Alessandro Antonelli was an enterprising and, more importantly, persistent fellow. Following his purchase of a small portion of land between present-day corso San Maurizio and via Giulia di Barolo, his plans of building a house to let were frustrated by the owner of the nearby plot, who refused to sell him his property. Antonelli didn't lose his spirit, however, and despite the endeavor's seeming implausibility he instead chose to develop his building... vertically. Thus was born the tall, narrow yellow structure (one of its sides is barely 1.7 ft wide) known in Turin as the "polenta slice".