Experience
Who decides the shape of a city
The water, the energy and the rubber of a European metropolis, told by the people who run them. Two days in Milan inside the companies that provide a service to everyone and that have to explain it to whoever pays for it on the bill.
On this page
Fact sheet
- Days
- 2
- City
- Milan
- Recommended season
- all year from 8 January
- Group
- 10 to 20 participants
- Language of the visits
- Italian
- Price
- Quotation on request
→ Request a quotation · Download the itinerary in PDF
Itinerary day by day
Day 1 — The service nobody sees until it is missing
In the afternoon, La Centrale dell'Acqua di Milano, in Piazza Diocleziano. It is the pumping station of the city's water company, turned into a center open to the public without ceasing to be a working installation. You observe how a public company explains to its users something that costs little and that nobody talks about until the day it is cut off.
Straight after, a two-hour working session: the accounts of a universal service. Who pays, who uses, who sets the tariff, and what happens when the three do not coincide.
Day 2 — The archive of a multinational and the memory of a utility
In the morning, Fondazione Pirelli, in viale Sarca. The historical archive of an Italian industrial group with a worldwide presence, open by appointment, with a channel dedicated to visits with students. You work on how a company that has been making the same object for over a century has changed several times the market it sells it to.
In the afternoon, to be chosen according to the group's subject: Fondazione AEM, the archive of the municipal energy company that today is part of the A2A group, or the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology, which keeps and explains Italian industrial history as a whole.
Closing session, an hour and a half: each team writes the «about us» page of an imaginary utility that has to introduce itself in a city that does not know it.
What you visit
| Place | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| La Centrale dell'Acqua di Milano, MM S.p.A. | Working pumping station open to the public; organized groups must book | Bookable |
| Fondazione Pirelli, Milan | Historical archive of an industrial group, open by appointment | On request |
| Fondazione AEM (A2A Group), Milan | Archive of a municipal energy company | On request |
| Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology, Milan | National museum of industrial and technical history | On request |
What is included and what is not
Included: the booking and visit to La Centrale dell'Acqua, the appointment request to Fondazione Pirelli, admission to the site chosen for the second afternoon, three and a half hours of working sessions, the materials, one person from the Istituto with the group and the certificate of participation.
Not included: flight, transfers, lodging, meals, urban transport, personal travel insurance.
The season, and why
It is sold all year from 8 January, like every urban experience in the catalog. Before the 8th the companies are closed and a company archive without archivists is a room. Never on a Tuesday or a Thursday: La Centrale dell'Acqua closes on those two days. The first day is placed on a Monday or a Wednesday, when it opens in the afternoon, or between Friday and Sunday, when it also opens in the morning.
August is avoided.
Logistics and capacity
Everything inside Milan, on urban transport. La Centrale dell'Acqua takes individual visitors without a booking but requires one from organized groups; Fondazione Pirelli works by appointment only and has an email address dedicated to visits with students.
The recommended group is 15 people: it reaches the group rates without going over the access limits. Above 20, the two visits on the second day are split in two and the day gets longer.
Cover
The program includes an accident and public liability policy for the whole stay. The sums insured, the insurer and the policy number are published once it is taken out and are attached to the contract; until then they can be requested in writing, with an answer within two working days.
Related experiences
Design as an industry, not as taste (2 days, Milan) · The company town as a business model (2 days) · The industrial triangle (7 days)
Let us talk about this route
We answer within two working days with the dates, the day by day program and the quotation.