Casa Scaccabarozzi: Turin’s Narrow Historic Residence
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Italian, Kingdom of Sardinia
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- House
On this page15 sections
History
Casa Scaccabarozzi is a historic residential building in Turin, Italy, built in the nineteenth century in an eclectic style with neoclassical decoration. It stands in the Borgo Vanchiglia district at the corner of Corso San Maurizio and Via Giulia di Barolo. The building is also associated with the names Casa Luna and La Spada, while its ochre-yellow color and unusually narrow trapezoidal plan have given it the popular name Fetta di Polenta, meaning “Slice of Polenta.”
The development of Borgo Vanchiglia
Borgo Vanchiglia was developed around 1840 at the initiative of the Marquises of Barolo. The area had previously been known as the Moschino district, a name linked to the many insects associated with its proximity to the Po and Dora Riparia rivers. Construction was undertaken by the Società Costruttori di Vanchiglia, with the architect Alessandro Antonelli participating in the development.
As compensation for his work, Antonelli received a small corner plot on what is now Via Giulia di Barolo. Negotiations to acquire the adjoining plot did not succeed, so he devised a revenue-producing building suited to the restricted site. It contained one apartment on each floor, while its limited width was offset by extending the structure upward. The project became a technical challenge, possibly undertaken as a wager or as a personal test of construction.
Construction and early use
The first four floors were completed in 1840. Two further floors were added later, and the present top floor was constructed in 1881. Antonelli gave the building to his wife, Francesca Scaccabarozzi, whose surname became its official name. Antonelli and Scaccabarozzi lived there for several years before moving to their nearby residence at Via Vanchiglia 9, another building designed by Antonelli.
Antonelli’s decision to live in the building also addressed claims that its unusual structure was unstable. Casa Scaccabarozzi survived the explosion of the royal powder magazine at Borgo Dora on 24 April 1852, an event that seriously damaged many nearby buildings. It also withstood the earthquake of 23 February 1887 and survived the Second World War bombing that heavily affected surrounding blocks. The ground floor formerly contained the Caffè del Progresso, a Turin meeting place associated with the Carbonari, members of a clandestine nineteenth-century Italian political network linked to revolutionary and nationalist movements.
Twentieth-century changes and protection
In 1974, the Municipality of Turin installed a plaque commemorating the nineteenth-century writer, scholar, and political figure Niccolò Tommaseo, who stayed in the building in 1859. Between 1979 and 1982, the architect and theatrical set designer Renzo Mongiardino carried out the first major restoration. He redecorated all nine floors and transformed the separate apartments into a single dwelling.
Casa Scaccabarozzi is protected by the Superintendency for Architectural Heritage of Piedmont, a public authority responsible for safeguarding historic buildings and monuments. In March 2005, the Turin court ordered the property to be offered at judicial auction, and it was definitively awarded during the third auction round in January 2006.
Between summer 2007 and spring 2008, the new owner commissioned a comprehensive interior renovation and conservation restoration. From March 2008 to May 2013, the building hosted projects by the Franco Noero Gallery. It returned to private residential use in summer 2013, while selected contemporary-art installations remained part of its interior arrangement.
Remains
Plot, structure, and circulation
Trapezoidal plan
Casa Scaccabarozzi occupies a highly constricted trapezoidal plot. The side along Via Giulia di Barolo measures approximately 16 metres, the side along Corso San Maurizio about 4.35 metres, and the opposite side only 54 centimetres. Built entirely of stone and brick, the building rises 24 metres and contains nine floors of differing heights, including seven above-ground floors and two underground floors. Its deep foundations are identified as a major factor in its structural stability.
Scissor staircase
All the floors are linked by a narrow stone scissor staircase, a compact arrangement in which the flights cross or interlock. Because the stairways could not carry bulky loads, a pulley was originally installed on the top floor to move furniture and other large objects during removals. The pulley remains visible from Via Giulia di Barolo.
Service shaft
The 54-centimetre side incorporates a narrow service shaft containing the flue and part of the water-pipe system. It also originally accommodated toilet spaces serving the apartments on each floor. When viewed from Corso San Maurizio, the building appears slightly inclined toward the adjoining street.
Façades and vertical extensions
Principal elevations
The building combines eclectic architecture, which draws on several historical styles, with neoclassical decoration inspired by ancient Greek and Roman forms. Its principal façades are articulated by pilasters bearing repeated geometric reliefs over their full height. Large windows, projecting balconies, projecting cornices, and windows shaped outward to increase usable interior space contribute to the elevations’ distinctive appearance.
Cornices and gallery
Casa Scaccabarozzi has eight balconies. The continuous gallery on the top floor runs along the principal façades and follows the cornice of the earlier roof created during the second phase of vertical extension. The prominent cornice at the fourth floor originally served as the attic cornice when the building consisted of its first four floors, before the later additions altered its outline.
Interior restoration
Mongiardino’s interiors
Until Mongiardino’s work between 1979 and 1982, each floor functioned as an independent residential unit. His intervention unified the interiors and furnishings into a single composition extending through all nine floors. The treatment gave the building an interconnected interior arrangement while retaining its highly unusual vertical organization.
Later conservation work
The 2007–2008 renovation radically altered the interiors while emphasizing Antonelli’s original architectural elements and preserving selected features created by Mongiardino. These include a top-floor niche with a masonry bathtub covered in mosaic, a Turkish bath in the second basement, the kitchen, stair decoration, and other furnishings and fittings. A Turkish bath is a heated bathing space based on steam and hot-air bathing traditions.
The conservation restoration completed in March 2008 reconfigured the Corso San Maurizio elevation and restored direct access to the ground-floor commercial premises. The entrance door, which had been closed during the late-1970s renovation and replaced by a window, was reinstated.
