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Home > Focus On
Pianezza - Pinerolo, a "wonder child" district.
Officially it is still a toddler. Its date of birth is actually May 7, 2002. But in reality it has a long story behind it, local roots going back through the centuries and a very promising future. This is the Pinerolo and Pianezza industrial district, the vast area adjoining Turin which stretches over the Valli di Susa, Pellice and Chisone towards the Alps. A long-industralized area that is home to small businesses but also major production centres, strongly dedicated to the production of mechanical goods, which has developed in the shadow of the car industry but has been able over the decades to differentiate its market outlets and open up to internationalization.
The decision by the Piedmont Region to create a single district to take in the two industrial areas of Val di Susa and, to its south, Pinerolo, was taken under regional law N. 24 of 1997, which altogether identified 29 areas of productive excellence in which to concentrate investment and productive effort aimed at consolidating the industrial fabric and developing competitiveness and innovation. Of these, the district of Pianezza and Pinerolo, which share the predominance of businesses producing mechanical goods, is one of the largest, taking in 90 local administrative units (Comuni) and with a total officially registered population of 290,000 people. There are almost 3,000 businesses in operation, with a level of industrialization of 49.1% and almost 24,000 people working in the metal machinery sector alone.
The District Committee has set itself six main aims: to build a network of small and medium-sized businesses and the institutions and research sector needed to exchange information; to support the internationalization of the businesses'commercial outlets; to strenghten local infrastructure; to develop research, innovation and technology transfer; to improve training aimed at further increasing productive know-how; and to encourage initiatives to promote increasing environmental sustainability.
Actually, the territory of the District of Pianezza and Pinerolo enjoings a particularly favourable position compared with other infrastructure systems in existence or in preparation in Italy or abroad: the motorway and road network is being developed, the newly modernized airport of Caselle is nearby and access to France is close at hand. And with the restructuring and the enhancement projects to be carried out in preparation for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, the area will benefit from an up to date and efficient infrastructure system.
Its industrial fabric is made up of some important and highly competitive manufacturing businesses closely in tune with processes of innovation and the development of international markets and, at the same time, a densely woven network of small and medium-sized businesses and handicraft firms, some of which are supplies to the larger firms.
The industrial system of the lower Val di Susa, centred on Pianezza, is characterized by three widespread manufacturing activities: articles for sailing; door handles and locks; and industrial felts. In the Pinerolo area, which certainly boasts one of the longest-established industrial traditions in the country, the mechanical goods sector has firm origins, going back to 1908, with the creation of RIV, which later became part of Sweden's SKF. In the wake of this local specialization in manufacturing, a widespread system of small and medium-sized businesses sprang up, concentrated in three local areas. Pinerolo became a manufacturing centre, home mainly to medium-sized or large businesses, with strong specialization in mechanical goods (components, machine tools), but also operating in the rubber and plastics sectors. On the other hand, in the lower Val Chisone and in the Val Pellice small and medium-sized businesses have become prevalent, operating mainly in the mechanical goods sector and producing components and unfinished products for the area's larger businesses and especially for the car industry.
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