Courtyards of the State Archives of Milan restored

Inaugurated today the restored courtyards of Palazzo del Senato, home of theMilan State Archives, at the center of a wide-ranging plan of interventions dedicated to the redevelopment, accessibility and enhancement of the monumental complex. The project, promoted by the General Directorate for Archives of the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Agenzia del Demanio, is part of a broader strategy aimed at transforming the State Archives into increasingly open spaces, integrated into the urban context and capable of combining historical heritage protection, cultural services and new ways of public use.

During the inauguration, the main interventions underway on Palazzo del Senato were illustrated, starting with the works dedicated to theelimination of architectural barriers, financed with 1.4 million euros of PNRR funds allocated to the Ministry of Culture. The works included the complete resurfacing of the courtyards, installation of new elevators, construction of access ramps, tactile panels and new services designed to improve accessibility.

The progress of the restoration of the historic facades of the Palace on Via Senato and Via San Primo was also illustrated, an intervention worth 1.55 million euros carried out through a sponsorship promoted by the companies ESTIA s.r.l. and Urban Vision S.p.A. At the same time, thanks to a 1 million euro investment activated through a redevelopment concession, the spaces intended for new cultural and reception functions have been entrusted to RESH s.r.l., a company of the La Gioia Group. The spaces will house a cafeteria, coworking areas, a reading room, exhibition spaces and catering services.

Great attention was also paid to the new refunctionalization and sustainability interventions funded by the Ministry of Culture with a total allocation of 3 million euros. The project involves improving the usability of the spaces, building new facilities, exhibition rooms and multimedia installations.

The inaugural day was attended by Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, Milan State Archives Director Stefano Leardi, Archives General Director Antonio Tarasco and State Property Agency Director General Alessandra dal Verme.

“The redevelopment of Palazzo del Senato, home of the State Archives of Milan, represents a reference model also for other Directorates of the Ministry of Culture. With this intervention, the General Directorate for Archives has given concrete implementation to the guidelines of the Olivetti Plan: to build community networks within the places of research and cultural education, promoting an interdisciplinary approach and devoting particular attention to young people and the most fragile segments of the population. Archives like this constitute indispensable presidia, which the MiC is rethinking no longer as static places of preservation, but as dynamic, interactive and fully participatory spaces for citizens,” said Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli.

“The one in Milan represents an extraordinary testimony, in timing and content, of the best collaboration between public administrations,” said Antonio Tarasco, director of the General Directorate for Archives. “The involvement of private resources for the restoration of the facades of the State Archives of Milan, together with the creation of the first restaurant-bar inside a public State Archives of the Ministry of Culture, shows how it is possible to combine protection, enhancement and openness to the city. Added to this is the full compliance with the timelines of the PNRR in the expenditure of planned funds, an element that confirms the ability of institutions to carry out concrete and efficient interventions. Soon it will be possible to have coffee or dinner inside the State Archives: an important signal to affirm that access to the archives should not only be useful for scholars and researchers, but also a pleasant experience open to the public, capable of bringing more and more citizens closer to the places of memory and culture.”

“The Agenzia del Demanio promotes, throughout the country, a strategy of intervention on state properties, shared with the institutions involved, starting with the Ministry of Culture; a collaboration that includes a regenerative approach for the city, with elements of flexibility and mixité of functions,” said Alessandra dal Verme, Director of the Agenzia del Demanio. “The goal is to return heritage assets to contemporary cities, combining their value, loaded with memory and culture, with the needs of today’s citizen: spaces of proximity, service, study, work, relationships and cultural life. It is a social revolution: public assets of monumental value, dedicated to specialized functions, become ”people’s places“ and meeting places, spaces that transform the city, the fruit of the relationships of the society that inhabits it. Isolated places reconnect in new connections to open up to the city of the future.”

“This palace and the Archives it houses have always been the heart of a thousand stories and the hub of the city’s cultural life,” concluded Stefano Leardi, Director of the State Archives of Milan. “The initiatives we are presenting today represent a further step in this direction: we want to make this place an increasingly open, accessible and welcoming space, where primary sources dialogue with scholars and the territory, creating a virtuous system of encounter, research and enhancement.”

The event concluded with guided tours inside the palace and to the exhibition dedicated to the treasures held by the State Archives of Milan, followed by a concert for soprano and piano performed by the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Milan and the switching on of the new lighting system in the courtyards.

Courtyards of the State Archives of Milan restored

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