Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Among these, a literary café and a new multipurpose room which will host the functions previously carried out by the Sala del Grechetto, soon to be turned into a museum

Milan, July 21 2020 – New methods of access to the collections, services and rearrangement of the spaces of Palazzo Sormani. The update plan envisaged by the Administration is taking shape to meet the changing needs of the public and the new methods of access to services, increasingly linked to the diffusion of technology.

This will change the main public library of the city of Milan, housed in Palazzo Sormani since 1956, which over the last 50 years has undergone various maintenance, adaptation and rearrangement interventions, until the last one in 2006, which have progressively altered the unity style of the original post-World War II structure, without however renewing the updating of the methods of access to the collections and some services. An update needed today.

The redevelopment plan developed provides for the following to be built on the ground floor of the Palace:

• a large "open shelf" window, where users will be able to freely choose what to read or borrow from 8.000 books, CDs, DVDs, updated frequently; 
• a "literary café", the set-up and management of which will be entrusted to a concessionaire through a specific tender; 
• a new section dedicated to families, children and teenagers, which will contain the library of Gianna and Roberto Denti, the historic founders of the children's bookshop opened in 1972, donated by the heirs to the Municipality of Milan; 
• a multipurpose room (in the spaces of the current Philips audio-video room, overlooking the internal courtyard), where conferences, workshops and all the activities that can no longer be carried out in the Sala del Grechetto will be held, soon to be turned into a museum thanks to the return of the Cycle of Orpheus restored;
• technological literacy workshops;
• a completely renovated music and entertainment section.

All functions related to consultation, study and in-depth analysis will instead be concentrated and reorganized on the first floor of the Sormani.

The planned works will be functional to the installation of new supplies and will mainly involve the replacement of some linoleum flooring, dating back to the 50s and very damaged, and modifications to the electrical and data distribution systems, which will allow the implementation of radio frequency devices for the services of self-lending (already effectively tested in some local libraries), for which implementation throughout the entire library system is expected in 2021.

The awarding of the supply and installation and of the works, for a total starting bid of 1 million and 150 thousand euros, will be carried out through a public tender in a single lot, based on the criterion of the most economically advantageous offer.