Ansaldo Foundation, the most important Italian documentation centre of business history is the subject of the article. It was established in Genoa in 1980 to collect the documents of the archive of Ansaldo company, one of the oldest Italian engineering industries (established in 1853) whose activity covered many sectors ranging from ships to planes and from engines to weapons. Ansaldo Foundation grew up in the following years, acquiring many other business archives and libraries of the Ligurian area. The collected materials include now different documents, like posters, pictures, audio and video tapes.