The Italian Job - Un colpo all’italiana

Directed by Peter Collinson, starring Michael Caine, Noel Coward, Benny Hill, Raf Vallone, Rossano Brazzi, UK, 1969, 95’

The Church of Gran Madre di Dio, a few steps away from the Po river. Two newly-weds are walking down the broad staircase that leads from the church. Behind them is a long procession of wedding guests. All of a sudden, three Mini Coopers chased by police cars race by on that very same staircase…

Even the famous church that faces out onto the Po river across from Piazza Vittorio Veneto makes an appearance in The Italian Job, a movie about a gang of English thieves who come to Turin to organize the heist “of the century.” By sabotaging the computerized system that controls the stoplights and paralyzing the city’s traffic, their goal is to steal Fiat’s gold and make their getaway by throwing off the police in the city-wide chaos they create.

The film production decided to make the movie in Fiat’s hometown after discovering that Turin has a computerized traffic control center (one of the very few in all of Europe). When Fiat found out about the film, it realized the great promotional potential of the operation and tried to convince the English producers to use Fiat 500s instead of Mini Coopers. Their offer was firmly declined.

In 2003, Paramount Pictures shot a remake, which was also entitled The Italian Job, starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Edward Norton. But this time the action takes place in Los Angeles, where most of the filming was done.

In the 1969 movie, the Mini Coopers drive all over Turin. From north to south, some of the locations are: Corso Giulio Cesare, Lungo Stura Lazio, the Parco Michelotti, Villa della Regina, Via Verdi, Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Lascaris, the Fiat Lingotto factory, Via Ventimiglia, and Palazzo a Vela.