Monday, 16 May 2005, 9 A.M. – 6 P.M.
Auditorium of the Regional Council of Lombardy
Viale Restelli, 4 – Milan, Italy

In the last decades, the house-museum has attracted a lot of attention in museological circles. The role of the house, its furnishings, collections and decorations in preserving the memory, not only of its inhabitants, but also the entire society as matrix of what takes places within the family walls, has been recognized.

The conference, House-Museums in Milan: European Experiences to Formulate a Network, that will take place Monday, 16 May 2005 from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. at the Auditorium of the Regional Council of Lombardy in Viale Restelli 4, will propose methodologically correct and internationally accepted elements in the crucial international debate about the house-museum, and will propose European experiences already in use for years. The speakers are internationally recognized for their contributions to the debates on house-museums.

The day will be divided into two phases. The first phase offers:

• the presentation of the four Milanese historic house-museums participating in the network project (Casa-Museo Boschi Di Stefano, Casa Necchi Campiglio, Museo Bagatti Valsecchi, Museo Poldi Pezzoli)
• the international project, organized by DEMHIST, for cataloguing different types of historic house museums
• the census of historic house-museums in Lombardy conducted by the regional government
• the interventions of three authoritative European experts in the field (M. de Jesus Monge, Portugal; M. Day, U.K.; T. von Stockhausen, Germany)

The second phase of the conference will offer a series of workshops that allow an exchange of experiences and plans between Italian and foreign experts, in order to formulate a common cultural strategy for the realization of the Milanese historic house-museum network:

• Attributing Value to Identities in the Circuit of House-Museums
• Sustaining Historic House Museums
• Tourist Circuits and Historic House Museums

The Acts of the conference will be published in Italian and English, and there will be simultaneous Engish-Italian translation during the meeting.

The conference has been organized by the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, together with the Casa Boschi di Stefano, Casa Necchi Campiglio and the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, in collaboration with the Region of Lombardy, the Province and City of Milan, and with a contribution from the Fondazione Cariplo.

Participation in the conference and the workshops is free, but pre-registration, via e-mail, in a workshop is required. To pre-register in a workshop, or for further information about the conference, please contact the Poldi Pezzoli Museum: Stefania Rossi – Marina Sambuy, tel. 02.45473805/06 (mornings), fax. 02.4547.3813.