Ferrania Film Museum

The town of Cairo Montenotte in North-west Italy became home in the early 20th century to an industry manufacturing photographic film. This began in 1917 when the firm SIPE collaborated with the French company Pathé Frères to create FILM (Fabbrica Italiana Lamine Milano). In the 1930s this merged with Milan’s manufacturer of photographic plates, Cappelli, to create Cappelli-Ferrania. In the 1960s, Ferrania was one of only four plants capable of making colour film, alongside Agfa, Fuji and Kodak. It also made X-ray film, cameras and other items. The American company 3M invested in Ferrania until the late 1990s but it closed in 2017. The museum opened in 2018 in Palazzo Scarampi in the centre of Cairo Montenotte. It explores the century-long history of Ferrania in stylish exhibitions with a lively collection of objects related to research and development, production, working life and the Italian movie industry. The objects include filming and editing equipment, scientific instruments, photographs, audiovisuals and advertising images.