From Milan bent by the bombings of the allied forces, to the city that was able to get up and restart from those wounds, giving life to an exhilarating season, in which it becomes not only the architect of its own redemption but an engine for that of the entire country.
It is the exhibition “MILAN, STORY OF A REBIRTH. 1943–1953 from bombing to reconstruction” curated by Stefano Galli, organized by the Spirale d'Idee Association and promoted by the Municipality of Milan | Culture, Directorate of Historical Museums, scheduled at Palazzo Morando | Costume Moda Immagine in via Sant'Andrea, from 10 November 2016 to 12 February 2017.
Through 170 vintage images, videos, documents, war relics, design objects, memorabilia, posters and much more, the exhibition documents a crucial period in the recent history of Milan between the end of the Second World War and the years of reconstruction .
“MILAN, STORY OF A REBIRTH. 1943–1953 from bombing to reconstruction” is the third exhibition appointment at Palazzo Morando which began with “MILAN BETWEEN THE TWO GUERRS. Discovering the city of the Navigli through the photographs of Arnaldo Chierichetti" (2013) and continued with "MILAN, CITTA' D'ACQUA" (2015), aimed at telling the Milanese capital starting from its history, its specificity, the events of social history, capable of radically transforming the face of the city.
The exhibition opens with the great bombings of 1943, when Milan becomes the object of repeated attacks that mark its profile forever. A map with the places affected by the raids will be the fulcrum of a narration conducted through period images, memorabilia and war relics (from gas masks to bombs, up to the "Bengal" parachute used to light up the city before the attack ) capable of restoring the situation of the various city districts and the most representative places affected by the bombs, from the Cathedral to the Royal Palace, passing through the Cenacolo Vinciano.
A painful page for Milan, also summarized in a video section where, alongside the original footage of the air raids, there is the testimony of the triumphal reopening concert of La Scala, directed by maestro Arturo Toscanini in May 1946, to symbolize the return to normality.
The exhibition continues with the story of some aspects of everyday life in wartime, reconstructing the complexity but also the richness of the social relationships woven in such a difficult and dramatic moment, passing from the drama of the displaced to the episodes of solidarity experienced in collective canteens, up to the documentation of a spontaneous economy based on the black market.
An important insight into the presence of the regime in the city is also proposed, through the places of Fascism: the Albergo Diana, the first headquarters of the German command, the Albergo Regina, in turn the Nazi headquarters in Milan, Villa Triste, theater of and torture carried out by Banda Koch, a special department of the police of the Republic of Salò in charge of capturing and eliminating political opponents, Piazzale Loreto, theater of the epilogue of fascist hegemony.
After the focus on the war period, the exhibition accompanies the visitor to discover the years full of turmoil but no less traumatic than the past reconstruction, unfortunately, also through the destruction of historic and valuable buildings which, although only marginally damaged by the bombs, were sacrificed to modernity or to speculation. This is the case of the old Palazzo Trivulzio, Palazzo Visconti sul Naviglio, Palazzo Pertusati Gropallo, the Manzoni theater in Piazza S. Fedele and many other now forgotten places.
The urban changes run parallel to the radical change of a society which, after twenty years of regime and five years of war, slowly savors freedom: Milan gradually returns to life. New shops open and new forms of employment arise; children delight in previously unknown games and toys and adults too rediscover leisure time. The season of dance halls and taverns opens, public gatherings essential for reinforcing the sense of belonging to a renewed community.
It is always a dual vision that accompanies the Palazzo Morando exhibition, which intends to testify how a new city has risen - from an architectural and urban point of view - but also how a new citizenship has taken shape: with completely different interests, dreams and visions compared to the past. And so, while new districts are being built, such as the QT8, and new buildings inserted in the context of the city center based on projects by the architects Moretti, Figini, Pollini, Bottoni, Portaluppi and the BBPR studio, the first telephone booth installed in Italy, the great school of design asserted itself and Palazzo Reale hosted the monographic exhibition dedicated to Pablo Picasso in 1953 with the significant exhibition in the destroyed Hall of the Caryatids of Guernica, a masterpiece of social denunciation never again exhibited in Italy in the future.
In a convergence of elements that mark the return of the city to a leading role in the Italian and European panorama, the foundations are laid for the economic and social boom of the following decade.
