About
Us

Fondazione ISEC today

Fondazione ISEC was launched in 1973 for the purpose of collecting, conserving and enhancing sources of the history of the Italian Resistance movement and the labour movement. Over time, Fondazione ISEC has become a national reference point for whoever is interested in events concerning the political, economic and social history of contemporary Italy. Year by year, many archives belonging to large manufacturing companies, political parties and their representatives, activists and advocates in the fields of trade unions and industrial associations have been added to the original corpus of documents.
Today ISEC conserves an impressive archival and book heritage: 5 km of documents, more than 400 fonds, 170,000 photographs, 100,000 technical drawings, 1,500 political manifestos, 500 hours of interviews, 100,000 books, 4,000 newspapers. ISEC was acknowledged by Mibact (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism) as an economic and territorial archive, and by Regione Lombardia as an archive of remarkable historical interest. ISEC is part of the Istituto Nazionale Ferruccio Parri-Rete degli Istituti storici della Resistenza e dell’età contemporanea.
ISEC makes its archival, bibliographic, photographic and audio-visual heritage available to the scientific community, schools and citizens through its public study hall.
Furthermore, Fondazione ISEC is committed to far-reaching activities aimed at promoting cultural knowledge and awareness:
• Encouraging research in the historic field and its dissemination through events, publications, exhibitions, laboratories
• Tutoring for researchers and students
• Promoting public history projects for active citizenships, addressed to the local community and the metropolitan Milano area
• Promoting educational and teaching programmes for teachers and schools, with laboratories in its archive
• Promoting internship and dual training projects
• Consulting services for archives and libraries

As a token of gratitude and recognition for his work, the Board of Directors voted to appoint Gianni Cervetti Honorary President of the ISEC Foundation.

Organization

President

  • Alessandro Pollio Salimbeni

Management Board:

  • Marilena Adamo
  • Elisa Bolchi
  • Luciano Caffini
  • Antonio Calabrò
  • Giuseppe A. Desiderato
  • Piergaetano Marchetti
  • Alberto Martinelli
  • Vincenzo Mastrandrea
  • Pietro Modiano
  • Alessandro Pollio Salimbeni

General Council:

  • Andrea Maria Locatelli, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan
  • Guido Formigoni, IULM University, Milan
  • Paolo Zinna, Metropolitan City of Milan
  • Luca Mocarelli, University of Milan-Bicocca
  • Marianna Pantaleone, Lombardy Region
  • Gabriele Pasqui, Politecnico di Milano
  • Stefano Simonetta, University of Milan
  • Gianluca Pomo, Municipality of Milan

Audit Committee:

  • Luca Novarese - Chair
  • Massimiliano Cucchi
  • Jacopo Machnitz

Scientific committee:

  • Stefano Agnoletto, BI Norwegian Business School (Oslo) (Delegate for Internationalisation)
  • Franco Amatori, Bocconi University, Milan
  • Maria Matilde Benzoni, University of Milan
  • Luigi Borgomaneri, Historian
  • Matteo Bolocan Goldstein, Politecnico di Milano
  • Bruno Cartosio, Historian
  • Rosa Chiesa, IUAV University of Venice
  • Pompeo Leonardo D'Alessandro, University of Milan
  • Monica Di Barbora, University of Milan-Bicocca
  • Marco Doria, University of Genoa
  • Valentina Fava, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
  • Marcello Flores, Historian
  • Mimmo Franzinelli, Historian
  • Roberta Garruccio, University of Milan
  • Enrico Landoni, eCampus University
  • Uliano Lucas, Photographer
  • Giuseppe Lupo, Catholic University of Milan
  • Bruno Marasà, European Foreign Policy and Institutional Communication
  • Luca Mocarelli, University of Milan-Bicocca
  • Stefano Musso, University of Turin
  • Giovanni Scirocco, University of Bergamo
  • Bruno Settis, Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna
  • Mariamargherita Scotti, Independent Researcher
  • Marta Sironi, Independent Researcher
  • Carlo Vinti, School of Architecture and Design “E. Vittoria”, University of Camerino

The Board of Directors thanks Gianni Cervetti, who held the presidency for 23 years, since the Institute was established as a Foundation in 2002.

His years of commitment were marked by an expansion of the perspective of archival preservation and enhancement activities, as well as historical research. The Foundation — whose original mission was to serve as an institute for the history of the Resistance and the labor movement — broadened its areas of interest to include research on postwar reconstruction and the post-industrial reality of the late twentieth century, with particular attention to the Milan metropolitan area and Lombardy.

The Foundation strengthened recognition of its role through the creation of a dense network of relationships, collaborations, and the leadership of research projects with similar public, private, and corporate institutions.

Of particular significance was the President’s contribution to the initiatives undertaken for the architectural and structural restoration of Villa Mylius, seat of the Municipality of Sesto San Giovanni, and of the 1930s building that houses the Foundation.

As a sign of gratitude and recognition for the work carried out, the Board of Directors voted to appoint Gianni Cervetti as Honorary President of Fondazione ISEC.

Statute

Art. 1- Costituzione e Sede
È costituita la Fondazione Istituto per la Storia dell'Età Contemporanea (ISEC) - ETS.
La sede legale è in Sesto San Giovanni (Mi) Largo La Marmora, n.17.

Article 1 – Establishment and Registered Office
The Fondazione Istituto per la Storia dell’Età Contemporanea (ISEC) – ETS is hereby established.
The registered office of the Foundation is located in Sesto San Giovanni (MI), Largo La Marmora, no. 17.

Staff

Director: Giorgio Bigatti
Secretary General: Paolo Codarri
(declaration of absence of causes of incompatibility and ineligibility)
Treasurer and Administration: Anna Lonati
(declaration of absence of causes of incompatibility and ineligibility)
Archives: Alberto De Cristofaro, Primo Ferrari
Library: Alberto De Cristofaro
Education: Monia Colaci
Organisation and Communication: Ruggero Pedroletti
Newsletter: Dino Barra

Volunteers:

The President and all members of the Board of Directors and the General Council; Dino Barra, Marina Berlingerio, Paolo Codarri, Martina Davalli, Giorgio De Vecchi, Angelo Ferranti, Marzio Ferranti, Anna Lonati, Angelo Maj, Federico Pirino.

Annual Report

We present annual reports on the Fondazione’s activities.

Partners and Supporters

ISEC is member of Istituto nazionale Ferruccio Parri-Rete degli Istituti storici della Resistenza e dell’età contemporanea

The Foundation’s activities are supported by:

Some projects are carried out with the support of:

Financial report

We present our latest financial report

Headquarters

Fondazione ISEC is housed in a building overlooking the centrally located Largo La Marmora in Sesto San Giovanni, constructed in 1937 in the then-dominant Rationalist architectural style. Some offices and part of the archival and bibliographic holdings are located in the adjacent Villa Mylius, a municipally owned property built at the end of the eighteenth century by one of the first Lombard silk mill owners, Enrico Mylius, which until the 1970s housed the offices of the municipal administration.

ISEC History

The institute was born in 1973 as Istituto milanese per la storia della Resistenza e del movimento operaio (ISRMO) and from the beginning it is part of the Rete degli Istituti storici della Resistenza e dell’età contemporanea, coordinated by Istituto nazionale Ferruccio Parri.
For over 40 years ISEC rescues, preserves and reorganises an impressive archival and book heritage in order to make it available to the scientific community and to the citizenship.
In 1987 it was transferred in the premises of Largo La Marmora and in 2002 it became Fondazione ISEC-Istituto per la storia dell’età contemporanea, in order to set forth the expansion of the patrimony, corpus that included files regarding the Italian Resistance movement, political parties archives, trade unions documents and many archives belonging to great industrial businesses.
In 2008 Mibact- Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism conferred ISEC the recognition of economic and territorial archive, it was declared one of the most prestigious places in Lombardy for the conservation and enhancement of archives outcome from economic entities.