Way-Assauto, Industrial archaeology site and manufacturing facility in Asti, Italy.
Way-Assauto is the historic factory complex on Via Antica Cittadella in Asti, now an industrial archaeology site. Designed by engineer Piero Fenoglio and built between 1906 and 1908, it has brick facades with pilasters and low-arched windows, a reinforced concrete frame and cement trusses. The 1908 plant covered 30,000 square metres, 9,000 of them roofed, and was linked to the station by a 200-metre rail siding.
The company started operations in Turin in 1906 and moved to Asti in 1908, establishing a major industrial presence there. Throughout the 20th century, it contributed to the development of automotive manufacturing technologies in Italy.
Locals call the company Waya, and the historic plant on Via Antica Cittadella is now an industrial archaeology site after production moved to Località Valgera in 2016. The site occupies land where the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent stood, built by the Discalced Augustinians in 1522 and destroyed in 1526 during the siege of Asti.
Keep in mind this is an active production facility, so tours and visits may be restricted or require advance arrangements. It is best to inquire ahead about access and what can be visited.
Production moved to the new Valgera site in 2016, not 2017. The old Via Antica Cittadella complex, designed by engineer Piero Fenoglio, had absorbed the end of Corso all'Industria and in 1928 expanded over the street meant as the entrance to the Jewish cemetery.
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