PRESS RELEASE

Until 5 March 2026, at the MAIRE Group headquarters in the Garibaldi Towers in Milan, Fondazione MAIRE – ETS is exhibiting a selection of historical drawings that illustrate the role of engineering in transforming the landscape, society and sporting culture.

Milan, 4 March 2026 – As part of its participation in Milano MuseoCity 2026, the Fondazione MAIRE – ETS is inaugurating the exhibition “Engineering on the move: sports venues from the MAIRE Historical Archive” at the MAIRE Group headquarters in the Garibaldi Towers in Milan.

Drawings and designs for sports infrastructure will be on display for the first time, illustrating how sport has helped shape places, territories and communities thanks to the technical and cultural role of engineering. The exhibition project is part of the theme chosen for the 2026 edition of Milano MuseoCity, ‘The enterprises of culture’ which aims to highlight the synergy between art and sport.

The exhibition was conceived and curated by Fondazione MAIRE – ETS, with scientific supervision by Sapienza University of Rome, Tor Vergata University of Rome, AIPAI - Italian Association for Industrial Archaeological Heritage ETS, and MAIA DC LAb Rome Technopole.

The materials on display are taken from the former FIAT Engineering Archive, acquired by MAIRE in 2004 and placed under the supervision of the Archival and Bibliographic Superintendence of Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta. The exhibition is organised as a thematic and chronological journey, in which the dialogue between engineering, architecture and society emerges through technical drawings, preliminary sketches, models and period perspectives. The materials on display document the design of sports infrastructures that have had a profound impact on the landscape and imagination of 20th-century Italy: from the large Alpine hotel complexes linked to the birth of post-war sports tourism, to stadiums as the hub of urban life; from corporate spaces dedicated to the well-being of workers to iconic structures such as the Palavela in Turin, emblem of a design vision capable of combining technology, aesthetics and public function.

Engineering on the move invites the public to view the drawings not only as technical documents, but as narrative tools capable of conveying visions, ambitions and social transformations. The project thus creates a dialogue between the past and the future: on the one hand, the pioneering drive of architects and engineers who shaped Italy's sporting dreams in the 20th century; on the other, the contemporary challenges of sustainability, accessibility, digitalisation and new ways of experiencing and sharing sport. A story of achievements and horizons yet to be imagined, presented in the year in which the Milano-Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games bring back to the fore the universal value of sport as a space for encounter, innovation and participation.

The exhibition, scheduled to run until 5 March 2026, can be visited by appointment using the dedicated form and/or by writing to the following address heritage@fondazionemaire.com.

For full details about the exhibition: Museocity 2026 | Fondazione.

For further information about Milan MuseoCity 2026: Milano MuseoCity | MuseoCity.