FONDAZIONE EMILIO CARLO MANGINI Detta anche MUSEO MANGINI BONOMI

We have all had something to do with history, we have studied it, learned it, loved it, but history is an extremely articulated universe, which each of us looks at from a different and personal perspective. Carlo Emilio Mangini, from Milan, was a great lover of history, but to that of books, made up of dates and places, he preferred the one told by everyday objects.
A passionate collector, he dedicated his life to their research, travelling in Italy and Europe until he amassed an extraordinary collection of objects that tell us about how people used to live, about private life, work and entertainment in the past. Collecting is a passion that must be shared, and this is why the Mangini Bonomi Museum and the foundation of the same name were created. The foundation is located in the heart of historic Milan, a few steps from the picture gallery and the Ambrosiana library, on an area once immediately adjacent to the ancient Roman forum. Traces of the Roman period still remain in a late antique well, probably a replacement for a pre-existing Roman one, which can be seen in the basement of the museum, where part of the collections are housed. Outside the building, a section of a wall from the period was also found during the restoration work undertaken for the museum. The building that houses the foundation was purchased by C. Emilo Mangini and his son in 1978, but is first documented in a deed of sale from 1418, while the present address of Via dell'Ambrosiana 20 appears as such in a document from 1865, replacing the old indication of 'contrada della Biblioteca N 3,145'.