La storia
Dettagli

From the origins to the early 20th century

Turin, a city historically known for producing cereals, wine and other foods, had vast tracts of meadows and pastures that were suitable for cattle breeding. The city’s production was higher than its population’s consumption, which led to the development of vast and diverse market areas.
During the second half of the seventeenth century, the expansion towards Porta Nuova, the river Po and to the north (in the direction of Rivoli) allowed for an expansion of the existing markets.
As the first areas of commercial aggregation became active and flourishing in the sixteenth century, a push was made towards the creation of increasingly large market areas that could respond to the needs of both production and consumption.

From the early twentieth century to the present day

As far as agricultural production markets are concerned, which were originally developed as specialisations of generic markets, we can trace their roots back to 1928, when the Municipality of Turin, with considerable foresight, allocated a staggering sum of 10,600,000 lire for the construction of the city’s new Fruit and Vegetable Market.

The war period

The construction of the market began at Christmas in 1931 and by 1933, the Fruit and Vegetable Market on Via Giordano Bruno was inaugurated. During the war it was bombed and partly destroyed; air raid shelters were also built here for the local residents. As a result of the war, this activity was abruptly interrupted, but it was resumed in alternating phases until it was completely restored. Apart from the war period, it was active for 68 years, until January 2002.

The rebirth

As the population increased, it highlighted the urban, but most importantly logistical limitations of that important market structure, which is now incorporated into the city. As a result, it was time once again to relocate where there were free areas that would permit the construction of a larger and newer Fruit and Vegetable Market.

The construction of the new structure

During the mid-1980s, the Italian government decided to provide substantial economic resources for the construction of new Italian agri-food centres, so that cities could have more advanced market structures, which would be technologically advanced.
 However, the cities interested in creating a new market had to bear a great burden. In fact, the law stipulated that the State was responsible for 40% of the costs of the project, while local authorities and private citizens were responsible for 60%. The Municipality of Turin agreed to take on the challenge by subscribing 91.81% of the share capital of the new company that would soon establish the new market structure.
On 27 November 1989, the company CAAT S.c.p.A. was born. CAAT stands for “Centro Agro Alimentare di Torino Società Consortile per Azioni” (Turin agri-food centre joint-stock consortium company).

21 January 2002 was a historic date. The new facility is currently home to wholesale companies, agricultural producers, service companies, suppliers, and customers who had been working in Via Giordano Bruno for over 60 years.