Archivio Visconti di Modrone
by Daniela Bellettati
The archive of the Visconti di Modrone family represents, in its complex content and stratification, a noteworthy synthesis of familial, entrepreneurial and urban history. The personal exploits of the family members are preserved in a rich abundance of documentation, as are their economic and social relationships, and their involvement in industrial enterprises and the administration and government of Milan. The history of the city can also be traced through the network of documents concerning real estate properties scattered throughout the districts – primarily, but not limited to the splendid residence in Via Cerva, which has since been destroyed – and through the artistic and human vicissitudes conserved in the files of the "Società per l'esercizio dei Teatri alla Scala e Canobbiana". As for the territory outside the urban fabric, the documents describe the family’s enormous land holdings, especially in Lombardy and Piedmont, and also tell the story of the development of successful textile, shipping, and silkworm companies, naturally intertwined with the history of those who lived and worked there.
The archive mainly contains documentation concerning the Visconti lineage headed by Uberto Visconti, known as "Picco", who died in 1315, brother of Matteo I, Lord of Milan. His descendants, who took the name Visconti di Modrone in the 18th century, held numerous civil, ecclesiastical and military positions, in particular, from the 16th century forward, in the College of Jurisconsults and the Council of the 60 Decurions of Milan. The family was invested in numerous fiefs, with relative noble titles: specifically, in the 16th century, the family became the Lords of Somma and Counts of Lonate Pozzolo; in the 18th century, they obtained the title of Marquises of Vimodrone and the name Visconti di Modrone. In 1813 Napoleon granted Carlo Visconti the ducal title which, when he died without direct heirs, passed to his nephew Uberto Visconti di Modrone (1802-1850), who belonged to the cadet branch of the family.
The last dynastic passage brought together, in the person of Uberto, the wealth and relative documentation of various branches of the family which had separated since the 18th century.
The testimonies of these centuries-old events are preserved in a documentary collection of more than 1,800 folders, circa 600 registers, 700 iconographic sources, and more than 400 parchments that mainly cover a chronological period between the 15th and 20th centuries, with some documents from the previous period. Since the 19th century, the archive has been subject to various reorganizations and inventories carried out by archivists commissioned by the Visconti to facilitate the administration of family property, and to aggregate the papers acquired by other families through inheritance and marriage. The archive is therefore arranged according to the "by subject" model used in Lombard archives, noble or otherwise. The documents generated by the main exponents of the family during the 19th and 20th centuries were adapted to this scheme, although not uniformly. The collections of the Taverna and Anguissola families, linked through matrimonial and hereditary ties, and those of the Velvis factory in Vaprio d'Adda, the Opera Pia Visconti in Modrone,and the Società per l'esercizio del Teatro alla Scala and the Pio Istituto Teatrale are separate from the family archives. Also included in the collections are Parchments, Maps and Drawings, and Manuscripts. The sheer volume of the documentation, however, has never allowed the inventory of all the material. Moreover, the archive was also severely damaged and partially dispersed by the relocations imposed by the bombing of the Second World War. As such, the study and inventory of the documents is necessary and continues to this day.
The various collections that compose the archive are largely equipped with inventory databases or descriptive files, some of them recorded digitally. These tools are being updated, along with the internal articulation of the archive, as the work proceeds.
Bibliography of the Archivio Visconti di Modrone
Associazione Duca Marcello Visconti di Modrone per la storia dell’industria
The Associazione culturale Duca Marcello Visconti di Modrone per la storia dell'industria (formerly the Centro Visconti di Modrone per la storia dell'industria) was founded in 1992, with the aim of promoting research and study on the history of industry and entrepreneurship in Lombardy, in which the Visconti di Modrone family has always played a prominent role.