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Vanchiglia

Vanchiglia is bordered by Corso San Maurizio, Corso Regio Parco and the Po river, crossed also by the Dora Riparia river and by two big avenues, Corso Regina Margherita and Corso Tortona.

Borgo Vanchiglia is the historical district: a little triangle next to downtown, situated between Corso San Maurizio, Corso Regina Margherita and the Po river. The district is quite popular nowadays because being quite closer to the heart of Turin nightlife Piazza Vittorio Veneto, many bars and restaurants opened recently in this area. However, Vanchiglia also includes the area called Vanchiglietta, north of Borgo Vanchiglia.

Notable church in Borgo Vanchiglia is the French neo-Gothic Chiesa di Santa Giulia situated into Piazza Santa Giulia.

A notable and unusual building in the area is the so-called " Fetta di Polenta " (literally: " polenta slice"), formerly known as Casa Scaccabarozzi. This building is where Corso San Maurizio meets Via Giulia di Barolo, and it is one of the most peculiar examples of Turin architecture: a thin trapezoid 27 meters wide on Via Giulia Di Barolo, 5 meters on Corso San Maurizio and just 0.70 meters wide on the opposite end. It was designed in 1840 by Alessandro Antonelli for his wife, Francesca Scaccabarozzi, probably because of a bet. The curious name comes from the shape of the palace, which resembles a "slice of polenta", and also because it is painted with an ocher colour.

In the surroundings, in Via Vanchiglia 8, (although in downtown and not really in Vanchiglia anymore) there is another trapezoid house, albeit with less extreme design: similarly, this building is nicknamed "Fetta di Formaggio" (cheese slice), built in 1832 for the rich Marchese Birago di Vische by the architect Antonio Talentino.

Other notable buildings are the town public baths, eclectic building built in 1905 (Corso Regina Margherita crossing Via Vanchiglia), and the Teatro della Caduta theatre, opened in 2003 in Via Michele Buniva 23, which with its 45 seats is the smallest theatre in Turin and among the smallest theatres in Europe.

In Corso Regina Margherita, another notable building is the former Opera pia Reynero, a charitable organization. The building was built in 1892. Being abandoned for a long time after it closed in 1996, it was then occupied by the Askatasuna Social Center, a non-profit anarchic organization, hosting since then various activities such as concerts, dinners, seminars and homeless solidarity initiatives.

North of Corso Regina Margherita, district is losing the flavour and architecture typical of Turin downtown, cause a significant portion of the district was formerly occupied by factories, nowadays partially abandoned or replaced by modern buildings. A significant example was the area occupied by gas companies between Corso Regina Margherita and the Dora river, which were partially demolished to make place to the new modern Faculty of Law building (Campus "Luigi Einaudi"), designed by the architect Norman Foster. This building was classified by the American television company CNN among the 10 most spectacular university buildings in the world. In the campus courtyard, a large wood statue representing a bull (symbol of Turin) has been erected by Mario Ceroli. The area hosts also a student campus.

Next to the campus, a new cycling and pedestrian bridge on the Dora river was opened on 16 April 2010, linking the campus area to Corso Verona. Parco Colletta is a big park area touched by the two rivers of the district, which also hosts some sport facilities, mainly association football fields and a swimming pool.

The district is completed by the Cimitero Monumentale cemetery. This huge complex (formerly known as Cimitero Generale) is the largest cemetery in Turin, and among the first in Italy for the number of buried people (over 400,000). It is close to the Colletta park. The ancient part of the cemetery rises from the main entrance of Corso Novara with his octagonal shape. It contains numerous historical tombs and 12 km of arcades, enriched by artistic sculptures (that's why it is called a "monumental cemetery"). Over the years there have been subsequent extensions of the central historical body in the direction of the Colletta park. In the cemetery, there is a crematory temple built in 1882, one of the largest in Italy.