IT EN

Fondazione Ansaldo was established on 18 February 2000 by Leonardo (at that time Finmeccanica), Comune di Genova (the Genoa City Council), Città Metropolitana di Genova (then the Provincial Authority of Genoa) and Regione Liguria (the Regional Authority of Liguria). It is the result of a journey that began on 23 May 1980, the day the Archivio Storico Ansaldo, the first business archive in Italy, was opened to the public.

The Foundation is ideally positioned between the worlds of culture and business, focusing on themes connected to the economy, entrepreneurship and employment, in the belief that civil progress and economic development generate a synergic relationship that can raise the competitiveness of businesses and, at the same time, contribute to the quality of life of communities and their territories.

Fondazione Ansaldo has the task of recovering, protecting, preserving, enhancing, promoting and digitising its archive heritage. It also holds cultural events, exhibitions, conferences and study seminars, teaching initiatives for schools and the publication of studies, research projects and books.

The Foundation includes over 100 archive fonds – its own and those entrusted to it by third parties – containing corporate documents, administrative accounts, technical and artistic documentation, photographs, films and oral testimonies, produced from the first half of the 19th century until the present day, by companies such as Ansaldo, Bruzzo, Costa Armatori, Dufour, Finmare, Ilva-Italsider, Carmagnani, Fonderie Grondona, Unione Italiana Tramways Elettrici and other economic-financial organisations such as Borsa Valori di Genova and Il Banco di Chiavari e della Riviera Ligure. These are supplemented by numerous documentary legacies from private individuals such as the Ansaldo family archive and the Corpino collection of stocks and shares.

Numerically speaking, this heritage now amasses over 60,000 archival units, approximately 1,000,000 original images, over 50,000 industrial technical drawings, more than 5,300 video clips, and approximately 300 hours of oral recordings. The Foundation also has its own library with around 4,000 plus volumes and more than 400 magazine titles ranging from the mid-19th century to the present day.

In 2021, Fondazione Ansaldo launched “Archimondi”, a project to progressively digitise the Foundation’s archives with the aim of making its historical and cultural heritage increasingly accessible to freely view online. This is in addition to the 40,000 photographs digitised from 2015 to 2021 as part of its “Fotografia e Indistria” project. All of the content digitised so far can be freely viewed on the Foundation’s website.

The project looks at the archives in their entirety, offering a range of research tools on a highly diverse set of themes such as entrepreneurial strategies and manufacturing, working skills and the development of corporate welfare, transformations in the urban landscape, the history of navigation, the role of women in 20th century societyart in factories Italian journalism, and the most important players on the 20th century intellectual scene.

Fondazione Ansaldo also benefits from the support of companies such as Leonardo, Ansaldo Energia, Rina, Hitachi Rail, San Giorgio Saigen, Costa Edutaiment, AMT Genova, Carmagnani, AGN Energia, and the contribution of organisations of institutional and economic weight such as the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Compagnia di San Paolo, the Chamber of Commerce of Genoa and the Istituto Luce-Cinecittà. Finally, it has a close working relationship with the University of Genoa and the Cappellani del Lavoro of the Archdiocese of Genoa.

INFORMATION
Villa Cattaneo dell’OlmoCorso F.M. Perrone, 11816152 Genova
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