Centro Storico Fiat, Automobile museum in Turin, Italy
Centro Storico Fiat is an automobile museum in Turin housing vehicles, aircraft, trains, tractors, trucks, and household items spanning different manufacturing eras. Beyond physical objects, the institution maintains an extensive archive of technical drawings, photographs, and documents related to industrial production.
The museum opened in 1963 within an Art Nouveau building that once expanded Fiat's earliest manufacturing operations. This structure itself documents how the factory grew during its formative years.
The museum's name recalls corso Dante Alighieri, the street where Fiat was founded in 1899 and where this 1907 extension by Alfredo Premoli once served as finishing workshop, depot and showroom. Its halls hosted the 4 May 1966 signing of the agreement that led to the Togliatti plant in Russia and the Zhiguli, a modified Fiat 124. The advertising poster collection runs from 1899 to the 1980s, with work by Marcello Dudovich and Plinio Codognato.
Since December 2024 the museum is open Tuesday to Sunday; the archive section can be consulted only by appointment. The exhibition occupies about 3,000 square metres on two floors, divided into thematic areas from Origins to Aviation and Grandi motori.
Two one-off pieces stand out: the Mefistofele, built by fitting a Fiat A.12 aircraft engine into the chassis of a Fiat SB4, and a Fiat 8V with a fibreglass body only 3 mm thick and weighing 48 kg. The museum also keeps the wooden master of the 500, used to make the bodywork stamping moulds.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,866 contributors worldwide.
