Above: Talponia
I had the opportunity to visit Ivrea, the town of Olivetti’s headquarters and a UNESCO world heritage site since 2018, while traveling for a conference in Milan in March 2025. I created this page as a resource for anyone interested in visiting Ivrea since there was very little information about visiting Ivrea in English when I was planning my trip. It is truly worth the trek if you are interested in political philosophy, labor relations, or design. It was one of the most meaningful trips of my life as a sociologist and design aficionado.
Traveling from Milan to Ivrea
To reach Ivrea from Milan, you will need to take two trains, first from Milano Centrale to Chivasso Railway Station in Turin, then from Chivasso to Ivrea. The town of Ivrea itself is walkable, and I did not need to take the bus.
All things Olivetti
I did a day trip from Milan, but I wish I had spent two days there. I highly, highly recommend scheduling a tour with the UNESCO visitor centre. They have translators available, and the tour guides are extremely kind and passionate about the architecture, the history of Ivrea and Olivetti, and Adriano Olivetti’s philosophies about labor, design, etc. You can email them here to schedule a tour. I was even able to tour the inside of one of the Talponia apartments with many of the original furniture pieces as well as Palazzo Uffici Olivetti. The visitor centre also has a lot of great books about Olivetti.
You can also visit the Laboratorio-Museo Tecnologicamente, a small museum just a few blocks away and the Olivetti Historical Archive Association. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to visit either.
La Serra (the typewriter shaped building) and the home of the Torta 900 cake, Balla, are located next to each other on the other side of the town but still within walking distance.
Aquila Nera is a pretty good seafood restaurant right next to the train station.
Here is a map with all of the locations mentioned above.
English language books about Olivetti
There are only two English language books that I have found and liked about Olivetti. There are tons of amazing books in Italian that have not been translated. If you know of any books that have been translated from Italian to English about Olivetti, please let me know!
- Olivetti Builds: about the architecture
- The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti: about the politics and history of the Olivetti family and company
Above, left to right: La Serra (architects Iginio Cappai & Pietro Mainardis), Palazzo Uffici Olivetti staircase (architects Annibale Fiocchi, Gian Antonio Bernasconi and Marcello Nizzoli), turnstiles at Olivetti ICO Factory