During World War II, when the air-raid sirens sounded, hundreds of Mirafiori residents fled 40 feet underground. They crowded into the shelter beneath the Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary and St. Barnabas, at 42 Strada Castello di Mirafiori. More than 80 years later, those tunnels in Turin’s southern outskirts will reopen to the public. The Fondazione della Comunità di Mirafiori is restoring access to the bunker as part of Mirafiori dopo il Mito, a cultural project that has documented the neighborhood’s transformation since 2019.

The reopening will begin on September 17 at 6 pm with a lecture by historian Gianni Oliva, Turin Under the Bombs, 1940–45, followed by the unveiling of Antopia, an art installation that will line the bunker’s corridors. The shelter will be named after Aldo Ratto, a Mirafiori resident and keeper of the neighborhood’s history, who died in 2023. As a child, Ratto himself sought refuge in these underground tunnels. The reopening marks the beginning of a regular schedule. “The shelter will be open at least once a month for guided tours,” says Paola Monasterolo, project manager of Mirafiori dopo il Mito.

The air-raid shelter was built between March 23 and May 14, 1943, in just 51 days. Construction required 630 metric tons of cement and more than 5,000 bricks, at a cost of 770,000 lire.

The result was a 1,679-square-foot bunker capable of sheltering up to 320 people. Two parallel tunnels, connected by perpendicular passageways, formed a layout designed to dissipate the shock waves of explosions. Inside were a first-aid station, restrooms and two generators that could be operated by hand crank or with special pedals similar to bicycle pedals, allowing the shelter to generate electricity even when bombs knocked out the power.

After the war, the shelter was closed and remained buried beneath debris and rubble for nearly 40 years. In 1985, a group of volunteers cleared the tunnels for the first time, but the reopening was only partial. Since then, the bunker has been accessible just once or twice a year, usually on April 25 and June 2. Now, following new restoration work by members of the Alpine troops, the shelter is poised to join the city’s list of historic sites.

Visitors will be guided by volunteers trained by Astec, an association dedicated to studying the history of Turin’s air-raid shelters. They will also explain the meaning behind Antopia, a work by artist Francesco Bertelé created with seniors from the Mirafiori Borgata Committee and children from local preschools. The children listened to their grandparents’ stories and turned them into drawings, which Bertelé then reworked on the bunker walls using glow-in-the-dark paint.

The images will be accompanied by a soundtrack featuring music by composer Gustaf Turmak and the voices of the older residents, including Aldo Ratto. The Polytechnic University of Turin has also created a virtual tour, available on the Mirafiori dopo il Mito website and in the parish buildings.