Commitment to cultural and artistic endeavours
Keeping a focus on culture and art and promoting and enhancing Italy’s artistic heritage are important and key activities Borsa Italiana engages in, as they represent one of the most innovative and original aspects of Borsa Italiana’s mission over the last decade.
Borsa Italiana, with its iconic headquarters at Palazzo Mezzanotte, is one of Milan’s symbols. And just like the city of Milan itself, Borsa Italiana continues to grow, evolve and develop, including in the cultural and artistic domains. The Milan Stock Exchange, a financial centre, is becoming more and more a meeting place and a cultural hub, a place fostering interaction among and openness towards the citizens, a place where research endeavours and activities linked to the world of art and culture take place.
In 2011, on the occasion of renovation works, BorsAperta was staged, whereby the citizenry was invited to cross the threshold into the Milan Stock Exchange building, with a number of initiatives being launched in an effort to bring the world of finance more and more within reach and more familiar. Opening Palazzo Mezzanotte to the general public, hence no longer being viewed in people’s minds as a trading place but rather as an icon of the Stock Exchange, has helped over time to smooth out the climate of mistrust and prejudice towards the financial environment generated by the subprime crisis.
In 2013, the Conversazioni in Borsa event — featuring a series of meetings with key players of Italy’s economic and social landscape — was launched, while since November 2014 the historic venue has been playing host to workshops, conferences and discussions on the topic of “Economy and Jobs”, linked to the Bookcity Milano exhibition.
In 2014, Borsa Italiana launched the project called Rivelazioni Finance for Fine Arts, aimed at creating an efficient model of collaboration between private individuals and institutions in support of Italy's artistic heritage, a key asset for the economic and cultural development of the country. The project was devised based on an agreement between Borsa Italiana and a selection of Italian museums to promote the raising of funds from companies and operators belonging to the national and international financial community for the restoration of works of art. Through a new form of patronage, also supported by Art Bonus, the sponsors participating in the project adopt a work of art among those selected by the museum and promoted by Borsa Italiana, contributing to their return to full public use. Borsa Italiana also promotes the project within its national and international network. The restored works are also showcased in BIG, Borsa Italiana Gallery, a new exhibition space inside Palazzo Mezzanotte that was inaugurated in 2017 and is used to host temporary art exhibitions. In this connection, reference is made to the participation in Museo Segreto as part of MuseoCity, an event that every year turns Milan into an open-air museum.
These initiatives and events, coupled with openings scheduled for FAI days (Italian Environment Fund) and an array of music festivals, give shape to a project designed to establish a dialogue between Borsa Italiana and the city (and other entities) and are turning the rooms of the former “Floor” and of the ancient Taverna Ferrario, decorated by Giò Ponti, into one of the most appreciated landmarks in Milan’s cultural and artistic geography.
Such a diversified approach to the promotion of artistic initiatives earned Borsa Italiana the Corporate Art Award in 2017, while in 2018 ELITE was awarded the Patronage of the 21st Century prize, most notably for the contributions to restoration that some companies in the community made to the Museum and Real Bosco of Capodimonte.
Again, with the aim of opening its doors to events of social and cultural importance dedicated to the Milanese community, every summer Palazzo Mezzanotte hosts the Midnight Jazz Festival: a rich programme featuring jazz concerts with artists of world renown. The same goes for the Concerti del Quartetto, which were developed as part of a collaboration scheme established in 2018 between Borsa Italiana and Società del Quartetto, whereby a series of classical music concerts open to the public are staged in the area of the Roman excavations of Palazzo Mezzanotte.
Since 2019, Palazzo Mezzanotte has also been playing host to La Milanesiana, a cultural festival held every year in Milan, this year in collaboration with Borsa Italiana. The event represents a cultural symbol for the city of Milan and its programme features many international guests. Now in its twentieth edition, this year La Milanesiana officially opened at Palazzo Mezzanotte, extending for the first time its programme to include economic topics.