2016 Rosa Camuna Prize Won by the Pirelli Foundation
On 29 May 2016, at the Teatro Bibiena in Mantua, the Governor of Regione Lombardia awarded the Rosa Camuna Prize to the Pirelli Foundation “for safeguarding and promoting the cultural, historical, and contemporary heritage of the Pirelli Group with materials and archives that tell the story of the company and the history of Italy”. This outstanding honour, which has been awarded by the Region every year since 2009, is a public recognition of the commitment, hard work, creativity and ingenuity of those who have particularly distinguished themselves in their contribution to the economic, social, cultural and sporting development of Lombardy.
And here we find an extraordinary coincidence. The prize itself is in the form of a circular golden medal depicting the Rosa camuna, which is a symbol of the Lombardy Region. This symbol was created in 1975 by a pool of designers that included Pino Tovaglia, Bob Noorda, and Bruno Munari: names that left an indelible mark on the history of Pirelli’s visual communication. For the Pirelli Foundation, receiving the award was an acknowledgment of the important role it plays in the cultural life of the region of Lombardy and in the city of Milan in particular: not only in preserving the company’s historical heritage but also in its extensive activity of promoting, disseminating and giving its support to a modern form of corporate culture.
One image gives a perfect idea of how deeply rooted the company is in the Milan area: at the entrance to the Historical Archive of the Foundation, which contains over three thousand linear metres of documents, there is a large photograph entitled Workers Leaving the Pirelli Factory in Via Ponte Seveso. It was taken in 1905 by the photographer and film director Luca Comerio, who wanted to give a sense of the grandeur of this industry, which since 1872, the year of its foundation, had expanded into a large multinational group. The thousands of workers immortalised by Luca Comerio outside the gates of the factory in Milan were there precisely to recall the deep Lombard roots of the company founded by Giovanni Battista Pirelli. The Rosa Camuna Prize is conceptually dedicated to all those workers of the early twentieth century, and to the thousands and thousands who came after them in Pirelli factories around the world.
On 29 May 2016, at the Teatro Bibiena in Mantua, the Governor of Regione Lombardia awarded the Rosa Camuna Prize to the Pirelli Foundation “for safeguarding and promoting the cultural, historical, and contemporary heritage of the Pirelli Group with materials and archives that tell the story of the company and the history of Italy”. This outstanding honour, which has been awarded by the Region every year since 2009, is a public recognition of the commitment, hard work, creativity and ingenuity of those who have particularly distinguished themselves in their contribution to the economic, social, cultural and sporting development of Lombardy.
And here we find an extraordinary coincidence. The prize itself is in the form of a circular golden medal depicting the Rosa camuna, which is a symbol of the Lombardy Region. This symbol was created in 1975 by a pool of designers that included Pino Tovaglia, Bob Noorda, and Bruno Munari: names that left an indelible mark on the history of Pirelli’s visual communication. For the Pirelli Foundation, receiving the award was an acknowledgment of the important role it plays in the cultural life of the region of Lombardy and in the city of Milan in particular: not only in preserving the company’s historical heritage but also in its extensive activity of promoting, disseminating and giving its support to a modern form of corporate culture.
One image gives a perfect idea of how deeply rooted the company is in the Milan area: at the entrance to the Historical Archive of the Foundation, which contains over three thousand linear metres of documents, there is a large photograph entitled Workers Leaving the Pirelli Factory in Via Ponte Seveso. It was taken in 1905 by the photographer and film director Luca Comerio, who wanted to give a sense of the grandeur of this industry, which since 1872, the year of its foundation, had expanded into a large multinational group. The thousands of workers immortalised by Luca Comerio outside the gates of the factory in Milan were there precisely to recall the deep Lombard roots of the company founded by Giovanni Battista Pirelli. The Rosa Camuna Prize is conceptually dedicated to all those workers of the early twentieth century, and to the thousands and thousands who came after them in Pirelli factories around the world.