Through two editions of the event “The places of economy” (in June 1999 and December 2000), planned by the Institutional Relations Office of the President of the Chamber and organized by the Centro per la Cultura d’Impresa, the Milan Chamber of Commerce meant to help people who live in the metropolis and exploit it every day taking possession again of its cultural dimension.

As a matter of fact, one of the several paradoxes of modern times is that, when a metropolis develops, its spaces and places loose their identity and their social role: people grow less and less conscious and live in places that grow more and more foreign. This vicious circle can be broken enhancing “virtuous” circles of knowledge that build and reinforce the feeling of belonging.

To know the city of Milan means to be aware of the past and present influence of economy on its town planning, on the building of its civil monuments, on the mentality of its people. The supremacy of economy is the basic core of the city, the “genius loci” (the spirit of the place) according to which the social relations of its inhabitants get synchronized. This supremacy is a key to understand space organization and meaning, and the aesthetic value of a place Gadda used to call “the ugly and shabby city”.

Here following we present two routes, starting from the city centre and leading outwards without getting as far as outskirts. Factory buildings are not in sight yet: one must go further to find the first factories survived to the continuous job of space recalling that makes Milan a work always in progress.

In the future, these routes will have to go on to the outlying zones and consider also the monumental buildings the shape and architecture of which have hardly to do with fantasy and decorum, but aim just to be functional and essential.

But in order to conceptually link these aspects, a cultural path has to be built: the Pirelli skyscraper cannot be interpreted without looking at the buildings also by Pirelli at Bicocca, nor can Milan be deciphered without knowing the radical changes in ownership, structure and purpose these areas underwent.

Pier Andrea Chevallard
Secretary General of Milan Chamber of Commerce