There's a hotel in Turin, Italy where, the saying goes, if you're quiet at night, you can hear the ghosts of ancient Fiat Topolinos and 1500s rattling through the hallways. The hotel is Le Meridien Lingotto, the new tenant of an old Fiat factory built in the 1920s, having recently undergone a complete renovation led by Italian architect Renzo Piano (NY's New York Times building, Paris's Centre Pompedou). Le Corbusier once described the factory as "one of the most impressive spectacles given by industry," and an observer could watch as raw materials entered at the bottom and finished products exited straight to a test track on the roof (where a pivotal scene from the original "Italian Job" was filmed). Now, as our grid-skipping bretheren, Gridskipper, reports, the hotel is a good bet for well-heeled visitors.
Le Meridien Lingotto [Gridskipper]
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