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I worked in the factory. I remember it well even from the one photo. The factory had a Winchester Mystery House air about it. It had been added to many times ov

I worked in the factory. I remember it well even from the one photo. The factory had a Winchester Mystery House air about it. It had been added to many times over the decades. So it was more like Rome and less like Turino with no obvious way to get from here to there. They made typewriters there well into the 80s. Olivetti had commuter buses in Ivrea and Milan well before Google buses were invented. They had wine at the company cafeteria for lunch. It was the 80s and I would bet my boss an ice cream on NBA games which I already knew the scores of from an email. Hotel La Serra was structured like a typewriter. A river runs through Ivrea and it had a kayaking center. I'd love to go back and take a tour.

tomcam 2y ago
Lovely reminiscences. Are you a Yank? What did you do there?
- CalChris 2y ago
  Yank working there via the Olivetti ATC in Cupertino. Worked on Unix and other stuff. There were quite a few Brits there doing tech writing. A couple of Australians as well. It was very cosmopolitan but it was a deserted city in August. There was even a big concert in July before everyone left for vacation. Many (most?) of the Italians did not like it but it was work. They really wanted to be home. Same with Milan, a city to have a job in but then you'd go home on weekends if you could.
  - tomcam 2y ago
    Fascinating to hear these details. Thanks.
Animats 2y ago
> I'd love to go back and take a tour. It's a ruin now.[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7XEa7tC7xU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7XEa7tC7xU
- dewey 2y ago
  I just came here to post that too, watched it a few days ago and it was interesting to see. For me the company was always just cheap cables in the electronic store and old computers at school. I was not aware of the rich history of the company.
  - rbanffy 2y ago
    Their product design was nothing short of brilliant. It was Apple well before Apple.
    - CalChris 2y ago
      The Macintosh had come out but I don't remember hearing about Jobs visiting. I read later that he met with Sottsass but he when was at Studio Olivetti. (Think meeting Jony Ive at LoveFrom rather than Apple). I remember Gates visited Ivrea. There was a printed list of restaurants with reviews by the expats. One was annotated that Gates had eaten there. It was pretty good. Gates saw Olivetti as a customer for his MSDOS. Jobs saw Sottsass+Olivetti as a design inspiration.
      - rbanffy 2y ago
        They were doing brilliant industrial design since well before Apple existed.
- CalChris 2y ago
  That part is a ruin. Olivetti had a lot of buildings in what was a company town. To reach the Olivetti operator from my apartment, IIRC I dialed 6. But the old factory building ("Mattoni Rossi") that I worked in on via Jervis is in excellent condition and appears to be a museum. I'll visit.
mdp2021 2y ago
> Olivetti had commuter buses in Ivrea and Milan well before Google buses were invented Italy has both megalopoleis and very sparse small centres. Ivrea is in the northern part of its region (north of Turin); if you consider that the southern half is said to not really have a main city but seven towns of equal beauty and worth (the even lesser ones not really minor), you get the idea of the sub-region as a very sparse megalopolis embedding its countryside. When enterprises chose to move at least part of their activity from their town of origin to the central area (of Turin) for logistic convenience, it became sensible to organize systems facilitating the movement of your workers, that easily gravitated around the original town. Edit: as you wrote elsewhere, «[there is a] city to have a job in but then you'd go home [when possible] if you could».

tomcam 2y ago

Lovely reminiscences. Are you a Yank? What did you do there?

CalChris 2y ago
Yank working there via the Olivetti ATC in Cupertino. Worked on Unix and other stuff. There were quite a few Brits there doing tech writing. A couple of Australians as well. It was very cosmopolitan but it was a deserted city in August. There was even a big concert in July before everyone left for vacation. Many (most?) of the Italians did not like it but it was work. They really wanted to be home. Same with Milan, a city to have a job in but then you'd go home on weekends if you could.
- tomcam 2y ago
  Fascinating to hear these details. Thanks.

Animats 2y ago

> I'd love to go back and take a tour. It's a ruin now.[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7XEa7tC7xU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7XEa7tC7xU

dewey 2y ago
I just came here to post that too, watched it a few days ago and it was interesting to see. For me the company was always just cheap cables in the electronic store and old computers at school. I was not aware of the rich history of the company.
- rbanffy 2y ago
  Their product design was nothing short of brilliant. It was Apple well before Apple.
  - CalChris 2y ago
    The Macintosh had come out but I don't remember hearing about Jobs visiting. I read later that he met with Sottsass but he when was at Studio Olivetti. (Think meeting Jony Ive at LoveFrom rather than Apple). I remember Gates visited Ivrea. There was a printed list of restaurants with reviews by the expats. One was annotated that Gates had eaten there. It was pretty good. Gates saw Olivetti as a customer for his MSDOS. Jobs saw Sottsass+Olivetti as a design inspiration.
    - rbanffy 2y ago
      They were doing brilliant industrial design since well before Apple existed.
CalChris 2y ago
That part is a ruin. Olivetti had a lot of buildings in what was a company town. To reach the Olivetti operator from my apartment, IIRC I dialed 6. But the old factory building ("Mattoni Rossi") that I worked in on via Jervis is in excellent condition and appears to be a museum. I'll visit.

mdp2021 2y ago

> Olivetti had commuter buses in Ivrea and Milan well before Google buses were invented Italy has both megalopoleis and very sparse small centres. Ivrea is in the northern part of its region (north of Turin); if you consider that the southern half is said to not really have a main city but seven towns of equal beauty and worth (the even lesser ones not really minor), you get the idea of the sub-region as a very sparse megalopolis embedding its countryside. When enterprises chose to move at least part of their activity from their town of origin to the central area (of Turin) for logistic convenience, it became sensible to organize systems facilitating the movement of your workers, that easily gravitated around the original town. Edit: as you wrote elsewhere, «[there is a] city to have a job in but then you'd go home [when possible] if you could».