Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, 26 December 2021 – The Council has approved the guidelines for the construction of the new archiving system within the Citadel of the archives of Milan, for a total cost of 17.900.000 euros.

Currently the archive center in via Gregorovius 15, the protagonist of constant modernization and growth in recent years, houses approximately 80 linear km of documents. Its beating heart is represented by 'Eustorgio', the archiving robot capable of automatically extracting the folders present in each of the 11 thousand aluminum tanks, each containing approximately 5 linear meters of paper, whose capacity is estimated at 55 linear km and now saturated at 75%.

The expansion project, entrusted to MM Spa, will be carried out through the construction of a new mechanized plant, bringing the entire Citadel complex to approximately 190 linear km in total. The new center will be called Mi.MA. (Milan Metropolitan Archives), thus becoming the largest archive in Europe in a single site and will host, in addition to the residual documentation of the Municipality of Milan, also archives of other bodies, such as those of the former Province of Milan, now the Metropolitan City.

“With this resolution – declares the councilor for Civic and General Services Gaia Romani – we lay the foundations for the creation of the Mi.MA, an absolute novelty in the world of archives. It is in fact the first time in Europe that an archival facility of this size has been created, with the exception of the British Library in London, which is however a library and among the most important cultural institutions in the world. The Citadel of Archives is not only a fascinating place because it preserves the historical memory of Milan, with documents dating back to Napoleonic domination, but it is also a center of extraordinary excellence and avant-garde. We are very proud that it will become the largest European archive centre. I invite the Milanese to give themselves a gift for these holidays and visit it."

Entrance is free and can be accessed every day, from Monday to Friday, in the morning from 9am to 12pm, in the afternoon from 14pm to 16pm.

From 2016 to today, the Cittadella has developed and certified innovative processes for entering, extracting, discarding and consulting documents, becoming an essential place for the Municipality of Milan.
Thanks to the experience developed in recent years, in 2021 it was able to absorb the doubling of requests for building inspections for the 110% bonus in the midst of the pandemic emergency, establishing two work shifts and significantly increasing its activities. Compared to 1.600 monthly draws recorded in 2019, this year peaks of 3.300 monthly draws were reached.
Furthermore, this place was at the center of an important urban redevelopment project in the Niguarda district. Thanks to a collaboration between the Municipal Administration, Municipality 9, Italian and foreign artists, 40 murals will be inaugurated in January which pay homage to the documentary heritage kept in the archives in via Gregorovius.