The late 19th century was not a great time for the Farina family to be bringing up eleven children in rural Italy. The tenth was christened Battista, and with all these mouths to feed the Farina family upped sticks and headed away from their hometown area of Cortanze d’Asti to the city of Torino for the simple practical reason that there might be more work there. Battista had been nicknamed Pinin, which, in Piedmontese dialect meant the smallest or baby of the family. The name stuck.
Meanwhile, the search for work had led an elder brother, Giovanni, to be appointed to one of the hundreds of carrozzerie in Torino, Marcello Alessio. Pinin would often go and meet his brother after work, and fell in love with cars in the process.
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