Luigi Micheletti Foundation

The Fondazione Luigi Micheletti is a research centre on contemporary history, specialized on collecting and spreading material and immaterial heritage of the 20th and 21st century. Scientific research and heritage selection aim to understand, convey and store everything that, although close to us and historically crucial, risks to become just the memory of few, such as the ideologies of the 20th century, the wars, the ambivalence of technical progress, the industrialisation, the voices and faces of workers, conspicuous consumption, the origin of environmentalism.

The ideological, social and material contemporary history, led by international researches and conferences, proves to be linked to a very rich collection of traces of recent periods: writings, postcards, photos, posters, videos, audio documents, but also objects, furniture and cars. It is in this context that the musil - Museum of Industry and Labour - was created, in order to focus on the recovery of productive plants and whole urban areas.

Today, this research and work of collection is conducted by testing the potential of digital technologies in filing and sharing knowledge, memory and heritage. The collaborations are steadily European, as the attendance at Europeana, the digital archive created by the most important cultural institutions of the continent, proves. The success of the Luigi Micheletti Award is the symbol of this international perspective: it has been the most important European award for Contemporary History, Industry and Science Museums for almost twenty years.