A successful example of dwelling houses for workers in Milan in the early 20th century: the"Villaggio Frua"

The drainage basin of the Olona river can be regarded as the cradle of the cotton industry in Lombardy. It represents a symbolic reality for the histo ry of industry, labour and medicine. Today the Olona river goes through the western neighbourhoods of Milan, as an underground sewer, hut at the end o f 19th century a cloth printing works, the De Angeli-Frua Company, was one of the main centres of Italian cotton industry, that developed near its ple asant banks. From this industry some dwelling houses for workers called "Vi llaggio Frua" still remain in the city, providing the historians of industr y, economy, architecture, town planning, welfare, health, hygiene, occupati onal health and medicine with useful information. From the workers dwelling -houses, we can draw useful data for our research: walls and spaces are doc uments, that we can read in the context of the Occupational Health. We anal ysed some features of the "Villaggio Frua", i.e., air, light, and water, th ese are elements that are present in everyday life, beyond every theory and modernity especially by comparing them with the hygienic standards of that time. The "Villaggio Frua" appears to be a successful example of dwelling- houses for workers with elevated living standards for that time and our tim e.