Un contributo alla diffusione della “cultura plastica”: gli allestimenti dei fratelli Castiglioni per Montecatini / Contributing to the success of "plastic culture": the exhibition design by the Castiglioni Brothers for Montecatini

In the climate of material and cultural renewal that distinguished the post-war period in Italy, the Montecatini pavilion, at the Fiera Campionario in Milan in particular, became a place where scientific knowledge and applications were illustrated to a wider public, relying on the contribution of important architects, and industrial or graphic designers. The early collaborations in the 1930’s with Angelo Bianchetti and Cesare Pea, Marcello Nizzoli, Franco Albini or Gio Ponti, were followed from 1953 to 1968 by the partnership with Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. The analysis of these projects demonstrates how the exhibition design solutions, combined with a scrupulous definition of the contents to be displayed – which would involve others such as Enzo Biagi as well – not only brought distinction to the company but also conveyed the breakthroughs in chemistry and their application to products in spectacular, scenographic and multi-sensorial constructions.