During our visit to the National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Head of the Art and Documentation Archives Dr. Giulia Pedace introduced us to their archival protocols. They utilize the International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families (ISAAR CPF) to uphold a universal archival standard and manage authority records. Dr. Pedace referenced Performing Archives/Archives of Performance by Gundhild Borggreen and Rune Gade while discussing the MAXXI's archive wall, which displays archival highlights through facsimiles, interactive screens, and audio elements, enriching visitor experiences while safeguarding the materials. Recently, an exhibition named "Disarm" was presented where musical instruments made from decommissioned weapons were played in a live performance in the museum.

Director of Archives Dr. Susanne Meuer and Archivist Dr. Tina Conte gave us a tour of the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art's Library and Archive, ranked as Italy's second-largest collection of Modern and Contemporary Art with works by over 30,000 artists. GNAM features a "bio-econographic" archive, initially focusing on the museum's history before expanding to contemporary art documentation through primary sources, and a "personal" archive, holding critics' archives and detailing the relationship between artists and critics. The archive is open access, with ongoing efforts to digitize the collection for online accessibility. We were shown a sample of the types of material in the archives holdings include Eleonora Duse's farewell letter to Gabriel D'Annunzio with her erratic handwriting and an artist book by Jean Cocteau and Léonor Fini.

During our meeting with Dr. Francesca Fabiani, Head of Contemporary Photography, we received an introduction to the history and current endeavors of the Institute. Established in 1894, the Central Institute for Catalog and Documentation was initiated by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage to preserve the cultural heritage of a newly unified Italy, employing photographers to document historical sites and contribute to Italy's national identity. The Institute holds over 6 million photographs and related items, such as vintage photographic equipment. Recent efforts have been made to incorporate contemporary collections and reassess existing holdings. The initiative is supported by programs such as the grant-funded artist residency. Selected artists are granted a year-long residency to develop a project using the archives, which leads to an artist book and a traveling exhibition.

At the Elisabetta Catalano Archive, we met with Archive Director Dr. Aldo Enrico Ponis, along with a team of two archivists working on the management of the archive and two art historians from the University of Bologna. The archivists provided a detailed overview of their collection management and exhibition history include an exhibition on the relationship between Federico Fellini and Elisabetta Catalano hosted at the legendary Cinecittà Studios. For the archive, they employ Adobe Lightroom Classic for digital file management and a customized FileMaker for organizing prints and negatives of analog materials. The historians are developing a website using Pimcore to create a public catalog of female Italian photographers. 

The Franco Angeli Archive was established in the 1990s by Maria Angeli. During our visit, we met with Maria Angeli and Archivist Sibilla Panerai who provided insights into the archive's operations. Initially, the archive faced a significant challenge in addressing the widespread issue of art forgeries. This problem was particularly pronounced due to Angeli's method of producing serial paintings, which, without detailed documentation of his complete works, facilitated the production of counterfeits in the art market. Through extensive provenance research, the archive established a catalog that significantly mitigated the issue of forgeries. During our visit, we had the opportunity to examine a counterfeit catalog that had been distributed prior to the archive's establishment, highlighting the scale of the challenge it faced.