The workshop "Methods of Archiving and Preserving Photographic Heritage", the result of a collaboration between Fondazione MAIRE – ETS, Heritage Lab Italgas, and ISIA Urbino, concluded on May 23 at the Heritage Lab of Italgas in Turin. The initiative is part of a broader project to enhance the MAIRE Historical Archive, one of the most significant documentary heritages of Italian industrial history.

The week-long training involved eleven students from ISIA Urbino, who participated in a rich program of theoretical lessons, practical activities, and exchanges with professional archivists. Building on Italgas’s experience in digitizing its own historical archive, participants explored the use of advanced technologies such as 2D and 3D digitization, archival description, and photogrammetry.

At the heart of the workshop was the digitization and valorization of 23 technical drawings from the MAIRE Historical Archive (formerly FIAT Engineering), recently restored by Bottega Fagnola. These documents hold exceptional historical and architectural value, dated between 1931 (estimated) and 1979, many drawn on tracing paper and signed by prominent figures such as Bonadé Bottino, Gae Aulenti, and Pier Luigi Nervi.

On the final day, the students presented their projects focused on enhancing the digitized images, in the presence of representatives from the Soprintendenza Archivistica del Piemonte e della Valle d’Aosta (Archival Superintendency for Piedmont and Aosta Valley). (non ricordo se la mettiamo anche il nome in italiano)

This initiative marks another important step in Fondazione MAIRE – ETS’s mission to support the education of young talents while preserving the legacy of Italian technical knowledge.

The MAIRE Historical Archive stands as a vital intersection where the past meets innovation — a place where industrial design, technical expertise, and forward-looking vision come together to narrate the story of 20th-century engineering in Italy.