29. Olivetti P203

Just 50 years later, the first PCs started to appear on the market and gradually began to replace the typewriter. Don’t miss the beige-coloured P203 between the cabinets. This is one of the first minicomputers made by the Italian company, Olivetti. This machine designed by Mario Bellini has won many awards for its design several times and is on show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Design as well as functionality were very early features of the Olivetti typewriters. Founded in Ivrea, in Northern Italy, in 1908 by Camillo Olivetti after a long residency in the USA, the M1 was the first Italian typewriter placed on the market. It can be seen on the left behind the spiral staircase. Olivetti was to remain a key player in this area on an international level for several decades. The company is still today one of the most successful manufacturers of a range of office machines.

Typing became somewhat quieter with the arrival of the computer, although the typewriter keyboard has been immortalised on PCs. The idea of computers is almost inconceivable without their precursor, the typewriter.

The Typewriter Museum would also not be possible without the donations from Mr Kurt Ryba, who made available his collection of typewriters from around the world to the town of Partschins.
This lead to the foundation of the Typewriter Museum in 1993, on the 100th anniversary of the death of Peter Mitterhofer, which, with its annually changing collection has become one of the largest museums of its kind in the world.
The buildings planned by the two architects from Merano, Georg Mitterhofer and Luciano Delugan, also undoubtedly add to the uniqueness of this museum.