Free time: sport and culture
The welfare programmes were reorganised In the 1920s, with the creation of the Pirelli Dopolavoro, the working men’s club, which put on a whole range of services that would meet all the needs of the Pirelli community. It was this that led to cultural and sporting activities being introduced for leisure time. The Pirelli Sports Group included football, tennis, basketball, fencing, athletics, bowls, skiing and mountaineering, and bicycle and motorcycle touring sections.
The activities were practiced in the sports fields and facilities in front of the Bicocca plants and in other facilities. The Pirelli Sports Group expanded over the years, increasing the number of sports it offered and in the 1970s it ended up being divided into 18 sections with over 2,500 members. Athletes competed in group championships and in regional and national competitions, achieving significant results, and it also boasted an Olympic champion among its ranks: Adolfo Consolini, a gold medallist in the discus throw at the 1948 Olympics. One of the activities that today reflect the legacy of the historic Pirelli Sports Group is the opportunity that employees have of joining the company football team, with the chance to get involved and team up with their colleagues. In the field of culture, the Dopolavoro gave members the opportunity to participate in conferences, plays and concerts, and it had a lending library that opened in 1927. By 1933, six years later, it had about 1,400 books that could be lent out.
It was after the war, however, that cultural activities really took off, with the creation of the Pirelli Cultural Centre. This became one of the liveliest centres of culture in Milan, putting on events in every area of the arts – from music to cinema, to theatre and the figurative arts and literature – as well as some of the most advanced debates of those years. Exhibitions, book and film presentations, and conferences attracted the greatest exponents of Italian and international culture – with such big names as John Cage, Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Milan Kundera, Eugenio Montale, Salvatore Quasimodo, and Cesare Zavattini – and in 1960 they began to be held in the 600-seat auditorium of the Pirelli Tower. The cultural activities currently offered to the community of employees are also the outcome of partnerships with leading Milanese cultural institutes. These include the Piccolo Teatro, the Teatro Franco Parenti, and FAI, and they are run by the Pirelli Foundation, with the management of the company libraries – at the Headquarters in Bicocca and at the Bollate factory (together with the library at the Settimo Torinese Industrial Centre). The Foundation also puts on events to promote reading, such as its collaboration with the Premio Campiello Junior, and to promote the company’s historical heritage and to make known Pirelli’s corporate culture. Since 2008, the Foundation has looked after and worked hard to promote the company’s historical archive through publications, exhibitions and educational programmes.
The welfare programmes were reorganised In the 1920s, with the creation of the Pirelli Dopolavoro, the working men’s club, which put on a whole range of services that would meet all the needs of the Pirelli community. It was this that led to cultural and sporting activities being introduced for leisure time. The Pirelli Sports Group included football, tennis, basketball, fencing, athletics, bowls, skiing and mountaineering, and bicycle and motorcycle touring sections.
The activities were practiced in the sports fields and facilities in front of the Bicocca plants and in other facilities. The Pirelli Sports Group expanded over the years, increasing the number of sports it offered and in the 1970s it ended up being divided into 18 sections with over 2,500 members. Athletes competed in group championships and in regional and national competitions, achieving significant results, and it also boasted an Olympic champion among its ranks: Adolfo Consolini, a gold medallist in the discus throw at the 1948 Olympics. One of the activities that today reflect the legacy of the historic Pirelli Sports Group is the opportunity that employees have of joining the company football team, with the chance to get involved and team up with their colleagues. In the field of culture, the Dopolavoro gave members the opportunity to participate in conferences, plays and concerts, and it had a lending library that opened in 1927. By 1933, six years later, it had about 1,400 books that could be lent out.
It was after the war, however, that cultural activities really took off, with the creation of the Pirelli Cultural Centre. This became one of the liveliest centres of culture in Milan, putting on events in every area of the arts – from music to cinema, to theatre and the figurative arts and literature – as well as some of the most advanced debates of those years. Exhibitions, book and film presentations, and conferences attracted the greatest exponents of Italian and international culture – with such big names as John Cage, Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Milan Kundera, Eugenio Montale, Salvatore Quasimodo, and Cesare Zavattini – and in 1960 they began to be held in the 600-seat auditorium of the Pirelli Tower. The cultural activities currently offered to the community of employees are also the outcome of partnerships with leading Milanese cultural institutes. These include the Piccolo Teatro, the Teatro Franco Parenti, and FAI, and they are run by the Pirelli Foundation, with the management of the company libraries – at the Headquarters in Bicocca and at the Bollate factory (together with the library at the Settimo Torinese Industrial Centre). The Foundation also puts on events to promote reading, such as its collaboration with the Premio Campiello Junior, and to promote the company’s historical heritage and to make known Pirelli’s corporate culture. Since 2008, the Foundation has looked after and worked hard to promote the company’s historical archive through publications, exhibitions and educational programmes.
