Turin, Italy ? Marco Martinsetti looked harried on a gray Sunday as workers shuttled past him at the 16th-century Piazza Castello, the centerpiece of not only this northwestern Italian city but also of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

With the Turin Games opening Friday, Martinsetti’s crew has precious few hours to reshape the baroque landmark that once housed the Dukes of Savoy into a 21st-century medal-presentation stage.

Even as men with hard hats pulled wires out of a plywood stage and the area looked more like a construction site than sacred Olympic ground, the venue manager was unfazed.

“We have until Saturday for the first awards; we will be ready,” Martinsetti said emphatically.

Then he excused himself because “there is so much to do.”

For all the grousing about tardiness of venues for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the Italians have turned last-minute-itis into an art.

“For the rap Athens got, I don’t think it had the same degree of problems,” said Ed Hula, editor of the Olympics newsletter Around the Rings.

For example, a new subway system won’t be ready for the 17-day sports festival featuring 2,500 athletes in 15 sports. A small section made its debut Saturday.

The local airport also is under construction. The Olympic decorations adorning the terminal hid uncompleted projects.

Still, Martinsetti’s words were echoed uniformly by Turin officials Sunday. They downplayed the torrid work pace, proclaiming they are ready.

“The time has arrived,” said Giorgia Zerboni, a Turin government spokeswoman. “Everything has finished.”

Great expectations

They are counting on a history of accomplishment to make it happen. They also expect Italian-style touches to dazzle the 1million spectators and the millions watching on television.

Officials had reason for optimism Sunday even as workers scrambled well into the night to complete their tasks. On the pedestrian-only Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, hundreds pushed against a plexiglass window to witness the progress of the Medals Plaza.

Although the Turin Games have remained below the radar of the American sporting public, they have finally stirred interest here. The recent anticipation has created a sense of possibility in this city of 900,000. An automotive center, it is the home of the Fiat.

The people of Turin hope it will refashion their image into something more than an industrial enclave. They’re never going to replace Rome, Florence or Venice as tourist destinations, but they say the capital of the Piedmont region has something to offer.

Valeria Mastrogiovanni, a saleswoman at a men’s clothing boutique, embraced the idea.

“Turin was Fiat,” she said. “At this moment, it is tourism. The city is alive.”

Around the plaza, thousands strolled under storybook arcades that give Turin its architectural distinction. While church bells welcomed nightfall, floodlights reflected off the square’s alabaster facades. With colorful Olympic decorations strung above the streets like Christmas-tree ornaments, the ambience had undergone a change.

Warmed by the flame

A police officer from Bologna, standing guard inside the medals plaza, gazed at the throng peering past him.

“I was here 10 years ago and the people were sad,” he said. “Now there is light in their faces. It’s because of the Olympics.”

Like the hard times that hit Detroit, Turin suffered a decade ago when Fiat struggled. Although the downturn was a shock, it might have been necessary, Zerboni said.

“Maybe the crisis of Fiat will be an opportunity to do something else,” she said. “To let the city go out and be something more than a car city. It is important in chocolate, contemporary art and gastronomy.”

The $1.2 billion Games hope to capitalize on just those ingredients to sell a new Turin.

But for all the excitement exhibited by the townsfolk Sunday, the fact remains that these Games have never been advertised as a regional savior. Turin has enjoyed economic strength in its proximity to – and political alliance with – the Savoy dynasty in France.

When officials didn’t rush to open the full subway system for the Olympics, Hula, the newsletter editor, noticed.

“That is telling me how they view the importance of the Games,” he said. The biggest event in Turin’s history is “not being used as a door that will open the city to the rest of the world.”

Still, the Winter Olympics is much more than the host city. Like the past two winter hosts – Nagano, Japan, and Salt Lake City – Turin will have arresting alpine partners.

The renowned mountain resorts of Bardonecchia, Sauze d’Oulx and Sestriere, an hour away, will provide a counterpunch to Turin’s traffic and sprawl.