Mole Antonelliana

Symbol of Turin, also called "City of the Mole", is one of the symbols of Italy. The name "mole" derives from the fact that, in the past, it was the tallest masonry construction in Europe, while the adjective derives from the architect who conceived it, Alessandro Antonelli. During the twentieth century it underwent major renovations in reinforced concrete and steel beams, for which today it can no longer be considered an exclusively masonry structure. With a height of 167.5 meters, for years it was also the tallest building in Turin. Since 2000 it has housed National Cinema Museum. The shape of the monument is unique, however, the result of a singular and unique eclectic nineteenth-century architectural technique, typical of Antonelli's style: above the square-based structure, about 40 meters, rises the large self-supporting dome characterized by elongated vault, overhanging in turn, by another structure called "Tempietto", which re-proposes the underlying theme of the colonnade.