The complex territorial operation, carried out by the Zegna family from the 1930s onwards, emerges as one of the most significant infrastructural projects of the Biellese Prealps, linking the fate of this region to the Trivero wool company. The construction of the Panoramica Zegna, along with the development of new facilities and territorial equipment was part of a broader process of programmatic modification of the Alpine territory and its imagery directed at modernizing – and exploiting – its great variety of mountain resources available, from water to land and landscape amenities. Despite the significance of the territorial initiatives implemented and the extent of their effects, the overall event itself is still poorly investigated. Most narratives and research focus on the tourism purpose of the infrastructural development of the mountain region, leaving other trajectories in the background, which– although compared to the former they have never led to tangible results –left an indelible mark on the territory both in terms of legal practices and local development projects. Although still in its embryonic stage, the aim of this work is to systematize some of the procedural circumstances as well as the spatial and territorial effects that this extended history has produced.
