While discovering forgotten classic cars tucked away in barns is a familiar sight for many car enthusiasts, it's a rare and haunting experience to find an abandoned car factory.
Once a symbol of engineering excellence, an Italian plant built by the famed design house Pininfarina now stands as a shell of its former glory.
Originally constructed in the 1980s, the factory that produced the legendary Ferrari Testarossa and other iconic cars has been left to decay, ravaged by vandalism and neglect.
Iconic beginnings
Established in 1986, the Pininfarina factory was initially purposed for manufacturing bodies for the Cadillac Allanté.
This luxury roadster had a notably complex assembly process, with parts shipped between Italy and the United States. Once the Allanté ceased production, the facility's focus briefly shifted to assembling the Ferrari Testarossa, a car now synonymous with the high-performance supercar era of the 1980s.
The plant also produced models like the Peugeot 406 Coupe, Alfa Romeo Brera and Spider. Unfortunately, this production came to a halt in 2011 as Pininfarina faced the challenges of the 2008 financial crisis.
Remnants of a forgotten past
Despite its closure, the factory still retains remnants of its illustrious past.
A video filmed in 2021 and uploaded on the Forgotten Buildings YouTube channel in 2023, offers a haunting look inside the facility.
Among the ruins, diagrams from the Alfa Romeo Brera's assembly process are still visible, and remarkably, the factory floor appears well-preserved despite more than a decade of abandonment.
Although several of the test cars once left behind on the site have since been scrapped, some original machinery and assembly line robots remain in place. This stark juxtaposition between what once was and what remains today speaks to the factory’s rich yet troubled history.
The decline of such a historically significant site is a poignant reminder of the fleeting nature of even the most prestigious car manufacturing facilities.
Pininfarina, once the pinnacle of design and craftsmanship, now sees this once-thriving factory slowly fade into obscurity.
