The Frigoriferi Milanesi complex is a meeting point and place of exchange for Art and Culture. The complex was built in 1899 as an ice factory and refrigerated warehouses, but it has since undergone several reconversions to adapt to the requirements of the time.

The Frigoriferi Milanesi conserved the foodstuff of the Milanese until the advent of household electrical appliances; during the post-war boom years it was used to store fur coats, precious goods and carpets.

Since 2003 Frigoriferi Milanesi have hosted Open Care – Servizi per l’arte (services for art), the first complete European provider of all the services necessary for the management, conservation and increase in value of works of art, from vaults to logistics, from conservation – through laboratories specialising in the restoration of paintings and other works of art, wood furnishing, tapestries and ancient textiles, carpets, historic scientific instruments and analyses – to consultancy for valuations, surveys, storage and the sale or purchase of works of art.

In collaboration with the FARE association, Open Care has also started a residence programme for artists promoting the mobility of young artists and art operators, by providing dwellings, studios and a tutoring service.

The historic industrial complex also hosts the Palazzo del Ghiaccio, the art nouveau building which was, at the time of its construction in 1923, the largest covered ice rink in Europe, but which today has been transformed into a polyfunctional space.

Following the major refurbishment work by the architecture firm 5+1AA, the Frigoriferi Milanesi have been chosen as the headquarters for companies that have different characteristics, but which all operate for the promotion of art and culture.