Inaugurated on July 6th 2007 as part of the XXIV International Meeting, the structure, dedicated to the engineer Dante Giacosa, the creator of the Fiat Nuova 500, is naturally aimed at enthusiasts of the small great car, but is accessible to a much wider and more heterogeneous public, eager to learn a slice of the history of Italy which, thanks to the 500, finally got on four wheels and traveled towards modernity.
The Museum was designed by Roberto Barbera and Silvano Gagliolo; the works were supervised by Alberto Calzavara, supported in the installation phase by his Genoese partner Ugo Elio Giacobbe, passionate about automobile museums and appointed Curator of the “Dante Giacosa”.
In 2017 the Museum expands, with a new large room which can accommodate 4 cars and features numerous display cases full of objects of all kinds (from spare parts to aftermarket accessories, from vintage gadgets to wedding favors and invitations, naturally 500-themed). Also worth mentioning is the curator's office, with a beautiful desk made with the front part of a XNUMX, and a "window" with the shape of the twin-cylinder, which recalls the one overlooking the first room.
Another element that characterizes the new space is the enormous panel (5 metres long) which features figurines of all the 500s and derivatives, including the numerous re-elaborations created by the great coachbuilders of the time, identified and masterfully represented by the designer Jean-Jacques De Galkowsky and the result of research carried out by the technical commissioner Enrico Bo and the curator of the Museum Ugo Elio Giacobbe with the collaboration of Marco Palermo.
In 2022 the “Dante Giacosa” ideally “moved” to the MAUTO in Turin for the prestigious exhibition "65 years of a legend – Fiat 500: icon of Made in Italy", which was inaugurated on July 4th on the occasion of the World Day of the Historic Fiat 500.
In 2023 he was appointed vice-conservative Silvio Bertolotto, a great enthusiast and expert in vintage cars (also for having worked for a long time in the spare parts sector), immediately committed to optimising the display of the numerous objects that the Museum continues to receive as donations.
Two “ have been addedtotem” to enjoy multimedia content (one at the entrance and one in the new room). QR codes have also been positioned to allow visitors to access audioguide in Italian, English and French. The documentary on the history of the 500 and the Club, screened in the large room, is subtitled in English, French and German.
The “Dante Giacosa” is a member of the Network of Museums of the Province of Savona and ASI Museums Road.
