Museo dei Quaderni di Scuola to Open in Milan in Spring 2023

A museum dedicated to children's school notebooks will open in Milan in spring 2023. Located on via Broletto in a 60-square-meter space donated by two association members, the Museo dei Quaderni di Scuola will display original notebooks, offer translated copies in Italian and English, and feature rotating thematic sections. The initiative is led by Thomas Pololi, founder of the Archivio dei Quaderni di Scuola, which has collected thousands of notebooks from Italy and 39 other countries, dating from the late 19th century to the early 2000s. The archive was declared "of particularly important historical interest" by the Soprintendenza archivistica e bibliografica della Lombardia in 2019. A preview book, "Il prossimo anno faremo le vacanze di Natale sulla Luna," published by eco-friendly paper company Arbos, features Christmas-themed writings and drawings from the collection. Proceeds from book sales will fund the museum. The space will host at least one exhibition per year, accompanied by a publication, with future topics including war experiences and childhood in Milan. The museum aims to be a "micro-workshop" for dialogue and creativity, with laboratory activities for all ages, adopting a "childist" approach. Pololi hopes to eventually find larger spaces to accommodate school groups.