Piaggio Aerospace has signed a five-year agreement with Italy’s Ministry of Culture to protect and promote the historical archive of Rinaldo Piaggio Aeronautical and Mechanical Industries. The programme includes digitising material, creating replicas of iconic aircraft models and establishing a permanent museum at the company’s headquarters in Villanova d’Albenga. Further exhibitions are planned elsewhere in Italy, although no opening or implementation dates have been set.
The agreement was signed in Rome at the San Michele a Ripa Monumental Complex by Antonio Tarasco, director-general of the Ministry’s Archives, and Piaggio Aerospace CEO Francesco Cristian Toninelli. Türkiye’s ambassador to Italy, Elif Çomoğlu Ülgen, attended the ceremony.
The collection includes historical engineering drawings, photographs and aerodynamic models documenting more than a century of Italian industrial and aeronautical activity. Piaggio chairman Haluk Bayraktar said original drawings and wooden wind-tunnel models were among the material, which is to remain in Villanova d’Albenga.
The digitisation and public-access plans are intended to make the archive available to a wider audience while preserving the company’s industrial and engineering records. The agreement does not specify the digitisation schedule or provide details of the planned exhibitions.