History

Alfa Romeo’s history in Arese began in 1960, when the company transferred its main production from the historic Portello site in Milan to the new plant north of the city. By the time of the plant’s peak production years in the 1970s, the Arese facility employed tens of thousands of workers and produced cars ranging from the Giulia to the Alfetta and the 164. The museum was inaugurated in 1976 at the initiative of Giuseppe Luraghi, the manager who had rebuilt Alfa Romeo after World War Two and who understood that the company’s racing and road-car heritage constituted a cultural asset as much as a commercial one.

The museum closed in February 2011 as the Arese site was partially sold for commercial redevelopment — a closure that provoked a sustained campaign by enthusiasts and collectors, supported by the Lombardy regional government, to prevent the dispersal of the collection. A complex legal process involving Fiat (by then Alfa Romeo’s parent company) and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage — which successfully argued to preserve the entire vehicle collection intact — concluded with the museum’s reopening on 30 June 2015 following a two-year renovation. The surrounding factory land has been partly converted into a commercial centre; the museum building, its heritage designation secured, stands as the anchor of the remaining industrial site.

Alfa Romeo as a brand was founded in 1910 (initially as ALFA — Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili) on the site of a former Darracq factory in Portello, Milan. Its competition record — twelve Formula One world championship wins, three Le Mans victories, countless class wins from the Mille Miglia to the Targa Florio — makes its archive one of the most significant in European motorsport history.