Pirelli: Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano visits Pirelli’s new technology hub at Settimo Torinese
To mark the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification, the Head of State was presented with a tri-coloured Formula One tyre
Settimo Torinese (Turin), 19 March 2011 – The President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, and his wife, Clio, accompanied by the chairman of Pirelli, Marco Tronchetti Provera, and the chief executive officer of Pirelli Tyre, Francesco Gori, today visited Pirelli’s new technology hub at Settimo Torinese, outside Turin, where Pirelli has been active for over 60 years. Among those present, were the president of the Piedmont region, Roberto Cota, the president of the Turin province, Antonio Saitta, the mayor of Settimo Torinese, Aldo Corgiat Loia, the head of Turin’s prefecture. Alberto Di Pace, and the rector of the Politecnico di Torino, Francesco Profumo. The Settimo Torinese hub, which employs over 1,200 people, was born of the integration into one area of two already existing Pirelli plants and of the group’s collaboration with local institutions and the Politecnico di Torino in research and innovation. The industrial site, which will attain full scale in 2011 and will be officially inaugurated by the end of the year, will be the Pirelli group’s most technologically advanced and efficient plant in terms of product and production process innovation, as well as in terms of sustainability and the quality of the work environment. Renzo Piano, the world renowned architect, designed the plant and its central structure housing employee services known as the “spine”, as well as all the landscaping, internal roadways and lighting. With an initial investment of over 150 million euros, the Settimo hub will run the most modern technology developed by Pirelli research, including the latest generation of Pirelli’s robotic tyre production system (Next Mirs) and the new compounds’ production system (PTSM). The plant’s output, consisting of eco-friendly, High-Performance and Ultra High-Performance tyres, could exceed 3.5 million tyres a year when fully operational. The visit was one of a number of events in and around the city of Turin, which was the nation’s first capital and where national unity was proclaimed on 17 March 1861. To mark the event, Mr. Tronchetti Provera presented President Napolitano with a tri-coloured Formula One tyre, as Pirelli is the exclusive F1 supplier for the years 2011 to 2013. 
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