’s perhaps one of the most improbable things not to notice. The actual reason for the joint admission requirement is for insurance purposes. It’s also possible to visit the track for those guests staying in the hotel which is located in the same building.
There aren’t that many artworks in the gallery, around twenty different pieces of art. They did have two paintings by Canaletto, my favourite artist, which sufficed me, although there are also works by Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.
The museum is named after the art collector Marella Agnelli who was born in 1927 and was married to Gianni Agnelli, the main owner of Fiat and one of the richest men in the country. This explains the link between the racetrack and the gallery.
The entrance price, which I think is €10, is perhaps just a little rich given the number of artworks and the audio guide is extra, so the admission charge by this stage has made it expensive for anyone who isn’t bothered about seeing the track. The gallery has though put huge effort into making sure that visitors can find it, as the shopping centre has directional arrows nearly all the way around it.