Cinema and History 2016-2017, the free educational and training course for teachers, this year dedicated to World History, continues at the Pirelli Foundation, supported by Fondazione ISEC in collaboration with the Pirelli Foundation and Fondazione Cineteca Italiana.

On Monday 20 February, Professor Stefano Agnoletto, director of the Education Department of Fondazione ISEC, will present an overview of the history of work and the economy from a global perspective, using a long-term approach which aims to overcome traditional Eurocentric paradigms.

During this second class, the 120 teachers signed up to the course will also have the opportunity for further learning by visiting the exhibition “Pirelli: Sustainable Culture. Raw Materials, Research, Processes, Products and People“, as well as the Historical Archive to discover the history of the great multinational that is Pirelli in terms of sustainable growth. Photographs, financial statements, patents, in-house publications, special techniques and promotional materials will enable them explore both the past and the present of the company, providing an insiders’ view of the world of Pirelli.

Saturday 4 March will witness a special opening of the Pirelli Foundation as part of MuseoCity. This city-wide event organised by the City of Milan will run from 3 to 5 March 2017, involving museums, archives, house museums, ateliers and artists, promoting culture and making known the great legacies of the past through the exhibition of a work from collections in Milan.

Also the Pirelli Foundation will be taking part in the event, with an exceptional display of Workers Leaving the Pirelli Factory in the Via Ponte Seveso (1905). It will be shown in the Pirelli Headquarters in Milano Bicocca, next to the historic cooling tower. This stunning group portrait is one of the most significant photographic treasures in the company’s Historical Archive.

The picture shows thousands of workers coming out of the first Pirelli factory in the Via Ponte Seveso in Milan. The factory was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War and from its ruins rose the Pirelli Tower, the new administrative centre of the Group, in 1960.

The photograph was commissioned by Pirelli in 1905 from Luca Comerio, the famous photographer and pioneer of Italian cinema. The following year an enlargement was made (of quite extraordinary dimensions for the time: 245 x 150 cm) for the Pirelli Aeronautics stand at the International Exhibition of Milan in 1906. The photograph was restored in 2002 for an exhibition, The New World: Milan 1890-1915 at the Palazzo Reale, Milan, and its amazing story was also told the Expo 2015 in Milan, as part of the celebrations of Pirelli, the official sponsor of The Tree of Life.

The men and women looking into Luca Comerio’s lens all share a common experience of work in the factory, which is also illustrated by the display of a manual mixer from the early twentieth century, formerly used in the Pirelli factory in Settimo Torinese.

Booking required, on a first-come, first-served basis. Call 0264423971 or write to visite@fondazionepirelli.org

Entrance from Via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi, 3 – Milan

Opening hours: there will be four guided tours per day: 10 a.m., 12 noon, 3 p.m., 5 p.m.

One value: create a company and bring it to life. Riches, work, innovation, development. Yet also the growth and transformation – both economic and social – of entire communities. A story told through the images and words of the documentary “Leopoldo Pirelli – Dedication to industry and civil society“, produced by the Pirelli Foundation, created by 3D Productions for Memomi and broadcast on Sky Arte HD Italia on 30^th January to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of one of the greatest ever Italian businessmen.

“Gentleman businessman” was the name given to Pirelli by the Italian newspapers on 24 January 2007, perfectly summarising, in his obituary, Pirelli’s most distinctive trait on both a human and professional level. “Leopoldo Pirelli, the serious Italian”, the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” had written some years before, in September 1990, recognising his qualities at a time when Pirelli was preparing to buy the German tyre group Continental. The acquisition was never completed. Yet the person in charge of Pirelli left a positive impression on the public.

There is a great moral tale to be found in the story of the men who, in over nearly a century and a half of history, have built Pirelli, from the founder Giovanni Battista, to his sons Alberto and Piero, and from Leopoldo Pirelli, the third generation, to the shareholders and managers of today. Leopoldo being the prime example. A true businessman, always attentive to people and values, interpreted by that open spirit of the conservative Milan innovator: cultured, modern and international, characteristics which still today represent one of the great European cities. And “a moral man”, to use another appropriate definition.

This is confirmed by the “Ten rules of a good businessman“, summarising his experience gained as the leader of the company.  It begins with the conviction that “Free private enterprise is an important pillar of a free system and an irreplaceable tool of social progress.” It insists on the appreciation and education of people, the importance of transparency and honesty, the power of dialogue between enterprise and government, and the “duty” of “trying to keep a positive balance sheet”. He powerfully underlines the reforming role of the businessman: “Our respect, I would say our legitimacy in the eyes of the public is in direct relation to the role that we carry out in working to overcome social and economic inequalities of the country in which we work: companies are increasingly presented as a place of synthesis between a tendency towards maximum technical and economic progress and human tendencies towards achieving better working and living conditions.” Intense words. And still utterly true today.

Watch the documentary here

From 18 January 2017 to 1 May 2017, the Archimede Library in Settimo Torinese will host the exhibition entitled “Pirelli in 100 Pictures. Beauty, Innovation, Manufacturing”. The exhibition – curated by  Fondazione Pirelli – is promoted and organised by Comune di Settimo Torinese with the contribution of Pirelli and Fondazione ECM (Esperienze di Cultura Metropolitana) and is sponsored by  Regione Piemonte and  Città Metropolitana di Torino.

The exhibition traces over 140 years of corporate history through the materials of the Historical Archive preserved by Fondazione Pirelli and focuses on the many aspects of the Pirelli world: factory workers, technology, new product research, relationships with art and innovative communications, motorsports and the famous calendar. It is also the opportunity to present first pictures of a new project taken inside the Pirelli Industrial Hub in Settimo Torinese by great German photographer  Peter Lindbergh, author of the 2017 Pirelli Calendar, to the general public.

The exhibition develops through six sections. “Una P lunga oltre 140 anni” (a P over 140 years long) traces the history of Pirelli through pictures of factories and products: from the first plant in the outskirts of Milan to the first international exhibitions, illustrated catalogues and the covers of the “Pirelli” magazine; “La fabbrica degli artisti” (the factory of artists) presents some of the many opportunities that painters and photographers have taken to express their art and tell about the world of factories and manufacturing; “Si va che è un incanto” (it runs like a charm) documents the daily challenges that Pirelli has tackled in the racing world since 1907; “Una Musa tra le ruote” (a muse in the wheels) focuses on the relationships between Pirelli and the arts since the beginning of its history from the earliest artist advertising campaigns to illustrations; “Elogio della Bellezza” (celebration of beauty) is a line-up of the female icons that introduces visitors to the last section dedicated to the  Pirelli Calendar that since 1964 has attracted some of the most important names in photography. The most recent was German master Peter Lindbergh, who took a number of enthralling and powerful photographs in the factory in Settimo in preparation for the 2017 Pirelli Calendar. Those pictures have become a project in their own right and are presented in preview to the general public in the “Pirelli in 100 Pictures. Beauty, Innovation, Manufacturing” exhibition.

The “Pirelli in 100 Pictures. Beauty, Innovation, Manufacturing” exhibition is further confirmation of the importance of  culture as a tool for driving development, social cohesion and integration in addition reasserting the bond between culture and employment in Settimo Torinese. For Pirelli, in particular, the exhibition follows in the wake of the many activities which have been organised and held in Settimo by the company and by Fondazione Pirelli.

PIRELLI IN 100 PICTURES.
BEAUTY, INNOVATION, MANUFACTURING
Settimo Torinese, Biblioteca Archimede
Piazza Campidoglio 50
18 January 2017 – 1 May 2017

The coldest season of the year as seen by Pirelli documents and promotional materials conserved in the Historical Archive of the Pirelli Foundation.

Even at the end of the 1930s the first Pirelli winter tyre, Artiglio, was at the centre of product communication. Later, in the 1960s and 1970s photos and advertisements told many other stories: the new BS (Battistrada Separato, Separated Tread) tyre  tests in a Scopinich photoshoot in Cortina d’Ampezzo; the celebrity satire of Riccardo Manzi and Alessandro Mendini and the abstractions of Ilio Negri, Giulio Confalonieri and Bob Noorda in the adverts for winter tyres.

Pirelli also made a range of products for winter; from the 1940s to the 1960s, a series of items made from rubber were produced to “Help the hard life of skiers: jackets, boots with rubber soles, grips and baskets for ski poles, straps for attachments and Superga G3 boots.”And the skiers themselves were the stars of advertising campaigns like that of Ezio Bonini in the 1950s and Zeno Colò for Inverno tyres in 1954.

Among the various documents and materials of our Historical Archive which focused on winter, there is also the ‘Pirelli’ magazine, where the magic of Christmas is told through great names of the era in literature and design: from the toys of Bruno Munari, used to create an ingenious Christmas machine which made snow fall down on the Christmas tree, to the production process of Pigomma games illustrated by Fulvio Bianconi, and from a journey through the Christmas window displays of luxury New York and Paris stores in an article by Albe Steiner on the new Christmas trends in 1955 to the textual illustrations of Andrè François. And then? Christmas according to Umberto Eco: from a letter to his son to a satirical tale on ‘Christmas Consumption’. And that’s not all. In the pages of ‘Pirelli’ magazine you will also find stories of the world of skiing: from racing champions and new lifts to advice on how to become a great skier and avoiding damaging falls.

The relationship between Pirelli and winter sports continues today with the sponsorship of the 2017, 2019 and 2021 Skiing World Championship and the 2017 World Ice Hockey Championships.