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Home > Travel Italy > Italy Destinations > Ivrea
Ivrea
Italy, officially the Italian Republic or Repubblica Italiana, is a Southern European country comprising of the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is shaped like a boot and for this reason Italians commonly call it lo Stivale, the boot or, due to its prevalent peninsular geographical nature, la Penisola, the Peninsula.
Ivrea is a town and commune of the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley, it straddles the Dora Baltea and is regarded as the centre of the Canavese area. Ivrea lies in a basin that, in prehistoric times, formed a great lake. Today a number of smaller lakes are Sirio, San Michele, etc. dot the area around the town.
During the 20th century its primary claim to fame was as the base of operations for Olivetti, a once well-known manufacturer of typewriters, mechanical calculators and, later, computers. The company no longer has an independent existence, though its name still appears as a registered trademark on office equipment manufactured by others. In 1970 about 90,000 people including commuters from Southern Italy lived and worked in Ivrea. When Olivetti closed its operations the population dropped to 30 percent of its former level.
Ivrea is today best known for its peculiar traditional carnival, whose core celebration is based on a locally famous battle of the oranges. This involves some thousands of townspeople, divided into nine combat teams, who throw oranges at each other with considerable violence in rather disorganized battles lasting over several days. The carnival takes place in February ending with a three day orange battle. Ivrea enjoys a very good reputation amongst worldwide travelers and hence is one of the most visited places in Italy.
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