Thematic sites - Municipality of Milan

What was Milan like in the 30s? And what about the post-World War II period and the economic boom? What was its evolution and transformation? The documentary answers these questions Classic Umarell - The heroic construction sites of Milan 1933 - 1968, realized by Cineteca Milan with the patronage of the Municipality as part of the project Milan is Memory, the platform created in 2017 to highlight and remember people, facts and events that testify to the history and identity of the city.

The documentary film tells and highlights how the city changed and modernized in those crucial decades for the country's history, leaving the city dimension to gradually transform into a metropolis. In the film – which will have a first screening on March 7th at 18.30 pm at the cinema Cineteca Milano Arlecchino – among others, you can admire the birth of the Lorenteggio district, Piazza San Babila and the works for the red metro line, as well as the change in the urban landscape of the south of the city and the appearance of the first lanes of the ring road. The protagonists of this story in images - all coming from the Cineteca archive and enriched with scenes from films of the time - are above all the construction sites that characterized the urban fabric in those decades, accompanying the daily life of the Milanese for a long time. Classic Umarell is also the photography of the world of work, an insight into the conditions of workers, bricklayers and carpenters which will certainly arouse interest even when thinking about the recent and dramatic events in Florence. From watching the documentary, what emerges above all is the image of a city wounded by the Second World War that is starting again with momentum. The free screenings will allow all spectators to be able to attend a cinematographic proposal of great historical and human value.

Poster

Calendar and program of screenings:
Cineteca Milano Arlecchino

• Thursday 7 March at 18.30
  inauguration
  “The Milan that will be – The new construction sites of the city”
  Speakers:
  Giancarlo Tancredi, Councilor for Urban Regeneration, Municipality of Milan
  Maria Chiara Virgili, architecture author and podcaster
  Holy Minniti, president of Municipality 6
  Matteo Pavesi, director of Cineteca Milano
  A follow - Classic Umarell - duration 40'
   
• Saturday 9 March, 13.00
  Introduction
  “The invention of the Umarell statue – A Milanese brand”
  Speaker: Bernardo Gamucci, creative director and CEO of Superstuff, a brand that produces and creates objects that have a story to tell through technologies that belong to industry 4.0.
  A follow - Classic Umarell - duration 40'
   
• Sunday 10 March, 11.30pm
  Arrival of the Umarell train (*)
  Meeting
  The writer Gianni biondillo presents his book “What we are not”, Bagutta Prize 2024
  Gianni Biondillo tells, in a choral novel, the story of the Milanese architects under Fascism, men and women who became aware of the collapse of false ideologies and who decided to take sides in the name of the Resistance and freedom, often paying the consequences.
  A follow - Classic Umarell - duration 40'

(*) The Umarell train - an initiative of Municipality 6, born in 2023, designed to tell and raise awareness of the city and its evolution, through a journey through the construction sites that tell the story of the Milan of tomorrow - will cover the entire route above ground west of the new M4 line. Departure at 9.00 in Piazza Tirana next to the San Cristoforo railway station with arrival scheduled for 11.00/11.15 near the Cineteca Milano Arlecchino, in time to attend the meeting and the screening scheduled to start from 11.30. Return after the show independently (tram 14 via Torino/p.za Duomo recommended).
The Umarell train is a free one-way service with reservations required: on the website www.iltreninodimilano.com/biglietti or with phone call/whatsapp message to 3934787706.

Each screening will be followed by an Umarell-themed quiz with prizes

For more info: click here

Free admission subject to availability