• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Italian Blog

Unconventional Italy

  • Home
  • Art & Culture
  • Eat & Drink
  • Places
    • North Italy
      • Liguria
      • Lombardia
      • Piemonte
      • Valle d’Aosta
      • Veneto
    • Central Italy
      • Lazio
      • Toscana
    • South Italy
      • Basilicata
      • Campania
      • Sicilia
  • Travel Tips
  • Save Money
  • About
Home » Visit » Parco Dora: from post industrial site to amazing urban park

Parco Dora: from post industrial site to amazing urban park

3 April 2021 by Lori Leave a Comment

Imagine a huge industrial site, plants of companies such as Fiat and Michelin a few km away from the city centre of a city. What do you do when the industrial crisis hits hard and forces those companies to shut down the factories? Well, you have several options: demolish everything and start building houses and malls or find a way to give the area back to its citizens in such a way that they can use it differently. The latter is exactly what happened to Parco Dora in Turin.

Parco Dora

The location and how to reach it

Parko Dora takes its name from the river Dora Riparia, that crosses it. It is limited by the streets: vie Nole, Via Valdellatorre, Via Verolengo, the tunnel Donat-Cattin, Corso Mortara, Corso Principe Oddone, the Environment Park, via Daubrée, Corso Umbria and Piazza Piero della Francesca. If you are in the city centre you can easily reach it with the bus 72 and 72/ (stop: Mortara), or trams 3 and 9 (Stop: Piero della Francesca).

In the background the building on the other side of Via Verolengo/ Piazza Piero della Francesca.

There is a new urban park in town

In 2004, after an international competition, and the involvement of Italian and foreign architects, some 456,000 sq m of plot have been totally redeveloped and transformed into an urban park.

The park boasts benches to sit, relax, read a book, chat, paths for walking, skating and cycling, and areas to play any sort of sport. A big red canopy was one the roof of a steel plant; now it is the perfect shelter from sun, wind and rain to play tennis, basketball or do gymnastics.

Basketball training under the canopy

Graffiti are flowers that grow spontaneously in urban parks

Since the very start of the entire project, one thing was clear: street art would have find its perfect home in this urban park. In 2015, a huge graffiti work appeared on four former cooling towers. The street artists Max Gatto, Ludwig Dolo and XTRM paid a a tribute to Bobby Sand, Irish activist and politician, member of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) who died of hunger in prison.

Graffiti dedicated to Bobby Sands

The first tower depicts a beer mug while the other three are hats in the Irish colors: green, white and orange. Many are the symbols in this amazing work: from the clover that wraps the first hat, to the rainbow ribbon that embraces all the hats as a symbol of peace. On the orange hat you can spot a lark, the bird symbol of freedom that cannot be bent from captivity.

Graffiti as storytellers

Murales of Camillo Benso Earl of Cavour

Graffiti tell stories, denounce injustice, provide a glimpse of the paste or the future. In a photo-like mural, you can even spot one of the main politician in Turin history. Camillo Benso Count of Cavour, who lived in the 19 century is, in fact, depicted with incredible realism. He is framed by the sentence “I am son of freedom, I owe her everything I am”. A reminder about times, people and places that change, unlike values that remain the same.

You may also like:

  • The Ultimate Turin Guide to LGBT Clubs, Bars, and EventsThe Ultimate Turin Guide to LGBT Clubs, Bars, and Events
  • What can you do if you have one day free in Piedmont: visit CuneoWhat can you do if you have one day free in Piedmont: visit Cuneo
  • 10 amazing delicacies to eat in Turin and Piedmont10 amazing delicacies to eat in Turin and Piedmont

Filed Under: All Categories, Art & Culture, Piemonte, Visit Tagged With: graffiti, industrial site, Italia, italy, park, street art, torino, turin, urban, urban park

Previous Post: « How to win a holiday in a 5* Resort in Italy
Next Post: Pastiera: an Italian pie which hides a really unexpected secret »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Click on the map to see the related posts

Follow us!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe the newsletter and Get the Beta version of the shopping file with factory outlets and shops at discounted prices!

Please check your incoming mail or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Hi, my name is Lori. I'm 100% Italian. In this blog I will share secret places to visit, tips on how to save money visiting my country and how to experience the Bel Paese just like an Italian. Read More…

Footer

Links & disclosure on this site

All links on this site are published at my editorial discretion. Requests for links alongside samples will be refused, and links alongside brand mentions are not guaranteed, or may be for brand affiliate programes. Where payment or product has been received links will be attributed nofollow and full disclosure will be made. Requests to edit links may result in the content being removed completely.

GDPR Compliance

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro & The Genesis Framework