The archive of the great architect Piero Portaluppi opens to the public: it happens at Villa Necchi in Milan

The Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI) has opened a new permanent archive space dedicated to the architect and intellectual Piero Portaluppi (1888-1967) inside Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan, the architect's own masterpiece. The archive, acquired by FAI in December 2025 from the closing Fondazione Portaluppi, is housed in three attic rooms and includes thousands of original documents, drawings, photographic prints, sketchbooks, caricatures, postcards, and 16 mm film reels totaling eight hours of footage shot between the 1930s and 1960s. The collection also features Portaluppi's personal library of three thousand volumes and architecture journals, which will be made available for study in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archivistica e Bibliografica della Lombardia and the Politecnico di Milano.

This opening matters because it preserves and makes publicly accessible the legacy of one of Italy's most significant 20th-century architects, whose work and intellectual circle included figures like Depero, Marinetti, Gio Ponti, and the BBPR group. By situating the archive within Villa Necchi Campiglio—itself a landmark of Milanese modernist architecture and a FAI property since 2008—the institution creates a unique synergy between the architect's built work and his documentary heritage. The archive offers scholars and the public unprecedented access to primary materials that illuminate Portaluppi's eclectic style and his role in Italian cultural history, while also serving as a model for how private foundations can transition their collections to public stewardship.