It is an evolving and developing heritage, that of corporate museums. It is a documentary and material wealth of how companies have changed people’s lives and society with their products. First, the fates of those who worked there and the communities that arose around their location, as well as their own industrial evolution. This heritage is also formed by business communication, which in turn is a cultural wealth.
In Lombardy, thanks to its historic industrial vocation, there is a varied offer of business museums who, with their corporate stories, contribute to document history of a stratified territory also from this point of view. The presence of factories has literally forged neighborhoods and towns, thanks also to the productive and social activities. The voids left by companies due to their decline, or their relocation, are a widespread element of the Lombard landscape, both for the legacies of majestic industrial archaeologies to try to regenerate, and for those to be demolished for new uses.
BRANCA COLLECTION The historic one is still active on the Milan ring road, in the Piazzale Maciachini area Fratelli Branca distillery, which created 1,000 square meters of exhibition space in a portion of the factory. It is an immersion in a history of over a century and a half (the first factory was in Porta Nuova) and in contemporaneity, given the international presence of the group, thanks also to the acquisitions of other companies in the sector. So there are historical findings on manufacturing and analysis of the herbs used, as well as the advertising campaigns, including objects, which characterized the success of the “Fernet factory”. The elderly people of the adjacent Dergano neighborhood still call it that with affection.
https://www.museobranca.it/
KARTELL MUSEUM, NOVIGLIO (MI) In the South Milan Agricultural Park there are the factory and museum of the established home ofItalian design furniture, from furniture to accessories such as lamps, chairs and housewares. Next to the warehouses designed by architects Anna Castelli Ferrieri and Ignazio Gardella, there are the 2,000 square meters where some of the most famous products and some of the projects from which they arose since 1949 are exhibited.
https://www.kartell.com/it/it/ktit/st/museo
MUMAC – COFFEE MACHINE MUSEUM, BINASCO (MI) The company museum is still located in a municipality of the Southern Milan Agricultural Park Cymbalsa company specializing in coffee machines for public establishments with a history of over a century. Starting from the documentary archive and the collection of models, this continuously evolving place was created in 2010, including a recent recreational part. The museum is integrated with the training center; the routes and events are aimed at both operators and enthusiasts or those curious about coffee culture.
https://www.mumac.it/
TOY HORSE MUSEUM (ARTSANA GROUP), GRANDATE (CO) It is an extended and ancient collection dedicated to the toy horse, the one located next to the Chicco Village playground, the shop and the industrial group’s company nursery. In a former stable there are over 650 pieces, which also date back to the eighteenth century, collected first and foremost by the founder of the company Pietro Catelli, but who continues to grow rich thanks to donations. The museum organizes educational activities for schools and entertainment every Saturday afternoon.
http://www.museodelcavallogiocattolo.it/
HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY MUSEUM, CEDEGOLO (BS) It’s all there water cycle, from precipitation to watercourses, up to their induced conveyance to obtain the force from which electricity is obtained. The museum is housed in a historic power plant from the early twentieth century abandoned in 1962, in Valcamonica on the Oglio river, which has become a cultural, educational and event venue since 2008. The Cedegolo exhibition is part of Musil, the Museum of Industry and Work of the province of Brescia, also composed of the Machinery Museum of Rodengo Saiano, in Franciacorta, and the Iron Museum – La Forge of San Bartolomeo in Brescia.
https://www.musilbrescia.it/sedi/rodengo_saiano/
to know more
Business museum network
https://museimpresa.com/associati/
https://www.facebook.com/museimpresa/
https://www.instagram.com/museimpresa/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/museimpresa
Fabio Fimiani
