Turin’s jewel-box in the sky

It is not every day that an exhibition of just 25 works of art is officially opened by a head of state. But this is Italy – and the art belongs to the legendary Gianni Agnelli, head of the Fiat empire. The little gallery containing it is designed by Renzo Piano; and it is perched above the roof of the visionary Lingotto car factory at Turin, one of the most extraordinary industrial buildings ever made.

As Signor Ciampi made his way across the red carpet on 21 September, he passed a display of historic Fiat cars which had been driven up the purpose-built ramps that wind through the guts of the factory. Once there, the cars could be taken through their paces by being driven around a full-size test track that wraps around the roof, complete with vertiginous banking of the kind that once made Brooklands so awesome.

There is something truly imperial about all this.