History becomes the future

Pilot Italia, in collaboration with the Sala delle Asse cultural association, is a part of a select group of companies, including Banca Intesa’s Cariplo Foundation and A2A, which will help to bring to light and give new life to a real internationally recognised masterpiece: the Sala delle Asse painted by Leonardo Da Vinci dating from about 1498 and located inside the Castello Sforzesco in Milan. Leonardo da Vinci was an innovator. The most amazing, incredible and famous technician of his time. Every project had something unusual and was clearly created with the intention of overcoming the pre-established order of things. Leonardo was a man driven by the need to go beyond the boundaries of the possible. A tireless seeker of alternative but, above all, innovative ideas. A brilliant artist who represents better than any other the true meaning of the word we hold dear: avant-garde. The Sala delle Asse has had a troubled history. It began in 1498 at the behest of Ludovico il Moro, who only a year later had to leave the city, as did Leonardo da Vinci, due to the arrival of the King of France Louis XII. Several foreign dominations followed in succession during which the Sala delle Asse was covered with whitewash and turned into a stable for artillery horses. Thus, the memory of Leonardo’s painting was lost. When Italy was unified, the castle became the property of the City of Milan, which in 1901 began restoring the Sala delle Asse. These very invasive works unfortunately did not resemble Leonardo’s typical style of painting. In 1954, a second restoration was conducted to tone down the additions made at the beginning of the twentieth century, which also led to the discovery of a remarkable drawing sketched by Leonardo. After seven years of in-depth scientific studies to verify the possibility of recovering the original work by the great Florentine master, a third restoration began in 2013, which is still underway. The final stage of this latest accurate and painstaking restoration will be undertaken shortly and aims to finally give new life to one of Leonardo’s lesser-known works. All this is also made possible thanks to the entire Pilot Italia team, who have been working actively on contributing to such an important and prestigious restoration.