L’esperienza dell’Archivio storico dell’Associazione Opera Pizzigoni: un modo diverso di vivere la storia

Abstract

This paper examines a project conducted on the historical archive of the Opera Pizzigoni Association (ASOP) from a public history perspective. The ASOP archive is not a school archive but holds records concerning the educational method devised by Giuseppina Pizzigoni (1870-1947). Already in the early 1900s, Pizzigoni had understood the importance of documenting both the development of her method and the process that prompted the construction of a new school building. This school still exists today and is the leading place where the Pizzigoni method is currently applied. The Opera Pizzigoni has chosen to prioritize the archive, setting out to safeguard it from deterioration and to facilitate a rigorous rediscovery of Pizzigoni’s work as an educationalist. After the archive was declared of historic interest, the association launched, alongside an ongoing process of cataloging and digitization, some public history initiatives designed to make the archive’s heritage contents more accessible and user-friendly.