"Casa del Manzoni" - Milan (MI), via Morone n. 1

The neglect of the last thirty years due to only partial use of the rooms and to lack of maintenance had resulted in a slow, general deterioration of the building. In December 2013 the Società Storica Lombarda (Lombard Historical Society) vacated the premises: 300 m2 between the ground floor and basement that had been occupied for 60 years. This provided the very opportunity for a substantial overall renovation of the building to make the spaces more functional (the constructional part) and for a new planning process regarding the cultural offer (the museum/exhibition part). It was a complex task which, thanks to the coordination of the occupants of the various spaces, allowed very different functions to coexist in the one place so full of identity meanings. It must be said that as a whole the project met the objectives of the Centro Studi Manzoniani’s articles  of association, which consist of continually devising new strategies to highlight, study and examine in depth the work of the great writer, aimed not only at scholars but also intended to stimulate participation by the city. The overall significance of the project was to give back to the city a place that symbolises Milanese identity, protecting yet updating the memory of a great Italian. A man whose work can still today inspire our consciences and our actions, a learned man who was totally committed to both a cultural revival and a general moral reconstruction of the nation.