"Paper, dust, shelves and long dark halls: there are various literary and cinematographic stereotypes on the archives imaginary, but the reality is very different…"

They could seem old if compared to a thousand other “memories warehouses” that crowd the mass media’s virtual world, but on the contrary, they totally belong to our time. The Archivio Storico (historical archive) of Modena is the millennial documentary storage of the events occurred in the city. It is an extraordinary patrimony that highlights and valorizes the rich identity of the city and the territory. It stores documents of virtue like the treaty of the Peace of Constance (1883), the guilds and town charters (1327-1420), several important chronicles, a rare example of civil state (XVI century) and documents linked to theatres, dynastic recurrences and popular celebrations.