Museum of Industrial Heritage

A note about educational activities developed by the Industrial Heritage Museum especially for children from 3 to 6 years old. The difficulty of talking about science and technology to such a young audience can be overcome, helping children to organize their own natural intuitive knowledge and giving them an explanatory pattern aimed at enhancing their curiosity and eagerness to learn.

CenTec, the technological centre of the Ferrara University, was opened in Cento in September 2011. This new structure is the crowning achievement of a long and fruitful cooperation between the institutions and firms in the Cento area and the Faculty of Engineering of the Ferrara University, by means of the Consorzio Cento Cultura. CenTec provides firms with innovative services concerning industrial research and technological transfer in the fields of mechanic engineering and information technology.

A walk through the Certosa, Bologna’s monumental cemetery, is also a way to go over the city’s economic history of the last two centuries. The visitor is guided by the iconography of the tombs of the most noticeable personalities in the local manufacturing context. In these tombs the pride in professional life-story  is expressed by an unusual iconography, deeply influenced by the industrial world.

In 2012 A.L.I.A.V.  (the Association that gathers the holders of the diploma of the Aldini-Valeriani Institute) will be 100 years old. It is a very important birthday which bears witness to the awareness of the role played by the school. The members of the Association share the pride in belonging to a course of study which contributed widely to the economic development of the district and wish that such a role will be played by the school also in the future. This desire for continuity certainly has a self-celebrating constituent but also shows the will to face possible challenges to come.

The article  resumes some of the subjects of a research carried out in 2011 by the Industrial Heritage Museum in  agreement with S.A.B. (Bologna Airport Society),  intending to reconstruct the history of the city airports since the early 20th century on the occasion of the 80th  anniversary of  Borgo Panigale airport. A special attention is paid to the main events concerning the airport in the years 1920-1950.