La Rinascente is one of the symbols of the Milanese avant-garde and has a history that is inextricably linked to the city. In 1865, two young men from Lodi, Ferdinando and Luigi Bocconi, set up a small textile and clothing store in Via Santa Radegonda, right in the city center. The store did well and after only one year they needed over one hundred external collaborators to make ready-to-wear clothes for men. It was a difficult venture to start due to the lack of standards at the time, but somehow the Bocconi family managed to achieve success. From then on, it was full speed ahead. In 1870, they opened Magazzini Livornesi, in Porta Nuova, and seven years later, they returned to the city center, setting up the hotel Aux Ville d’Italie – later renamed Alle città d’Italia – the first Italian department store that followed in the footsteps of its European counterparts. They produced illustrated catalogues and sold their creations by mail order. Their business moved to Genoa, Turin, Palermo and Trieste. A new building for a men and women’s clothing store was built opposite Palazzo Chigi in Rome, in 1887. The new headquarters in Milan, designed by the architect, Giachi, was inaugurated on October 22, 1889. Located next to the Duomo, it occupied 2,300 square meters of floor space over six floors, illuminated by over 400 lamps. The Milanese did not hesitate to cross the threshold, attracted by the glittering windows and the large number of clothes and accessories on display.

In 1902, Ferdinando Bocconi had a university built in memory of his son Luigi, who had left for Ethiopia as a correspondent and journalist in 1896 and went missing. The very same university that later became the most prestigious in Italy and one of the best known in the world. The Bocconi brothers perfectly embodied the figure of the self-made man. They lived at a frenetic pace, always on the move, following the trends of Liberty, the Belle Époque, and Futurism. Their time, however, ran out. Since they had no direct heirs to whom to pass on such a precious legacy, a member of the Milanese upper middle class came along and got his hands on the Bocconi department store. Senatore Borletti decided to change the name of the company and his friend, poet Gabriele, D’Annunzio, suggested using a present participle: Rinascente. From this point on, the story of a company devoted to business but also to culture was reborn. La Rinascente upended its sales model, displaying goods on shelves at a fixed price for the first time, becoming an example of modernity and acting as a driving force for many large-scale distribution companies. It revolutionized the lifestyle and image of men and women until it became an icon and a pillar of the Made in Italy brand in the 1960s. Rinascente Archives is a digital archive that reconstructs the company’s identity through images and documents, tracing the progress of society, customs and Italian style through the history of the brand.

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The Milan Trade Fair was founded in 1920 and immediately established itself as the main showcase for Italian industry. Exhibiting at the Fair was an opportunity for companies to showcase the superb end result of extensive production processes. In particular, the Fair was a springboard for the textile sector.

As early as 1924, the Fair dedicated an exclusive pavilion to Italian prêt-à-porter collections and French haute couture. Known as Teatro della Moda, its name reflects the way the collections were presented at the time, with static models offering a frontal view from the center of the stage. Runways came later, in the 1930s, when the models started walking on raised platforms in front of the large Fair audience. In 1936, the National Fashion Board supported the Fair by opening another exhibition hall reserved for textiles and clothing, while the exhibition halls of Rayon, Vesta, Snia Viscosa and De Angeli Frua continued showcasing the very best of their production – pride of the fascist regime – until the beginning of the war.

In the post-war period, with the rebirth and development of various business sectors, there was no longer sufficient space for fashion at the Fiera Campionaria. It was at this time that specialized industry trade fairs started at the Fiera, aimed at promoting the high-quality production of small and medium-sized companies. Over the years, the success of Italian designers grew and the exhibitions attracted sector-based professionals and specialized press to the Fiera. This is how the Fiera has actively contributed to the popularity of Made in Italy fashion, helping to establish Milan as the stage for the most important fashion events. The photographs, documents and magazines in the extensive Historical Archives of Fondazione Fiera Milano offer a journey back in time, recounting the history and evolution of Italian fashion.

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57 velocipedists, including Luigi Vittorio Bertarelli and Federico Johnson, founded the Touring Club Ciclistico Italiano on 8 November 1894. The idea was to spread the ideal and practical values of cycling and travel. In 1895, the Touring Club proposed the creation of the first cycle tracks and two years later tourist road signs arrived. At the beginning of the twentieth century, with the advent of the automobile, the Touring Club’s interest shifted to embrace all forms of tourism and the association became a national institution. In 1902, Attraverso l’Italia, a collection of photographs of the Italian landscape, was published. Following the publication of the first tourist and road map of Italy, the popular Guide Rosse guide books were started. During the Fascist period, the Touring Club changed its name to CTI (Confederazione Turistica Italiana) at the behest of the Duce, who could not stomach that Anglo-Saxon word “club”. The Second World War dampened spirits and swept everything away. But in the post-war period, the Touring Club was driven by the desire to breathe new life into the association and the entire country, to which it contributed by creating new road signs for services, works of art, itineraries and tourist facilities. It organized group holidays and resumed the production of guides, magazines and maps. In the 1960s and 70s, the Touring Club was a driving force for the development of tourism in Italy. Today, its goal is still to spread and develop sustainable tourism, and it promotes the knowledge and protection of cultural heritage and landscape through various initiatives. One example is the Orange Flags project, started in 1998, which certifies the towns and villages of the inland areas in Italy for their contributions to tourism and the environment. Another example is Aperti per Voi, an initiative through which thousands of volunteers work to keep dozens of cultural locations open and accessible to the public, which would otherwise be closed.

While this story is known to most people, fewer are aware that the Touring Club also played a part in the history and evolution of fashion. The Historical Archives houses a miscellany of material produced or acquired since it was set up, covering themes that range well beyond travel in the strict sense of the word. There are, in fact, hundreds of photographs used to illustrate articles in the Club’s magazine since the early 1900s, which gave ladies advice on what to wear for cycling or trips to the mountains, for instance. In the 1950s and 60s, with the rise of high fashion, the magazine reserved an exclusive space to the topic, illustrated by images and photos sent by the press offices of various fashion houses. These photographs now show an unexpected side of the Club’s history.

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