Up to the mid-seventies the building housed a satellite company owned by Fiat, the CIMAT (Italian Machine Tools Construction, Turin). Thanks to its previous purpose, the centre offers ample space and a lot of equipment such as overhead travelling cranes, that have been modernized and colored. The rooms at the Centre are all called workshops and “botteghe”. It became the headquarters of the “Abele Group” Association in 2002.

The letter "E" in the name indicates willingness and inclusion as opposed to too many "O’s" that barricade our daily lives. "E" stands for meetings, exchanges, brotherhood, sharing and growth. "Young people and adults, social commitment and leisure time, memory and future, to feel at ease or uneasy, territory and global community, laity and spirituality are among the “E” that wished to characterize this experience right from the start."
(Quoted from the website: Gruppo Abele)