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In the Torino catalogue Fantini writes that the series has soft, sinuous curves that “naturally invite use”. Stand at the counter and reach for the tap without looking. On the single-hole mixer the fingers meet a flat, tapering handle that runs on from the cylinder of the body with no step between them. Few Italian designer taps are judged this way, yet it is the judgement a guest makes first.
The catalogue grounds the phrase in geometry, writing of a pure, decisive cylinder and of volumes balanced so that handling the tap feels pleasant and natural. Those are qualities a visitor registers without being told, which is why they weigh most in a bathroom for directors and guests. Francesco Lucchese drew the series, and Fantini builds it in brass at Pella, on the shore of Lake Orta.
By fixing point, the family runs wide. On the counter: the single-hole basin mixer in three heights, a two-hole version, a separate spout paired with a deck mixer that does the controlling, the bidet mixer and bath-rim sets. On the wall: basin mixers in two projections, shower valves, traditional or thermostatic, and bath mixers and spouts. On the floor: a bath mixer on a column. Seven finishes cover it, chrome to PVD. La Mercanti hands the client a Torino to operate before any model is discussed.
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The column is ordered as one composed piece. Its thermostatic mixer sits outside the wall, next to a rotary diverter that also closes and serves two outlets; overhead is a round head 25 cm (9.8 in) across, and lower down a hand shower whose PVC hose measures 150 cm (59 in), carried by an angle-adjustable slider. Head, hand shower and control arrive as a set rather than as separate lines on the order, and all of it stays in view on the wall.
The four-hole set includes a spout projecting 20 cm (7.9 in); the three-hole set has no spout. Both carry a rotary diverter, a FIT hand shower and flexible supply hoses. For a rim that has to be built, Fantini also lists a frame with a mounting plate, to be completed, in the catalogue’s words, with cladding that allows inspection. Worth settling before the bath surround is drawn.
Seven, all applied to a brass body. Chrome and a painted matt black, matched to RAL 9005, are the two familiar ones. The other five are PVD, among them Mokka and Brushed Steel Look, which gives the brass the appearance of brushed steel. Two of the seven are black, one painted and one PVD under the name Deep Black, so it pays to see them side by side before a choice is made.
At Pella, on Lake Orta, where the company is based. In its catalogue Fantini describes a production cycle that joins high-level industrial technology with craft care of the product, and Torino comes out of that cycle in brass. For whoever looks after the bathroom in the years that follow, Fantini adds one instruction: when a part has to be replaced, use only original Fantini spares.
Two reaches: 15 cm (5.9 in) or 20 cm (7.9 in). The same pair applies to the separate wall spout, which works with a mixer on the counter as its only control. Every wall model is made of two parts, a visible trim and a body set into the wall. La Mercanti measures from the finished wall to the bowl before suggesting either length.
On the 3/4″ thermostatic Torino valve, temperature has one control and the water has push-buttons with a ring around them. Five steps to read the panel before the first shower.
On the 3/4″ Torino thermostatic valve with ON/OFF buttons, temperature has a control of its own. The valve serves two outlets and is made for horizontal installation. Choose the temperature here and leave it there: the buttons beside it deal only with opening, closing and how much water comes out.
Fantini describes the function plainly: ON/OFF by pressing the button. One press opens, another closes, with no lever to swing and no position to remember. It is the same movement whoever stands in the shower, which is the point of a button on a wall that several people share.
Each button carries a ring around it, and rotating that ring regulates the flow, the second function Fantini lists. Water can be opened gently and increased once it feels right, without touching the temperature control again. Opening and dosing therefore sit on the same small round piece.
The stop valves with buttons are printed with one of three legends: head shower, hand shower or AUX. They are made for horizontal and for vertical installation alike. Picking the legend at the ordering stage means every button on the wall says what it controls.
Fantini offers the arrangement in two forms. In the version with a single plate, thermostat and buttons are integrated in one piece. Otherwise the 3/4″ thermostat is combined with separate stop valves, and Fantini states it must always be ordered with a stop valve or with diverters with shut-off.
