Thematic sites - Municipality of Milan

A mayor outside the Municipality: Angelo Filippetti

Between 19 October and 13 November, the exhibition that tells the life of the last mayor of Milan before fascism arrives at the Casa della Memoria in Milan

On the occasion of the centenary of the march on Rome, the Ferruccio Parri National Institute and the Anna Kuliscioff Foundation, in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan - Culture and as part of the "Milan is Memory" program, they are promoting an exhibition at Casa della Memoria to rediscover the events and thoughts of Angelo Filippetti. An opportunity to show a new and unpublished source: his very rich private archive, which his family members decided to donate to the Parri Institute and which was rearranged thanks to a contribution from the Aem-Gruppo A2A Foundation.

On August 3, 1922 the fascist and nationalist squads occupied Palazzo Marino, effectively ousting from office Angelo Filippetti, the last mayor democratically elected in Milan before the shadow of dictatorship fell on the country.

A doctor and leading exponent of Milanese socialism at the beginning of the twentieth century, Filippetti was a progressive administrator but also a learned Esperantist, a tireless traveler and a passionate photographer: a multifaceted and in some ways surprising figure, capable of combining commitment to the Milanese institutions with the doctor's coat worn in the wards of the Ospedale Maggiore. A mayor today mostly forgotten by his fellow citizens. Yet, his conception of public administration still retains a truly visionary character.

Founder and first president of the Order of Doctors of the province of Milan, in November 1920 he was elected mayor. In his two years as administrator, he worked to guarantee better living and health conditions for the city's poorest classes, imagining modern and innovative solutions to resolve numerous social issues: public housing, public transport, separate waste collection, public health.

«Natural organ of the proletariat against the bourgeois state»: this is how Filippetti understood the Municipality. An open challenge to the city's conservative bourgeoisie, which was taken up by Luigi Albertini's Corriere della Sera and by the prefect Alfredo Lusignoli. The tension between the two sides culminated in the events of 3 August 1922, when the fascist squads occupied the town hall with the approval of the prefect, obtaining the forfeiture of the council. A true dress rehearsal of what would happen in Rome in the last days of October.

From his personal archive, which is open to the public for the first time, the extraordinary complexity of his story emerges: a compelling plot that the curators have decided to illustrate by crossing the gaze of historical research - coordinated by Jacopo Perazzoli of the University of Bergamo - with an evocative installation, entrusted to Paola Fortuna's studio +fortuna.

Leafing through Filippetti's diaries, one comes across curious black silhouettes: hand-drawn silhouettes of his daughter Giulia and his partner Vittoria, a family memory of the visit to the Universal Exposition of Milan in 1906. A suggestion that the curators have seized upon to draw the graphic sign with which some of the protagonists of this story are presented: the black silhouettes accompany the visitor along the exhibition route and are gradually outlined by the historical narrative. Entering the Casa della Memoria, you are guided into a space built around the extraordinary life of Angelo Filippetti, in which the blow-ups extrapolated from his archive define the space and extend it to a past world, which has a lot to tell our present . The visionary nature of this mayor, often forgotten, leads to the choice to tell him through contemporary graphics, working with documents, photographs and handwritten notes. A collage of sources that attempts to restore the complexity and beauty of Angelo Filippetti, who had the courage to dream of a future city.

A mayor outside the Municipality: Angelo Filippetti

October 20 - November 13, 2022
House of Memory, via Federico Confalonieri 14, Milan

Curated by Ferruccio Parri National Institute and Anna Kuliscioff Foundation.

In collaboration with Casa della memoria.

With the patronage of the Aem-Gruppo A2A Foundation and the contribution of the Cariplo Foundation.

The exhibition is included in the “Milan is Memory” programme.

Inauguration – 19 October 2022, 19pm

Institutional greetings:

Anna Scavuzzo, vice mayor of Milan

Tommaso Sacchi, culture councilor of the Municipality of Milan

Alberto Martinelli, President of Casa della Memoria and of the Aem-Gruppo A2A Foundation

John Fosti, President of the Cariplo Foundation

Paolo Pezzino, President of the Ferruccio Parri National Institute

Walter Galbusera, President of the Anna Kuliscioff Foundation

Speakers:

Jacopo Perazzoli, professor of contemporary history at the University of Bergamo and curator of the exhibition

Paola Fortuna, designer studio +Fortuna and curator of the exhibition

Moderator:

Sara Zanisi, general director of the Ferruccio Parri National Institute

Press contacts

Ruggero Pedroletti

Ferruccio Parri National Institute

comunication@insmli.it

+39 334 3449683

Guided tours

Giorgio Giovannetti

Ferruccio Parri National Institute

didactic@insmli.it

Opening hours

From Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 17:30; Monday closed. Free entry.

Info and contacts House of Memory

c.casadellamemoria@comune.milano.it           
+39 02 88444102