MuseoCity 2026: engineering on the move
“Engineering on the move: sports venues from the MAIRE Historical Archive” for MILAN MUSEOCITY 2026
For the first time, Fondazione MAIRE – ETS took part in Milano MuseoCity – an initiative promoted by the Associazione Museocity and the Comune di Milano (Municipality of Milan) to promote the city's museum heritage – by exhibiting some of the drawings from the MAIRE Historical Archive to illustrate how sport has shaped places, territories and communities.
The exhibition, the concept
With a targeted selection of drawings from the MAIRE Historical Archive, from 27 February to 5 March at the MAIRE headquarters in the Torri Garibaldi in Milan, it was possible to visit the exhibition “Ingegneria in movimento: i luoghi dello sport dall’Archivio storico MAIRE” (“Engineering on the move: sports venues from the MAIRE Historical Archive”), created to mark the company's participation in Milano MuseoCity 2026. The theme chosen for this new edition of the initiative was “Cultural Enterprises”, so we have decided to participate by showing the public some of the materials preserved in the MAIRE Historical Archive [formerly the FIAT Engineering, acquired by MAIRE in 2004], which is unique among corporate engineering archives in Italy and worldwide.
The exhibition has been designed as a journey thematically and chronologically; each section highlighted the dialogue between engineering, architecture and society, showing how sports venues have been – and continue to be – cultural devices as well as functional infrastructures. The public has been invited to view the drawings not only as technical documents, but as narrative tools that recount visions, ambitions and social transformations.
Technical drawings, preliminary sketches, perspectives and period photographs recounted the design of venues that have transformed the relationship between people, territory and sport. Engineering has emerged as a cultural driving force capable of influencing the landscape, social habits and the collective imagination. The exhibition covered some of the most significant experiences of 20th-century Italy: from the large Alpine hotel complexes, protagonists of the birth of post-war sports tourism, to the stadiums that symbolize urban life; from corporate spaces dedicated to the well-being of workers to iconic structures such as the Palavela, emblem of a design vision that combines technology, aesthetics and public function.
“Engineering On the Move” staged a dialogue between the past and the future. On the one hand, by celebrating the pioneering spirit of architects and engineers who shaped Italy’s sporting dreams; on the other, by inviting us to reflect on the new challenges of the present: sustainability, digitalization, accessibility, augmented reality, new audiences and new ways of experiencing sport. A story of achievements and horizons yet to be imagined, presented in the year in which the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games bring back to the fore the universal value of sport as a space for encounter, innovation and participation.
Our exhibition appointment
- What: MAIRE Foundation – ETS exhibition / “Engineering on the move: sports venues from the MAIRE Historical Archive”
- When: 27 February / 5 March 2026
- Where: MAIRE Group headquarters, Torri Garibaldi, Milan - Via Gaetano del Castillia, 6A Milan 20124 MI
- Format: guided tour
Participation free of charge, subject to booking via the online form and/or by writing to heritage@fondazionemaire.com. Visitors were able to enjoy a one-hour guided tour, choosing between Italian and English.
For further information, please contact heritage@fondazionemaire.com.
Curation
The exhibition was conceived and curated by Fondazione MAIRE – ETS, with scientific supervision from La Sapienza University of Rome, Tor Vergata University of Rome, AIPAI the Associazione Italiana per il Patrimonio Archeologico Industriale ETS [the Italian Association for Industrial Archaeological Heritage], and MAIA DC Lab Rome Technopole.
MILANO MUSEOCITY - THE FORMAT
For the first time in 2026, Fondazione MAIRE – ETS took part in Milano MuseoCity!
Now in its tenth edition, the initiative was created to promote and enhance museums, archives, corporate museums, house museums and art foundations in Milan and throughout Lombardy. From 6 February to 15 March, 2026, businesses, archives and museums in the Lombard capital have opened their doors to the public, with a series of events, exhibitions, special openings and activities dedicated to promoting the city's museum heritage; some shops also have exhibited works of art. The aim is to turn Milan into a large, unique “ephemeral museum”.
The initiative was promoted by the Comune di Milano (Municipality of Milan) and the Milano MuseoCity ETS Association.
From “showcase events” to “special project”, there were plenty of new features in the 2026 edition: the theme, “Cultural Enterprises”, aimed to highlight the synergy and deep connection between art and sport!
THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE
As those who attended will know, this exhibition did not merely display historical archive material; it also brought one of these items back to life through an immersive experience using a 3D headset.
Thanks to a partnership with Sapienza, Tor Vergata and MAIA DC LAb Rome Technopole, the original drawings of the first design (and project) for the Palavela have been unearthed. The Palavela has, in fact, lived two lives: in the first, it was used as an exhibition hall for the Turin ’61 celebrations; in the second – at the start of the 21st century – it was transformed into an ice rink, undergoing a complete overhaul.
Through the three-dimensional reconstruction, it was possible to interact with the objects in the space, viewing descriptions and photographs, as well as historical representations of three key moments in the life of the Palavela: the artisanal construction site of the 1960s, the monumental empty space defined by the spectacular geometry of the reinforced concrete shell, and the building’s transformation into its second life as an ice rink – a construction site which, updated by new technologies and the industrialization of temporary works, bears witness to the gradual filling of the shell by the functional volumes of the new structure.
This immersive experience has thus enabled the enhancement of the archive drawings through the development of digital models, allowing public access to documents that would otherwise be difficult to consult, thereby bringing to life a fragment of the engineering heritage of 20th-century architecture.
OUR TAKEOFF ON THE EXHIBITION
There comes a moment when a line drawn on paper becomes a space, an encounter, a shared experience: this was our experience with “Engineering on the move”!
Almost three weeks of setting up, over 300 guests, including colleagues, friends, and families with children. It was wonderful to meet people who didn’t know us and who discovered us through Milano MuseoCity, such as our MAIRE colleagues who support our activities on a daily basis. The exhibition served as a stage and an opportunity to explore the Company’s history, the Foundation’s commitment to training young people, and the promotion of this treasure represented by all the Group companies’ archives.
Stories of colleagues interwoven with the archive materials on display: those who were present at the Palavela’s reopening, the colleague who worked at FIAT. The drawings have ceased to be mere technical documents, becoming narrative tools: visions, ambitions, experiments. The story of a country that is changing, evolving and facing new challenges, from the birth of skiing as a sport to the development of the tourism industry linked to it; from sport as a place for people to come together to the facilities that have turned it into a spectacle and a collective experience.
An invitation to reflect on current and future challenges.
[To read the full article, click here].
DIGITAL ARCHIVE
Our Foundation also oversees the management of the digital vault, an IT platform where some 20,000 drawings, plans, and documents from MAIRE's historical archive have been digitalized. This platform makes it possible to access materials effectively and quickly by cross-referencing descriptive categories, metadata, terminology, chronological information, and tags.
TO SUPPORT US
To contribute to initiatives promoting heritage, restoration projects for drawings in the Historical Archive, and the dissemination of corporate archive culture, you can donate through our ‘Support the MAIRE Historical Archive’ campaign on Rete del Dono.
